오해정
월남전 참전 관련 재미없는 에피소드 하나 올려드립니다♧
에피소드-맹호 기갑연대 골칫덩이 오 해정 중위
Episode-First Lieutenant Hae Jung Oh
Troublemaker of the Cavalry Regiment,
Tiger Division
Almost all of the 1969 class members of KMA went to Vietnam as platoon
leaders, but some served as staffers from the beginning. One of them
was First Lieutenant Oh Hae-jung, who went to Vietnam in June
1970. After a voyage of five days and four nights aboard the USS
Geiger, Lieutenant Oh arrived at Quy Nhon. Upon arrival, he was
assigned as an assistant to S-3 Operations, the Cavalry Regiment. He
was an English interpreter and an aide to the regiment commander.
The regiment had Lieutenant Colonel Mullens from Texas as a liaison
officer between the ROK and U.S. forces. Lieutenant Oh and LTC.
Mullens closely cooperated in the matter of maneuvering troops by
helicopter.
In August 1970, two months after arrival, Lieutenant Oh got on
a helicopter to assist his regiment commander in Operation Tiger, the
division-level operation. In August in Vietnam, the temperature on
the ground exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, making it difficult for people
even to breathe, while inside the helicopter, it was too cold at an altitude
of 2,000 meters. In less than 30 minutes, he had the urge to urinate.
Having no other option, he took out the canteen he was wearing on
his waist, opened the lid, and went to work. But, Alas! The opening of
the canteen was so narrow. He managed to do his business inside the
vibrating helicopter, but half of the urine flowed out. He couldn’t help
laughing at this mishap in the first helicopter operation.
He felt a bit sorry for those grunts who had come to Vietnam
together with him, wearing a helmet, carrying an M16 rifle
and heavy combat gear, and leading a platoon through a rugged
mountain jungle. In contrast, he was always comfortable onboard the helicopter.
But he encountered many dangerous situations getting Viet Cong shots
on main rotor of his helicopter. Nowhere is safe in combat fields.
While he was grateful to U.S. helicopter pilots for their dedication in
supporting Korean operations, he occasionally had conflicts with them.
In April 1971, he visited the adjacent 1st Regiment with his regiment
commander and operations staff by helicopter. However, the helicopter
pilot who took his group there said he could not stay long enough for
them to finish their business and would have to return immediately
to his unit. When Lieutenant Oh protested that he had never heard
of such a thing in advance, the pilot insisted on returning. Oh was so
angry that he drew his pistol and threatened the pilot. Yet the helicopter
went away, and his party had to rent a jeep from the 1st Regiment and
return to Cav. Regiment. They had to risk encountering Viet Cong attacks and traveling tens of kilometers to their base.
Due to this incident, the American pilots called Lieutenant Oh
the troublemaker of the Cavalry Regiment. The Deputy Division
commander called Lieutenant Oh, rebuked him, and ordered him to
return home immediately. The Tiger Division, supported by the U.S.
129th Helicopter Company, was forced to take tangible measures in
response to the U.S. protests. However, it was a matter of formality
because he was scheduled to return to Korea two weeks later, and this
incident caused him not to receive a medal for combat distinction. At
that time, he justified it to himself that he committed such a reckless act
just for the safety of his regiment commander.
Now, he believes that threatening a pilot of an allied nation with
a pistol was an irresponsible act caused by a young officer’s rashness.
He returned to Korea aboard the USS Upsher in June 1971, and
shortly after that, he applied for a job to serve as an aide de camp to
the Commanding General of the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea but was
rejected. The incident in Vietnam was heard of even by the Eighth U.S.
Army in Seoul. Lieutenant Oh couldn’t help but admire the intelligence
of the U.S. military. Even here in the U.S. units in Korea, he was known
as the guy who had threatened the U.S. officer with a pistol in Vietnam
and, thus, was one that had to be avoided. How would you expect them
to select someone like you as the U.S. commander’s aide de camp? Oh
thought he was too naïve.
Lieutenant Oh’s experience in the Vietnam War continued to play
a role even after the war. Lieutenant Oh left the army and served as a
government official for the rest of his public career. In December 2013,
38 years after the war’s end, he was selected as a mid-to-long-term
advisory group of KOICA based on his experience as a government
official. He was dispatched to Lang Son Province in Vietnam to
provide policy advice. Oh’s job was to impart know-how to SMEs
and investment policy. He did not say that he had fought in the
Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. He didn’t do it on purpose. He
didn’t know how they would react, and he didn’t want to remind the
Vietnamese post-war generation of the pain of war. However, he tried
to help them with a sincere heart by repaying what he had done wrong.
(주) 26기 정연선 박사의
“육사 출신 장교의 월남전 참전기” 중에서
육군 중위 오 해정에 관한 부분 발췌
From Hill 92 to Nui Hon Ba
(The journey of Korea Military Academy
Graduates to the Vietnam War)
Dr. Chung Youn-son, Emeritus Professor
The Korea Military Academy