With North Korea in the news almost every day recently, I thought it was high time to revisit the box of tapes I first wrote about in September of 2011, the tapes from a Lieutenant Colonel stationed at an Army hospital in Korea, in 1954, to a family member in New Jersey. You can read the brief introduction to the tapes in that post, here.
And now that my beloved reel to reel machine has returned from several weeks in the electronic hospital, I can continue the Reel-to-Reel catacombs series, and this seemed like a natural place to resume. Today's two offerings are both from a short time before the July, 1954 tapes offered up in the previous episode, specifically from March 20th and May 25th (the latter starts with a moment of music, which ends quickly).
I suspect that his machine was running slow as he recorded the tape on March 20th, as his voice sounds much higher upon playback during that tape than it does on any of the other tapes.
These tapes don't offer any great insight into the Korean conflict, which had ended its "hot" phase the previous year, but there are a few references to current events - most interestingly, perhaps, a story about a sudden change in the currency being used where he is stationed, and the likely reason for it - in the midst of more everyday comments such as movie nights and references to friends and family. But all the while, the speaker, who calls himself "your Bill", remains a fascinating and entertaining man to listen to.
Almost undoubtedly, there are other tapes from before, after and in between the dates of these tapes, as well - until I have listened to all of them, I won't know for sure what time period they cover, and there are a bunch more to go. As I said before, if there is interest, I'll be happy to share more of these tapes in the future.
Audio Letter From Korea, 3/20/54, Part One (MP3)
Audio Letter From Korea, 3/20/54, Part Two (MP3)
Awesome post dear..thanks a lot for sharing
Posted by: Kavita Joshi | May 06, 2013 at 10:37 PM