Have you ever lost something you really liked and try as you might you simply cannot find it? The search for it will damn near drive you crazy, won’t it? Well, I once lost track of an entire group of men and my search for them at times gave me cause to question my own sanity. Were they real? Was it all a dream? Was it my imagination? I did finally find them, but it took a very long time and it was one hell of a trip. Let me explain. Before and during the Korean War, I was very fortunate to have been assigned to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur’s General Headquarters in Tokyo, commonly referred to as GHQ. When that war started the unit formed a Raider unit to serve in Korea and many of the members who volunteered for the unit were my friends. The entire GHQ command enthusiastically supported the Raiders and they were constantly the main topic of discussion in any group gathered for any reason and they were always the subject of concern. The Raiders served in Korea from September 1950 until April 1951 accumulating an outstanding combat record. When they returned to Tokyo in the Spring of 1951 it was great to have them back even though, sadly, there were a few missing from their ranks. We renewed our friendships but we eventually lost track of each other over the next few years as individual reassignments came about and enlistments expired. I remained in GHQ until my extended enlistment was over and then I too returned to the United States and left the Army. I tried civilian life for a couple of years. Then, realizing that I had, as the saying goes, “found a home in the Army”, I reenlisted. After reenlisting, everywhere I went I looked for old familiar faces with whom I had previously served. I found a few and like old friends we reminisced about the good old days in Tokyo. Now, you would think that since such a short period of time had elapsed, our memories of those days would still be rather sharp. And, for the most part they were; until that is, I asked them if they remembered the Raider Company. There, without exception, I drew a complete blank. No one; not one of them, could recall the unit. Two of those acquaintances had been in the Command Personnel Section and if anyone should have remembered the unit it was them. This was the section where the selection process for personnel to fill the Raider Company began and this was the section that had processed them out of and back into GHQ upon their return. However, their memories, like those of all others I talked to, were a complete blank. It began to appear that no one, except me, had ever heard of the Raiders. This went on for almost the next fifty years, during my military career and later civilian employment when speaking to veterans of the Korean War. It got to the point that I was beginning to think the Raiders really were a figment of my imagination; something I had created. But, the memories were too clear; far too crisp. I could so clearly recall names and faces of the men, events that had occurred, maps and charts, messages, and other correspondence pertaining to the unit. I refused to believe it was my imagination. Damn it they had existed! The memories were too damned exacting, so I refused to accept that idea and if no one else remembered them, by God I certainly did Then one afternoon, long after my retirement from the military and ensuing civilian employment, while perusing the Internet, I found a message from a D. Davis looking for former members of the GHQ Raiders. I did a double take, I couldn’t believe it; reading that simple entry sent a chill up my spine. I wasn’t crazy after all; there it was. Someone else remembered. What follows in the ensuing pages is a recounting of the exploits of their unit in their own words as they remember those days. Occasionally, I take the liberty of setting the stage and even interrupt a time or two to make a clarification when necessary. Their memories may be faulty in places and may not quite agree precisely at times with the official military historians or even with their fellow Raiders in each and every detail. But, keep in mind; they are recalling these events after more years than most of the readers of this book have been alive. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the words of these young heroes who voluntarily gave up the ultra-soft life of Occupation duty in Tokyo, were very quickly molded into a unique combat unit, and then plunged into the hell known as the Korean War. If my words seem to speak with an excessive amount of admiration for these men, good, that is my intent!
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