Offical caption, some 70 years ago this month: Missouri infantrymen with the 19th Infantry Regiment (24th Infantry Division) along the Kumsong front in Korea wish Happy New Year to the stateside folks.
Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-387519. National Archives Identifier: 531422
Here’s to 2022! As the man says, “Maybe this year will be better than the last.”
This original color photo shows the crew of an M-24 Chaffee light tank along the Naktong River front in largely DPRK-occupied South Korea. Note the sign to Daegu.
NARA FILE#: 111-C-6061
On the ground is PFC Rudolph Dotts, Egg Harbor City, N.J. gunner (center), armed with an M3 Grease Gun. On the hull with an M1 Carbine is PVT Maynard Linaweaver, Lundsburg, Kansas, cannoneer of the tank’s M6 75mm gun. On top, ready on the M2 .50-cal heavy machine gun, is PFC Hugh Goodwin, Decatur, Miss., tank commander.
All are members of the 24th Reconnaissance Company, 24th “Victory” Infantry Division. The date is likely August to September 1950, as the unit was inside the battered Pusan (Busan) Perimeter, holding the western portion of the line.
Of note, the DPRK forces opposing the 24th had hundreds of Soviet-supplied T-34/85 tanks, which had both stronger armor than the M-24 and a superior main gun.