By GI Korea on June 19th, 2009 at 3:00 am

Then & Now: Camp St. Barbara, Korea

• PBAR
  12:23 pm on June 19th, 2009 1

  I notice in a lot of older pictures of Korea that the hills appeared to be deforested. I've heard that the Japanese heavily logged all of Korea and I'm curious as to whether that's a myth or not. Was Korea really deforested before the 1980s or does it just appear that way from a few pictures I've seen of areas near military bases.

• GI Korea
  12:42 am on June 20th, 2009 2

  Korea was deforested both by the Japanese and domestic consumption and then what was left was also heavily damaged during the Korean War. The replanting of trees in Korea has been a major event with the establishment of Arbor Day over the past few decades. The results of this can easily be seen today from old pictures like the one above. However, it is even more apparent when comparing South Korea with North Korea where much of the hillsides have been greatly deforested for domestic consumption and is the reason why NK has such flooding problems.

• Bruce
  2:27 pm on June 20th, 2009 3

  Here is how the hills looked in late 50s – early 60s in most areas. There were huge tree planting projects under way in 60, on my 1st tour.

  http://www.qsl.net/wd4ngb/barehills.jpg

  This was taken near what was called Unchon-ni, now called Uncheon. This was the location of Camp Kaiser, which was just north of Watkins Range.

• mike sherman
  3:00 pm on June 20th, 2009 4

  MY UNCLE WAS WOUNDED ON THE HILL IN 53. HE BELIEVED MANY OF THE PRISONERS FROM VIET NAM WAS TAKEN TO KOREA BECAUSE WE HAVE NO RELATIONS WITH THEM

• silentgrayfellow
  6:57 pm on July 26th, 2009 5

  @ #3, that’s interesting, I assume you mean that POWs captured by the North Vietnamese were sent to North Korea. That would make sense, and could explain why there are so many soliders that were lost in Vietnam and never accounted for.

• tom young
  1:51 pm on January 25th, 2010 6

  i was stationed at camp st. barbara from august 1960 to august 1961. The 1960 photo shows it s it was. I have alot of photos of the bridge and town and the bridge looks the same. The bridge was to be blown in the event of a major attack and we had to make it across within certain time peramoters or it would be blown in front of us. i also have a street photo of the town street looking downhil and unpaved that looks the same. We called the large hills Camel's hump. The airport had small craft and helicoptors for survellience. There was a bar sitting high on a cliff but the trees may cover it.

• Alexander S. Kocsis
  1:55 pm on August 25th, 2010 7

  I was a 2LT with the 2/76 FA in 1964-65. Our compound was just above the bridge. In case of attack we had the mission of hauling one of our towed 8" howitzers as far up the hill as we could get and to take out the bridge by fire. Someone figured out that the range was not sufficient to arm the PD fuze. We didn't sweat it, we figured that even with the noseplug still in the shell, those 200 lb shells would smash the bridge to smithereens.

• WV Roberson
  11:06 am on September 20th, 2010 8

  Tom Young— I was stationed at St Barbara 1960-1961. B Battery, Hawk Missile, 71st Arty. Ihave lots of pics around that area in Korea

• James Deno
  11:53 am on October 25th, 2010 9

  Was station St. Barbare 1955-1956. The hills at that time were just starting to have regrowth of small trees and weeds. Had climed up onto the "Hanging Rock" several times for picture taking. As for the Village, it did not exist yet. Was with Bat. C. 17TH FA. Bn. The r

• tony
  1:14 am on December 7th, 2010 10

  Does anyone have a yearbook from 1970-1971 camp saint barbara korea, HHB I CORP(GP) ARTTY,,,,,,,I am dying to find one to show my kids and grandkids what their pop looked like in the army at 17. I am remenising of the good ol days. My health is not good due to Agent Orange from over there. Anyone who might know someone that was over there at S.B. 1970-1971 please get the message i will pay to have the yearbook copied and for their truble…Thanks to all, God Speed, Tony Nicholoff (Ret MSG).

• Bill Thompson
  5:40 am on January 2nd, 2011 11

  Tony…I have an HHB I Corps Arty yearbook with the date 1970 on its cover. (I was there from July 1969 to Feb 1971–most of the time in HHB Personnel).

  My e-omail address is wthompso@odu.edu. I live in Norfolk, VA. Let's see if we can't find a way to get a copy of this book for you,

  Bill Thompson

• john
  7:33 am on January 2nd, 2011 12

  I've been reading the autobiography series being written Gen Paik Sun Yup on http://www.joinsmsn.com/ this past year and he mentioned reforestation was one of the major projects originally started by Syngman Rhee or Yi Seungman, 1st president of South Korea.

  Some in Korea don't like him but now I believe SK was lucky to have him as 1st president.

• john
  7:34 am on January 2nd, 2011 13

  #10 Was Agent Orange ever used in South Korea?

  Thanks for your service.

• Eddie Boles
  6:09 am on February 8th, 2011 14

  Tony. Just read your request for yearbook for 1970. I was at camp St Barbara from apr 1969 to apr 1970. I was at 2nd 76th arty HHB. I was a medic at the aid station. I have year books for 1969 and 1970. I will check and see if can find your name and picture. Eddie

• Eddie Boles
  6:12 am on February 8th, 2011 15

  Email address eddielboles@aol.com

• john Moran
  7:27 am on March 15th, 2011 16

  I was at St Barbara in 67 in HHB 6/12FA, and then to Alex Williams w/B Btry.

  It was interesting, what with the North koreans coming down to kill park and the Peublo being hijacked.

• anthony nicholoff
  12:45 pm on March 16th, 2011 17

  We had interesting times. I ran Range Control with sp5 milkes. I was a 17 year old sp4 with 9 months time in service….nice to hear from you. happy St, ats day…..Tony

• Bill Farrell
  7:38 am on June 2nd, 2011 18

  Hello,

  I was in Korea for about none months at Camp St. Barabara in HHB, I Corps. I have heard that Agent Orange was used in Korea and people such as Tony #10 above do suffer from it. I too would love to get a copy of the yearbook as I am in the 1970 one which i had no idea existed.

  Anyone know what happened to Bruce’s website that had all the great infomration?

  Thanks,
  Bill Farrell

• Bill Farrell
  7:42 am on June 2nd, 2011 19

  PS Click on my name above and you can see my website that I just started working on. I will have ot post some Korea pics up there.

  Bill

• Bruce Richards
  9:20 am on June 2nd, 2011 20

  Bill, here it is.

  http://www.qsl.net/wd4ngb/stbarbara.htm

  Best assignment I had in 22 years.

• Bill Farrell
  11:07 am on June 2nd, 2011 21

  Thanks Bruce. I thought maybe you went off the air. Problem is I cannot access your website from my Navy computer. Was able to sitting in car on my cell phone.

  Bill

• Bobby Casteel
  4:00 pm on July 14th, 2011 22

  I was in Korea Camp Santa Barbara. Jan. 1966 to Feb.1967 . Bruce Richards website had a picture of soldiers sitting around a table having a cold one.If anyone was in that picture besides me .E mail me your coments.

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