6 September, Wednesday Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Group, General Headquarters Far East Command, issued Special Orders Number 213, authorizing the transfer of six officers, and two-hundred and eleven enlisted men. The orders were verbal and were classified secrete so their new assignment was not immediately given at that time.

8 September, Friday In the evening the Company members received passes for the week, with most returning to Tokyo to spend their time.

10 September, Sunday, 1320 hours [1:20 PM] The Battalion Charge of Quarters (CQ), received a telephone call from X Corps Headquarters ordering the company to be ready for movement by 1800 hours [6:00 PM] that evening. The CQ immediately informed 1LT William E. Van Buskirk, who was at Battalion when the call came in.

It was 1LT Van Buskirk who now had the daunting task of trying to round up the one-hundred and ninety men of the company that were scattered about the Tokyo area.

The lieutenant immediately departed for Repungi and the company area. On his way back he stopped at the Provost Marshal Office and had the Officer Of The Day, issue an order to all MP patrols to start looking for the men of the company.

1LT Van Buskirk returned to the company area and ordered the cooks to prepare cold cut sandwiches and have plenty of hot coffee available for the men when they returned. Throughout the afternoon and evening the MP’s started arriving at the company area in Repungi by way of taxi’s, patrol jeeps and some by rickshaw.

1730 hours [5:30 PM] the Company was assembled and ready to move out as ordered.

It was learned that the sudden change of status, from week long passes to immediate departure, was the result of the weather. General Headquarters [GHQ] received a warning that Typhoon Kezia was headed towards Japan from the Pacific Ocean.

The Company, consisting of six officers and, two-hundred eleven enlisted men, one Korean National Police Lieutenant, and twenty-nine Korean National Policemen, boarded a troop ship, the USNS General Simon B. Buckner, in Yokohama.

11 September, Monday It was discovered that PFC Gerold Griffey, of A Company, 720th MP Battalion, had hidden on board as a stow away. PFC Griffey surrendered himself and was turned over to the Troop Commander of the ship. The USNS Buckner departed the Harbor of Yokohoma.

The morale of the Company remained high while on board despite the extremely crowded conditions, poor food and rough seas. During the voyage Typhoon Kezia struck and stayed with them for three days, many of the members of the Company became very sea sick. Their duties while onboard the ship were to provide Military Police security and to enforce the rigid blackout regulations. One night the seas were so rough several trucks and some cargo lashed to the deck were washed overboard.

14 September, Thursday During the night the ships that departed Yokohama carrying the Company, joined up with other ships heading for Korea.

15 September, Friday The men from C Company found themselves stationed off the coast of Inchon, South Korea. It was at that time the men discovered they were to be part of the X Corps invasion forces that were going to land at Inchon.

19 September, Tuesday The Company was in the 3rd wave and debarked from the USNT Buckner in the afternoon. The embarkation was done by single file into a small boat that could hold only twenty men at a time.

Inchon Harbor was notorious for it’s drastic high and low tides. With the invasion planned for optimum high tide, landing priority naturally went to the combat troops and their immediate needs. The provisions and equipment would follow on subsequent high tides meaning the MP Company wouldn’t receive its vehicle for four more days. As new units arrived all were faced with the same dilemma and chose to just sit there.

The Company Commanding Officer, CPT Samuel T. Denton decided they had to improvise and located three old fire trucks, however, only one would start. The trucks were appropriated from the City Fire Chief by the MP’s who immediately went to work to clean and improve the operability of the one truck that would start.

Slowly the MP’s were transported by shuttle from the dock to the fire house in the newly cleaned fire truck.

The fire house, their assigned Command Post, was located across from Assembly Area-1. It had suffered only slight damage from the naval and air bombardment and was habitable. Headquarters Platoon was billeted in the fire station but the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Platoons had to dig in around Assembly Area.

20 September, Wednesday At first light the 3rd Platoon immediately established traffic control in and around Inchon City, posting their teams with the local fire trucks. The 2nd Platoon were assigned duties of establishing a guard at the X Corps POW Stockade. The 1st Platoon was assigned to search the area for Communist sympathizers and stragglers.

