1st L&L in Korea: A Photographer’s Record, 1952-53

From Veritas, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2011

The Korean War veterans of the 1st Loudspeaker & Leaflet (L&L) Company, Eighth U.S. Army, a key lineage unit of the 1st Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne), held their first reunion at Fort Bragg, N.C., from 22-24 May 2007. Four 1st L&L Psywar veterans who were killed in action in Korea were commemorated on 24 May 2007 when their names were added to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Memorial Wall. The 1st PSYOP Battalion dedicated their classroom to the 1st L&L Company and a Korea Psywar display was exhibited at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville, N.C. A former 1st L&L Publications Platoon veteran provided a collection of unit photos from 1953 for the display.

These photos preserved the daily routine and unit personalities in the 1st L&L in Seoul, Korea, from 1952-1953. They captured the essence of tactical Psywar and are an invaluable historical record worth sharing with today’s Army Special Operations Forces. Since former Sergeant Herbert Shevins from Brooklyn, New York, was responsible, the following essay revolves around his photographic contribution as the unit mission shifted from supporting the propaganda war to maintaining vigilance during the armistice. The final tasks were quite different from those envisioned in late summer 1950.

When North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950, the Special Projects (SP) Division in the G-2 (Intelligence) of Far East Command headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, provided the Psywar capability for the command. General (GEN) Douglas A. MacArthur ordered its creation in November 1949 to plan Psywar measures to counter Communist aggression in Asia. Mr. J. Woodall Greene, a retired colonel who had been the deputy director of the general’s WWII Psywar campaign against Japan, had a staff of four personnel to accomplish that theater mission.1 The robust Psywar capability built by the Army during World War II had been eliminated in post-war military reductions.

The 1st L&L Company cadre board the Yokohama ferry to Pusan, Korea, on 15 October 1950, bound for Eighth U.S Army, Korea, then located at Taegu in the Pusan Perimeter.

The original 1st L&L Company officers in Seoul, Korea, October 1951.

The immediate need for tactical Psywar in Korea was their highest priority. The Tactical Information Detachment (TID) at Fort Riley, Kansas, provided Psywar support to the Army’s Aggressor Force during countrywide maneuvers.2 Alerted for Korea, the twenty-man TID became the nucleus for an Army Loudspeaker & Leaflet Company effective 1 September 1950. The detachment packed its limited equipment, departed Fort Riley on 9 September, and left Seattle, Washington, on 15 September aboard a U.S. Navy transport headed to Japan. Told that their heavy equipment would be shipped separately to Korea, the 1st L&L cadre boarded the Yokohama ferry to Pusan, Korea, on 15 October bound for Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) in Taegu, Korea.3

The Main Line of Resistance (MLR) in Korea, 1952-1953, showing the three U.S. and two R.O.K. corps sectors

The 1st L&L Company was activated on 4 November 1950 with eight officers, ninety-nine enlisted men, three printing presses, twelve loudspeakers, and twenty-seven vehicles authorized. The unit administratively fell under the EUSA Special Troops Command, but the G-2 exercised operational control. No priorities were given for equipment, U.S. Army Psywar School-trained personnel, or required language skills. It took until April 1951 to find the original TID assets lost in Japan, get them shipped to Korea, and collect critical TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) equipment to become combat effective.4

Dalzell’s Valentine’s card reflects what was required to make the 1st L&L operational by April 1951

1LT James E. Dalzell, original 1st L&L Publications Platoon Leader.

LT Frank C. Kurpiel and SSG John Eugene “Gene” Sacotte

CPL Herbert Shevins and SSG Joseph F. Lissberger

The 1st L&L’s mission was to conduct tactical propaganda operations for a field army and provide qualified Psywar specialists as advisors to the army and subordinate corps staffs. Dissemination of tactical propaganda was to be done by leaflet, information sheets, and loudspeakers.5 A company headquarters element supported three operational platoons: Propaganda, Publications, and Loudspeaker (L/S). Combat requirements justified a twenty-five percent enlisted overstrength effective 24 April 1951, but the company never reached full strength.6

