With One Twice
Note: Photos from Snyder family - my comments. MK.

This is Snyder (left) with Grover. They and I were three of a kind in the fourth squad of Able. The SOP called for us to have nine men, one bazooka, and one air-cooled .30 caliber machine gun; but, there being no tanks to shoot a bazooka at during our time in Korea, our squad had two machine guns and no bazooka, and the number of men in the squad varied from eight to twelve men depending on whatever.

It was often that two of the three of us, with or without the third or someone else, shared the same bunker and, sometimes, a guard duty shift of two hours on and two hours off.

As I have said elsewhere in these pages, they were killed by the same mortar round at the base of Kelly on July 31, 1952. My remembrances of them are linked from their entries as Snyder's Pages (Entry #8) and Grover's Page (Entry #9). There may have been more than one page for Grover except that his backpack did not disclose to whom to write.

This is Snyder (right) and a very familiar face for which I can not come up with a name, which is sad because that is probably my shadow on his leg as I took the picture.

I think it may be Sgt Saylors (sp?) with whom I had a brief reunion in Oklahoma City when I was there in 1953 to visit an old college (OU) roomie and friend who had enough smarts to stay in college and thus avoid the call to duty by his Uncle Sam. If that is the Sgt in the photo, the last time I had seen him was also July 31, 1951. He sat down beside me behind the line while I was sitting on a slope watching the melee below where the wounded and KIAs were being evacuated. I noticed that he was white as a sheet and that one of his arms was dislodged at the shoulder. Casually, I suggested that he might pay a visit to one of the many medics scurrying around below, but he said that they were too busy taking care of the "seriously wounded". After a little more argument, he finally went to the medics and I didn't see him again (at least he got to go on home) except for the one time in Oklahoma City.

It is also possible that I also saw a current Bunker Buddy that day - Dick Lawrence (Entry #4) was evacuated that same day and, most probably, from that same location.

A late note (2 Jul 2001): After all these years and many unproductive searches, I finally located Sgt Cecil L. Saylors. Unfortunately, I was a few months too late - he passed away in the fall of 2000 while living in Ponca City, Oklahoma. If I had been able to get to him sooner, what fun we would have had discussing the "good" old days and what nostalgia we would have shared in remembering Snyder, Grover, and the rest of our gang. The good news is that, with the help of Saylor's son Matthew, my favorite Platoon Sergeant may be in the Bunker soon. MK.

3rd Division Page       IBB Map and Photo Index
His Korean War Memorial Page       Snyder and ?
IBB Page Two        Index to Snyder's Pages
"Can Do" Photo Index