RALPH F. MARCH: 'I'M JUST PROUD I WAS ABLE TO SERVE MY COUNTRY'

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Radar mechanic school was a breeze for Montoursville resident Ralph F. March.

March, who was born and raised in Williamsport, enlisted in the Air Force in November 1949. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas, he was sent to Keesler Air Force Base at Biloxi, Miss., for training.

"At first, it was a real piece of cake," March said. "We only went to school four hours a day, Monday through Friday."

Once the Korean War broke out, however, everything changed. March soon found himself working long hours, six days a week.

On Jan. 2, 1951, he found himself heading for Korea on board a ship. March said he did not see land or another ship until he arrived at Pusan harbor 30 days later.

"I was sea sick for three days and I had KP duty, too," March said. "The sea was rough. One day we went 24 miles in 24 hours. We were going up and down but not so much forward."

Once at Pusan, all Army personnel aboard the ship disembarked. Then the ship headed for Japan, where March was assigned to a squadron that flew night missions in Korea.

"Our main job was to interdict supplies coming down from North Korea," he said. "Each squadron was assigned an area. It was designed so that there was at least one plane in each area. If they saw anything, they blew it up, or tried to."

March said he was responsible for making sure the radar equipment on six airplanes were in good working order.

March got to Japan in February. In June, he learned his sister had died and went home on leave. He returned to duty in July, but this time to Kunsan Air Force Base in Kunsan, Korea.

The base was along the 36th Parallel on the west coast of South Korea on the Yellow Sea, March said.

The base was home to March's unit, the 90th Bomb Squadron of the 3rd Bomb Wing, which was comprised of three squadrons of B-26 bombers. A Marine Corps fighter squadron and a South Korean Army depot also were at the base.

The B-26 could be armed with rockets, bombs and .50-caliber machine guns, March said. Machine guns were positioned in the airplane's wings or in its nose.

Because the pilots and crew got to go home after 50 missions, they were eager to fly, March said.

"The quicker they got their 50 missions, the quicker they could go home," he said.

While in Korea, March did not get to see much of the countryside, but he ended up carrying plenty of it on his boots.

"In the spring you had a lot of mud. It would stick right to you," March said. "It was deep and like slush. You didn't make much headway in it, so you didn't do any more walking than you had to."

The North Koreans flew Russian MiGs in the 90th's area of operations, but the real danger was from anti-aircraft fire from enemy ground forces, March said.

"Several (planes) came back shot up - hydraulics shot out so they had to land on their belly," he said.

Although March's squadron lost no planes while he was in Korea, a pilot with a sister squadron, who happened to be the son of an Army general, was missing in action following a mission.

"They never found anything of him," March said. "Of course, being a general's son, you know there was an all-out effort to find him."