This was what the 1st L&L looked like when Private (PVT) Herbert Shevins was assigned to the Publications Platoon in early November 1952 as a photo lithographer.9 Captain Herbert B. Avedon, signal officer for the Ranger Force in Italy and a Morale Operations officer for OSS Detachment 101 in Burma during World War II, was the company’s second commander. Lieutenant Frank C. Kurpiel was Publications Platoon leader and Sergeant Joseph F. Lissberger, a U.S. Navy-trained printer and photo lithographer, had just replaced Sergeant First Class (SFC) Gene Sacotte as the platoon sergeant and Print Shop supervisor. They were operating Harris Seybold 1722 and Davidson (original TID assets) offset printing presses with twelve-hour work shifts. Two trailer-mounted 250-kilowatt generators powered all print equipment.10

Publications Platoon photo vans with Federal G-513, 94x43 tractor, 4-5 ton, 4x4 in the corner of the motor pool.

Weekly Loudspeaker Team Talks were distributed to the L/S teams of the 1st L&L. — Weekly *Loudspeaker Team Talks* were distributed to the 1st L&L.

One of two forty-foot M109 mobile print vans, parked adjacent to the Print Shack on the athletic field, had been converted into a photography work area. The adjoining van contained a Hansch camera to make photographic layout plates for the printers. Shevins took most official photos with a 4x5 Speed Graphic camera. He was also issued an 8 mm Bell & Howell movie camera.11 Not all L&L personnel worked in the company area—a former private school north of Seoul’s East Gate—based on their missions.

The Loudspeaker (L/S) Platoon received its operational assignments directly from the chief of the G-3 Psywar Division at Eighth Army headquarters. The L/S teams worked and lived with the front line infantry units that they supported. The platoon leader rotated back and forth between I, IX, and X Corps headquarters, coordinating requirements while two section sergeants and a L/S repairman supported three to five L/S teams assigned to five corps [three American and two Republic of Korea (ROK)].12 Propaganda Platoon, assisted by several Korean and Chinese artists and translators, worked in EUSA headquarters in downtown Seoul. They published weekly Psywarrior newsletters for the 1st L&L personnel and Loudspeaker Team Talks for EUSA G-3 Psywar. Team Talks contained guidance and broadcasting messages for L/S teams in the field.13

Chinese and Korean propaganda scripts and taped broadcasts were approved by Projects Branch Chief of the G-3 Psywar Division before being distributed to L/S teams. English, Chinese, and Korean translations were done by university-educated writers isolated from reality in Seoul. Most scripts were too sophisticated for the majority of the target audience—uneducated conscripted Chinese and North Korean peasants.14

1st L&L Company L/S interpreter, Lin Tse-shin, broadcasts to Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) in the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantr y Division, I Corps sector. The “mouth muzzle” is actually an early lip microphone.

Propaganda Platoon illustrators did their work in the G-3 Psywar Section of EUSAK headquarters. Enemy uniforms, equipment, and arms were used as props.

The Publications Platoon turned the artwork, photography, and written messages prepared by the Propaganda Platoon into paper leaflets, information sheets, and posters for dissemination by L/S Teams, Air Force and Army aircraft, and artillery. Leaflets were delivered to a nearby Army ordnance company where they were packed into 105 mm artillery shells for shipment to howitzer battalions supporting the front line units. Artillery delivery of leaflets was the most accurate.15

Still, the primary means was to airdrop packages of leaflets with time fuses from C-47s. The leaflet packages were shoveled, “kicked,” and thrown out like they had been in WWI and WWII.16 Some fifteen million propaganda leaflets were dumped on enemy front line troops each week by Psywar units.17

The enlisted men of the Publications and Propaganda Platoons were housed eight men to a classroom in the school building. They slept in sleeping bags on folding cots. The company officers lived in the school principal’s house. Everyone washed and shaved in an aluminum wash pan. Houseboys provided hot water each morning, shined shoes, arranged the laundry, dusted the rooms, and cleaned the floors. The enlisted men in the school shared a common toilet and shower room. Waste was taken away weekly by a Korean horse-drawn “honey wagon.”18 There was a daily work routine.

