23. Secret Military History

1953-0815, Health, Worlds First Mention of Global Warming.
Popular Mecanix Magazine, Title:
Growing Blanket of Carbon Dioxide Raises Earth's Temperature.
The Article:
Earth’s ground temperature is rising 1.5 degrees a century because of carbon dioxide discharged from the burning of 2,000,000,000 tons of coal and oil yearly. According to Dr. Gilbert N. Plass of the Johns Hopkins University, this discharge augments a blanket of gas around the world, which is raising the temperature in the same manner glass heats a greenhouse. By 2080, he predicts the air's carbon-dioxide content will double, resulting in an average temperature rise of four percent. If most of man's industrial growth were over a period of several thousand years, instead of being crowded within the last century, oceans would have absorbed most of the excess carbon dioxide. However, because of the slow circulation of the seas, they have had little effect in reducing the amount of the gas as man's smoke-making abilities have multiplied over the past hundred years.

1954-0301, War, Weapons the North Korean Infantry Feared Most:
Air Attack 82-percent
Artillery 7-percent
Tanks 3-percent
Infantry 2-percent
Air attack weapons feared most:
Machine Guns 56-percent
HE Bombs 19-percent
Rockets 11-percent
Napalm 7-percent

1954-0302, War, Korea, Casualties.
21 US POW’s who refused repatriation
92 Missing and presumed dead not due to battle
1,794 KIA body missing
2,484 Died later of wounds
2,806 Died while POW (Includes the 700 Airmen in Taegu).
2,830 Non-battle deaths (accidents, illness).
2,045 Missing Known POWs.
4,418 US POWs repatriated at the Peace Village.
4,759 Died while Missing in Action (MIA).
8,176 Total KIA Missing bodies.
11,151 WIA more than once.
23, 637 Killed in Action (KIA).
33,686 Total Killed Due to Action.
92,134 WIA.
1,789,000 Number of US Military who served in Korea during the war.
5,720,000 Number of US Military worldwide during Korean War.

1954-0302, War, exactly one year after the Chinese attack, a cease fire is ordered. The war is over. NK gained 5-square-miles; they are very proud of that.
Number of casualties in one year of combat:
13,000 US KIA.
217,000 SK KIA.
405,000 NK KIA.
600,000 China KIA.
600,000 NK civilians.
1,000,000 SK civilians.
After the first year of the war, casualties were small on both sides.

1954-0615, UCMJ, Desertions during the Korean War.
46,000 men deserted from the United States Armed Forces since the outbreak of the Korean War. Of those, only 35,000 returned to duty by their own will or that of the Military Police. In addition, approximately 20,000 men were reported AWOL for one reason or another each month, mostly because they were about to be sent overseas.

1955-0615, Military, Norfolk - Sailors' Hell Hole.
A magazine article from the 1950s on the vice and trouble lurking in Norfolk, Virginia, for red-blooded American Sailors. Some great photos accompanied the article including one of a burlesque house, with a neon sign for "Girlie Stage Shows". Sailors had no problem finding much to spend their money on. "Joe the shitrag” had plenty of fun with small-time racketeers lining up at every corner from snake oil salesmen to drug pushers and pimps. Norfolk could facilitate all a sailor’s needs. From titty bars to saloons there were all the vices you could handle.
In Norfolk, amongst the bars, brothels, and tattoo parlors they had a place called the Strip Tease Palace. It was the Gaiety Theater, a seedy burlesque house on the notorious East Main Street. It was a place where top-name comedians performed, but only as warm-ups to the real entertainers, the strippers. Seemingly all the young crackerjacks who were alive and breathing snuck in or tried to with fake IDs. And all young women were told by their mothers never to go near the place, but at least a few did anyway. Visits to Norfolk were on a seaman's budget where they were warned by Commanding Officer that the Grandby, East Main corridor were “off-limits!" It was before my day, but it must’ve been a sight to see for a young virtuous sailor who hadn’t experienced life past the boundaries of his own county fair. These are the places our no-**** Sea Stories are made …
Sailors found in Norfolk much to spend their money on and much to frighten them. "Supposing Sammy Sailor doesn't care for sex on his night in town. He will find many other ways to spend his money. Small-time racketeers line the curbs of City Hall Avenue so solidly that a stranger in town would think they were waiting for a parade. Another type of salesman appears on the Norfolk streets: the narcotics pusher. If Sammy Sailor only wants to spend a little money, Norfolk has facilities for that, too. Slot machines line the back-room walls of saloons, a cheap burlesque operates wide open, speakeasies are not too hard to find where cheap-liquor-crazed men battle freely and frequently, and the numbers game is a popular sport


1956-0408, Accident, Six Boot Camp Trainees Drown.
At Parris Island's Ribbon Creek, a drill instructor frustrated with his platoon, SSG Matthew C. McKeon, who was drunk, marched 71 recruits into murky waters at night. Six of them drowned. A congressional investigations and court-martial of McKeon followed.
An array of reforms, including the establishment of drill instructor schools were implemented.
SSG McKeon was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of negligent homicide and drinking on duty. The Ribbon Creek incident is still taught to drill instructors.

1957-0615, Aviation, First Army Use of Hemet’s.
36th Transportation Company (Lt Helicopter) the Bulldogs were formed in 1957 in Ft Sill Oklahoma. This was the first Army Helicopter Company to receive Flight Helmets and FM radios. Prior to receiving the helmets, a baseball cap, and earphones where the order of the day.
The Unit moved to Hanau Germany in Nov 1957 and received 18 brand new CH-34s in December. The company flew missions all over Germany, including tours along the East German Border. One of the more important missions was to fly six CH-34s from Germany to Lisbon Portugal, in 1960, to support a visit there by President Eisenhower. In 1963 the 36th was absorbed into the 503rd Avn Battalion, part of the 3rd Armored Division.

1958-0315, Military, SGT Elvis Presley.
From the age of 23 to 25 March 1958 to March 1960 Elvis Presley was a soldier in in the United States Army. His monthly pay was $78 (759-2022) plus $1,000 (9,728-2022) from his record company. Extraordinarily, different branches of the US Armed Forces had vied with each other to secure Elvis.
The military offered him a place in Special Services, so he could carry on his career If he also entertained the troops. Presley’s agent objected because he didn't want the government to be able to get free Presley concerts!
The Navy offered to form an "Elvis Presley" company, created exclusively from Elvis' friends and men from Memphis. As an added incentive, he would be given his own private quarters and would perform in Las Vegas. The Army offered a post that would allow Elvis to tour US Army bases around the world, to improve troop morale and bolster recruitment numbers.
The Pentagon also offered him the chance to join Special Services, which would mean he would not have to undergo regular soldier training but would still be able to entertain the troops. Elvis declined all these offers and enlisted as a regular soldier. He was initially scheduled for induction in January 1958 but received an extension to finish filming of the move, "King Creole."