The commanding officer of the compound where the Rangers were billeted announced that no one would be allowed to go on pass except the officers. This was a big disappointment to the men. The compound was situated on the side of a large hill with a chain-link fence going almost to the top of the hill. It was possible to climb the hill, walk beyond the fence and go to town, or to scoot under the fence beyond the immediate guard’s post. The guards were relatively young soldiers who had not seen combat, so the intimidation and cat-and-mouse game of going to town started as soon as it became dark. Many of the men still had live ammunition! The Japanese colonel of the Joint Logistic Command (JLC) called out the MPs, but it was a hopeless battle.

All of the 2d Ranger Company officers left the compound together. Captain Harris, from Fort Bragg, had been the CO of the 666th Truck Company, which was assigned direct support duties for the 82d. Harris had a quartermaster truck company stationed in the city. It was an all-black unit that also had been billeted in the Spring Lake area, so it was like homecoming. The 2d Ranger Company men would visit him and help him drink up his booze while he brought them up to date on the latest news from Fort Bragg. Captain Allen remained there while his young and wild lieutenants set out to see the city. The normal curfew time was 2400 hours. Since the officers did not know the city, they just went down the street on one side and came back up on the other side. There were enough places to provide entertainment for a short period, and everyone was on the way back to the compound by 2400 hours.

By the time they reached the barracks, everyone was beginning to get a little tired. Red Horse and Bennie Pryor found a can of C-rations. They could not decide how to share it, so a loud argument erupted. Everyone else decided to hit the sack and sleep it off. The argument continued for a few minutes before the shoving started. The JLC Colonel and the Officer of the Day came in, and both men were pulled off shipment. Each had to spend about another week there while the Colonel placed Article 15 charges against them for disorderly conduct.

The next morning, the JLC Colonel held a mass formation of Rangers and cussed everyone out for their disgraceful conduct. Things were not all “peaches and cream” in other places within the compound, either.41 Some of the men were still smashed from the night before. The Colonel couldn’t expect, and didn’t get, any help from the officers because he had handled the situation the wrong way from the beginning. He should have called an officer meeting and set some courtesy patrols with his MPs. He could have called for officers and senior NCOs to ride with the MPs. He should have pointed out the off-limits establishments. Instead he had both flaunted his authority and displayed his lack of combat wisdom, antagonizing the troops and escalating the situation. Certainly, each unit had enough non-drinkers and men of chastity to have handled the prostitute situations until 2400 hours. It was a known fact that many troops stationed in the town knew the local joints that were acceptable. Also, by 2400 hours all of the little money that the troops had would have been spent. The unit commanders would have emptied the houses of ill-repute and piled the men into trucks for a merry ride back to the compound. Some coffee and doughnuts would have made an excellent midnight snack before putting everyone to bed. Unfortunately, high rank does not always translate into know how or common sense!

All ammunition was collected and the Rangers were transported down to the dock in open-bed, five-ton trucks (commonly known as cattle trucks) for loading onto the Japanese ferryboats for transport to Japan. Of course, there were imitations of cattle (mooing sounds) as the trucks traveled through the city. One Native American dove from the ferry into the harbor and started to swim back to land. It was lucky that he was not caught in the undertow or propeller wash. He was last seen being hauled back aboard the ferry, with cheers from all as they left Korea behind. The Colonel was probably happy to see them leave.