Each morning unless it was raining, a company formation was held outside. Then, everyone went to breakfast. Company physical training was rare. After the morning meal the soldiers went off to work areas. The Propaganda Platoon soldiers carrying M1 carbines boarded a 6x6 truck to go to EUSA headquarters for the day. These “privileged” troops came back for the evening meal.19 L/S teams assigned to support the infantry lived in the field and only returned when they were wounded, sick, going on R&R (rest & recreation leave), or finishing their tour and departing for the States.

The houseboys arranged to have local laundresses wash and press uniforms

KATUSA guard billets in the 1st L&L compound

Private Shevins soon discovered that the only Psywarriors that got to experience combat were those that volunteered to “kick” propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines or the L/S team members on the front lines. Combat time before the Armistice could shorten tours to nine months. The only threat to 1st L&L troops in Seoul were small bombs and mortar shells dropped by North Korean Peoples Air Force “Bedcheck Charlies,” a.k.a. “Piss Pot Petes,” pilots flying slow propeller airplanes (seventy to ninety knots) low level from the Sariwon airfield in North Korea.20

Still, whenever the air raid alarm was sounded, the L&L soldiers donned their helmets, grabbed M1 carbines, .45 cal automatic pistols, and the two M2 .50 cal heavy machineguns, and ran to man defensive positions around the school compound. A Korean KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the US Army) security platoon guarded the main gate, the rear service entrance, and occupied a watch tower. The Psywarriors positioned one M2 machinegun atop the main water tower and had another M2 inside the command bunker that faced the street directly below the main building. They were not allowed to engage “Bedcheck Charlie” because their walled compound was surrounded by civilian houses.21

Since “Charlie” targeted the nearby ammunition and gasoline storage areas, the L&L soldiers were often rewarded with a little fireworks display before going back to their bunks in the schoolhouse. Publications Platoon Sergeant Lissberger surprised the company commander when he “cut loose” with his M2 machinegun against a group of infiltrators probing the back perimeter. The next morning the soldiers searched the area and found a mute Chinese soldier hiding in a drainage ditch. He had escaped from the nearby temporary POW compound.22

CPL Herbert Shevins photographed these Chinese POWs for EUSA G3 Psywar Leaflet 8420. They dressed in padded uniforms for the Psywar leaflet.

ROK minister’s daughter who posed for a propaganda leaflet created a major flap for the 1st L&L Company.

POW interviews provided current material for L/S teams on line. Broadcasting the names of those recently captured was quite helpful. Better still were the POW-recorded surrender appeals to former comrades.23 These POWs explained how well they were being treated by UN troops. Promise of good treatment was emphasized in the leaflet messages and safe conduct passes.24 CPL Shevins often traveled to the Chinese POW compound at Yong Dong Po to photograph recently captured soldiers for propaganda leaflets. The Propaganda Platoon Leader’s great idea to use the photograph of a ROK minister’s pretty daughter on a leaflet caused a real flap…after the official received a copy of one that had been dropped.25 Free time to enjoy Seoul was welcomed by the Psywarriors.

pThe enlisted R&R center in Kyoto, Japan was the Rakuyo Hotel, a Special Services Hotel across from the railway station. — The enlisted R&R center in Kyoto, Japan was the Rakuyo Hotel, a Special Services Hotel across from the railway station. (L-R, CW) Rakuyo Special Services Hotel Kyoto Card, 1LT Jay Russell’s drink chit for the 1st L&L Company Club, and CPL Herbert Shevin’s Korea Cabana Club Card.

Cover to the farewell gift, Remember? — Cover to the farewell gift, *Remember?*

The L&L soldiers usually had a day off per week and those not being disciplined were given a Rest and Relaxation (R&R) furlough in Japan every twelve months. Since photography had been his hobby since childhood, Shevins carried his personal 35 mm camera whenever he went into town or outside Seoul. He also served as the company photographer for ceremonies, formations, and holiday activities. This made him the logical choice to compile the farewell gift, Remember? The U.S. Army and South Korean government recognized the contributions of the 1st L&L soldiers during the war as well.

