"Over the Beach" is on the street

[Don Boose]

Hi Douglas. It's always good to hear from you. I enjoy it when you share with us some of your own experiences and add your naval expertise to the discussions of ship models. I really like the idea of you reading the book while overlooking the place from which the Canadian destroyers sailed.

You have summarized Captain Brock's gallant action very nicely. I cover the operation of his destroyer force on the Taedong River on pp. 237-238. Incidentally, aircraft from HMS Theseus (sister ships of which have been modeled by Barry) also participated in that action.

Since the focus of the book is on US Army amphibious and over-the-shore operations, the train busters are not discussed in detail, but there are at least brief mentions of those actions by US Navy and Marine forces, Royal and Commonwealth Navy units, and the 41s Independent Commando, Royal Marines. I cover those in the sections on amphibious special operations for each time period of the war. For example, this is how I deal with the first of the attempted train bustings:

"On 10 July Admiral Joy directed Higgins to extend the blockade as far north as possible and to do his best to damage railway tunnels along the line running from the Soviet border south to the major port and industrial complex of Wonsan. Juneau and the US destroyer Mansfield steamed north to attempt to destroy a railroad tunnel between the little coastal ports of Seongjin (Songjin) and Dancheon (Tanch’on). Gunfire had little effect against tunnels, so Higgins ordered a demolition party to destroy the tunnel with explosive charges. This would be the first US amphibious raid
of the war, and the first landing in North Korea. It was strictly a Navy–Marine Corps affair and more closely resembled the landings of the 18th and 19th centuries than the recent World War II amphibious assaults. (See map 14.)

"On the evening of 11 July, four marines and four sailors led by Commander William B. Porter, the Juneau’s executive officer, transferred from the cruiser to the Mansfield, which then sailed close to shore and debarked the raiding party in a whaleboat. Porter’s team landed unobserved, scrambled over the rugged terrain, and planted two 60-pound charges in the tunnel, set to detonate when a train came through. They withdrew without incident, although they were unable to observe whether any explosion took place. This was the first of many such anti-railroad operations that the Navy would carry out during the war." [pp. 139-140]

I hope you enjoy the book. And thank you for your service.

Don

[rickstef]

Colonel,

I see you missed one particular model, based on an Operation mentioned on page 45

Operation Husky



Now you get to add another one to your collection

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Rick. But actually, I DO have this one, but haven't tried building it yet (as is the case for 99.99 per cent of the models in my collection).

Is the photo of your own model? If so, it would be worth a trip to Wilmington to see it!

Many thanks for staying on the qui vive for amphibious additions to my collection!

One of my NY resolutions is to build one of the German LCTs you dragooned me into buying. I was also shangri-la-ing over the 1/25 GPM LCM you put me on to. I bought two copies in hopes of actually building it. I thought Kevin's M4A3 Sherman would look good on board if we go through with the plan to have a papermodelers booth at the next Army Heritage Day. If I actually built it, of course!

Cheers for the New Year. Hope to see you soon. Lil sends fond regards.

Don

PS: Okay. I'm impressed with the page citation!

Don

[rickstef]

No Don,

that one is from JSC proper, i do not have this model, but i might have to get it.

I do hope we can cobble the Army Heritage day display

Rick

[KCStephens]

Don,

Congratulations on another excellent publication. Now that the holidays are over and things begin to wind down, I'll have a bit of extra time to catch up on some reading and continue my model building. I also hope that it will be possible to have a few models on display at the next Army Heritage Day.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Kevin

[pahorace]

Thanks Don and congratulations.
I downloaded a copy of your extraordinary book.
Historians, in the modeling field, are as important as the Designers.

Greetings and Happy New Year.

Orazio

[Jim Nunn]

Don,

Congratulations on the publication of your new book. With 6 years of research and writing “Over the Beach” was surely was a labor of love. May it become the standard reference on the subject.

I look forward to reading it in the coming week.

Jim Nunn

[Jim Nunn]

Duplicate post

[Don Boose]

Kevin -- Thanks. I hope we can get together soon.

Orazio -- I appreciate hearing from you. I've enjoyed our discussions in the Forum and look forward to many more in the future.

Jim -- Thanks for the kind words .. and a belated thanks for protecting our flank during the Long Tuan amphib operation back in 1967!

Don

[Don Boose]

I just realized that I failed to acknowledge David Sakrison's nice words in an earlier post. I'm honored to hear from someone who writes so beautifully about flying and nature. I prize my signed copy of Chasing the Ghost Birds and must admit to being envious of one who can produce so much superb prose and also turn out outstanding paper models -- not the least of which being that astonishing paper merlin engine.

Many thanks, David.

Don