Central Korea weather

The winter wind from Siberia was called “The Hawk.” The term originated from Chicago, where skyscrapers wind-tunneled gales blowing from or to Lake Michigan.

The Siberian Hawk was merciless, without feeing, without awareness of its effect on people, animals and the land. The Hawk was part of God’s plan – “This is how I want dead of winter weather in Korea.”

Every foreign soldier in Korea learned about real winter -- American, British, Turk, Australian, Greek.

I was a dog handler in Korea from March 1965 – March 1966, north of Seoul. My dog was named Duke. Duke and I and the other seven handlers and dogs in Sentry Dog Platoon walked guard, sometimes seven or 10 consecutive nights. The upside of the job was, we were not at the DMZ.

The Army gave every soldier sufficient winter clothing to stay warm, as long as we were dry.

I wore it all – cotton boxers and T-shirt; wool longjohn shirt and drawers; OD wool trousers and OD wool shirt; field trousers with liner; OD wool cap with flaps; parka with liner and hood; mittens; and Mickey Mouse boots.

The parka hood was rimmed with fur and had a piece of wire inside so you could adjust where the fur fit your face. I had the fir down to my eyebrows and up to my nose. Many nights my breath condensed and then immediately froze on the fir.

Duke had his German Shepherd fur coat. He never complained about the cold.