The 1st Loudspeaker & Leaflet Company, EUSA, the first and only tactical Psywar unit deployed to Korea, was awarded the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation and two U.S. Army Meritorious Service Citations for its distinguished service from 1950-1954. One soldier (Sergeant Lawrence O’Brien, Loudspeaker Team Chief with 7th Infantry Division) was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action in May 1950 that saved the life of Commanding General, MG Claude Ferenbaugh, after he was ambushed. A number of Loudspeaker Team personnel received Bronze Stars for Valor, Air Medals, and Purple Hearts.26 While several Loudspeaker Team members were wounded in action (WIA), only four 1st L&L soldiers were killed in action from 1950-1953. These fallen Korean War Psywarriors were honored by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command during its memorialization ceremony on 24 May 2007. They are the legacy of the 1st MISO Battalion (Airborne) today.

ENDNOTES

COL Kenneth K. Hansen. Psywar in Korea (Washington, DC: Joint Subsidiary Activities Group, OJCS, 1960): 7, 26. ^[return]
Hansen, Psywar in Korea, 26. MAJ Homer Caskey took the Technical Information Detachment overseas. After the TID was expanded to become the 1st L&L Company, it was subsequently commanded by Majors John T. Dabinett and Donald W. Osgood and Captains Herbert Avedon, Oliver W. Rodman, and Raymond E. Forbes ^[return]
Department of the Army. Operational Research Office. Technical Memorandum ORO-T-3 (FEC). George S. Pettee, US Psywar Operations in the Korean War (23 January 1951), 29; “PSYWAR Hits Korean Enemy Right Where It Hurts the Most,” The Army Times, 20 May 1953; and 1st L&L Company, EUSA, APO 301, Seoul, Korea, Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) dated 10 August 1952, hereafter cited as 1st L&L Co. SOP. ^[return]
Pettee, US Psywar Operations in the Korean War, 2, 7, 23, 24, 29; Hansen, Psywar in Korea, 26, 194, 196; (Retired) Lieutenant Colonel Jay V. Russell, telephone interview by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 16 November 2004, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Ft Bragg, NC, hereafter cited by name and date. When war broke out in Korea, MAJ Alfred L. DiBella from the G-2 Psywar Branch, Special Projects Division, Supreme Command Allied Powers (General Douglas A. MacArthur’s headquarters) in Tokyo was dispatched to Seoul. In January 1951, General Mathew B. Ridgway transferred responsibility for Psywar from G-2 to G-3 in EUSA, where it became a G-3 Operations division rather than a special staff section. He increased the manning to eight officers and nine enlisted men, and named DiBella acting chief. Prior to that Majors DiBella and Edwin Rios, 1LT Fred W. Wilmot, and a master sergeant conducted the tactical Psywar campaign for EUSA until 1st L&L Company was deemed combat operational in April 1951. Airborne and ground loudspeaker efforts were experimental. Only two trailer-mounted loudspeakers and two airborne loudspeakers had been in service. The 1st Cavalry Division lent its loudspeaker trailer to the 25th ID in the summer and fall of 1950. The U.S. Marines used their loudspeakers throughout the fall. Attempts to use them at the Chosin Reservoir in winter were unsuccessful. With the temperatures from -10 to –20F, the generator would not start. (Retired) LTC Fred W. Wilmot, telephone interviews by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 10 November 2004 and 29 November 2004, USASOC History Office Classified Files, hereafter cited by name and date respectively. ^[return]
T/O&E 20-77, Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company, Army, 1 September 1950, hereafter T/O&E 20-77. ^[return]
Change 1 to T/O&E 20-77 dated 24 April 1951; (Retired) MSG Joseph F. Lissberger, telephone interview by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 8 February 2007, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC, hereafter cited by name and date. ^[return]
Herbert Shevins interview, Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 21 February 2007, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC, hereafter cited by name and date. ^[return]
Shevins interview, 21 February 2007; Shevins email to Briscoe, “Draft Article for Veritas,” 13 September 2007. ^[return]
Shevins interview, 21 February 2007. ^[return]
