Plain Tales of the Korean Hills A Post Armistice Odyssey

There are many books and articles about the major players of the Korean War, but there are very few that address the aftermath of the war and the view point of the young 18 and 20 year old's who fought the war and enforced the armistice. This book chronicles the life of Corporal Sam Kelly as he entered basic training, shipping out to Korea to be stationed on the DMZ near Seoul for a year. If you were adventurous life was never dull, Sam took advantage of every opportunity to explore post war Korea and Japan from 1954 to 1955. This book includes many photographs of Company A, 73rd Tank Battalion soldier's life in the field and the post war conditions of South Korea.

Sam Kelly started his military career in JROTC at Long Beach Poly High School then enlisted in the 452 Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, at Daugherty Field, Air Force Reserves with his friend Paul Kellogg. He requested a transfer to the Army in 1953 so he could go to Korea. He arrived just after the Armistice. He saw a post war Korea and the resolve of the locals to rebuild their country. After Korea Sam graduated from Cal Poly San Louis Obispo and started work with the Ocean Engineer division of Interstate Electronics in Anaheim California where he worked on locating and recovering things people lost on the ocean floor. Before the Hughes Glomar Explorer Barge could sale on a mission he had to get all the feral cats safely ashore. After Interstate he taught ocean engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. During the cold war he worked with the Soviets on a number of ocean research operations in the Pacific.