Lissberger interview, 8 February 2007. ^[return]
Lissberger and (Retired) MSG Francis D. Blanchard interviews by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 22 May 2007, Fort Bragg, NC, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC, hereafter cited by name and date. ^[return]
(Retired) MAJ Ivan G. Worrell interview by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 12 April 2007; Worrell interview by Dr. Briscoe, 22 May 2007, Fort Bragg, NC, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC, hereafter cited by name and date; Duane D. Luhn interview by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 23 May 2007, Fort Bragg, NC, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC; Russell interview, 16 November 2004; Russell interview by Dr. Briscoe, 14 January 2005; Blanchard interview, 15 June 2005. ^[return]
Eighth US Army. G3, PSYWAR Division, Seoul, Korea. “Weekly Loudspeaker ‘Team Talk’” flyers, 14 April 1952; 24 November 1952, MAJ Alan J. Dover Collection, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC; 1st L&L Co. SOP dated 10 August 1952, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC; Lissberger and Blanchard interview, 22 May 2007. ^[return]
1st L&L Co. SOP dated 10 August 1952. ^[return]
CPT Herbert Avedon, Special Projects Branch, EUSA G3 PSYWAR Division, memo to COL Hall dated 14 November 1952, subject: Psywar Commentary Nr. 1, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC. ^[return]
Avedon memo to COL Hall dated 14 November 1952. ^[return]
Avedon memo to COL Hall dated 14 November 1952. ^[return]
Shevins interview, 21 February 2007. ^[return]
Shevins interview, 21 February 2007. ^[return]
Stephen E. Pease, Psychological Warfare in Korea 1950-1953 (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992), 131-132; Robert F. Futrell, The United States Air Force in Korea 1950-1953 (NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1961): 620, Rose Interview #1, and Hansen, Psywar in Korea, 313-314, 316. “Bedcheck Charlies” operated throughout the war, but low-level flights increased during the last six months when the front lines were static. CPL Herbert Shevins created this photographic record of the 1st L&L in 1953 as a farewell gift to departing soldiers. James A. Field, Jr., History of United States Naval Operations: Korea (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962): 455; Robert F. Futrell, The United States Air Force in Korea 1950-1953 (NY: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1961): 622-623. ^[return]
Lissberger interview, 8 February 2007; Lissberger and Blanchard interview, 22 May 2007; Shevins interview, 21 February 2007. Selecting different targets almost every night for two weeks in April 1953, the Communist airmen flew PO-2s, LA-11s, and Yak-18s against Chunchon, Kimpo, and EUSA front-line troops. On the night of 26/27 May 1953, five to eight PO-2s dropped small bombs and mortar rounds over the Seoul area. June was filled with attacks: 15/16 June nine aircraft raided Seoul and shook President Syngman Rhee’s mansion with bombs; 16/17 June some 15 Po-2s, La-11s, and Yak-18s made the most damaging attack of the season, starting several fires in Seoul, one which destroyed fifteen million gallons of fuel at Inch’on. These attacks took place during periods of bright moonlight. Futrell, USAF in Korea 1950-1953, 622. ^[return]
Lissberger interview, 8 February 2007; Lissberger and Blanchard interview, 22 May 2007; Shevins interview, 21 February 2007. ^[return]
Gerald A. Rose, May 1952, Korea, letter to parents, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Ft Bragg, NC. ^[return]
“War Without Weapons,” Pacific Stars and Stripes (17 March 1951); Hansen, Psywar in Korea, 59. ^[return]
Shevins interview, 21 February 2007. ^[return]
Charles H. Briscoe, “‘Volunteering’ for Combat: Loudspeaker Psywar in Korea,” Veritas, 1:2, 57. ^[return]
“Lt. Guy Bordelon, Night-Fighter Ace, US Navy F4U-5N Corsair Pilot” at http://www.acepilots.com/korea_bordelon.html accessed 12 May 2010; “F4U Corsair,” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F4U_Corsair accessed 12 May 2010; LT Guy Bordelon interview in Donald Knox and Alfred Koppel, The Korean War: The Concluding Volume of an Oral History: The Uncertain Victory (NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), 246-250 ^[return]