The 1st Platoon arrested eight Koreans who were definitely confirmed as Communist Soldiers in civilian clothing, as well as thirty known Communist sympathizers. The attached Korean National Police displayed a strong desire to summarily execute several of the prisoners who had been identified as having killed South Korean Policemen during the Communist occupation of the area. One woman prisoner was found to possess a letter listing the names of five South Koreans she had killed.

21 September, Thursday In the evening, two jeeps, and thirteen Indian motorcycles were unloaded from the SS South Wind, accompanied by the drivers. This was the first transportation they received, other than the three well worn fire trucks that had used since the landing. One motorcycle was not running, the problem was repaired by the following morning.

There were several instances of firing from the perimeter during the night, part of which can be attributed to nervous guards.

Twelve more prisoners, including two more women, one of whom carried a strangling noose, and numerous items of enemy paperwork were taken into custody and sent to X Corps Combat Information Center.

22 September, Friday HQ Platoon conducted raids to recover allied and enemy weapons and munitions in and around Inchon. The MP’s recovered two crates of U.S. hand grenades, Carbine ammunition, assorted military rifles and pistol ammunition, along with some Russian, Korean, Japanese and German military weapons. They also recovered several U.S. military rifles from the hands of local South Korean nationals.

23 September, Saturday In the morning the remainder of the Company vehicles arrived at Inchon from the SS South Wind. They were immediately placed into service for traffic and town patrol duties.

24 September, Sunday Hot meals were served for the first time in several weeks and hot coffee was distributed to all patrols and traffic post’s.

Water supplies, which at first were carried on the old fire trucks, was a major problem. The nearest Marine water point was located approximately three miles from the Company Command Post.

In the evening the Company dispatched several motorcycles and two jeep patrols to an area on the Hahn River across from Seoul. The MP’s performed their duties well given the conditions they had to work under. The patrols had to travel at high speeds under blackout conditions through creek beds and under sniper fire.

The Red, Black, and Green patrols [code names], were fired on by snipers during the evening. One sniper was killed in the exchange of fire with the patrols.

A portion of the firing of weapons during the evening hours was random, done by trigger happy American Soldiers. One occasion was an intoxicated Republic Of South Korea [ROK] Soldier firing his weapon into the air.

The patrols also apprehended all ROK and American stragglers to be found in Inchon, and also began to round up all non uniformed "mock" Korean Police, not recognized by the command. The check points and road blocks detailed to frequently traveled roads apprehended numerous armed men and women, some of whom proved to be Communist spies or sympathizers.

25 September, Monday Post Exchange [PX] rations were distributed to the Company, the morale remained high.

Since the posting at Inchon, the Company guard detail at the Basin Supply Area had apprehended a total of approximately two-hundred Korean Nationals engaged in the theft of supplies.

29th September, Friday The Companies four M-20 Armored Cars arrived at the Inchon dock along with the eleven man detachment assigned to remain behind with the 8220 PWAU in Camp Tokyo, Japan. Accompanying the returning detachment was CPL Charles Hawkins, formerly with HQ Company, 720th MP Battalion, who had stowed away on their troop ship. CPL Hawkins managed to maintain his presence in secret until he surrendered himself to the command. The 720th MP Battalion was notified of his presence and requested he be assigned to and remain with the Company in Korea.

30th September, Saturday The Company moved from Assembly Area-1 to a location two miles east of Inchon on the Inchon-Soul Highway, at a cotton processing plant. The move took the MP’s out of the dirt hovels of the Assemble Area-1 perimeter, and placed them into more comfortably surroundings in the large, unused areas of the plant.

The morale of the Company, which had slumped some due to the desire for action and the crowded and uncomfortable conditions of Assembly Area-1. However, the morale and efficiency greatly improved with the new location. Hot meals were served thrice daily, electricity was available and mail started to arrive on a regular basis.

An increasingly large number of larceny apprehensions were made. They ranged from theft of a few cans of fruit to a 4-ton truck loaded with PX rations. In addition to paying strict attention to larcenies of supplies, a particular emphasis was placed on the recovery of stolen vehicles and the apprehension of black market activities.

Inchon city swarmed with small time black marketeers. The difficulty of apprehension of these small cases was due to the limited size of the sales, the volume of activity in a particular area, the variety of goods involved, and the presence of Korean Military Advisory Group goods.

The nocturnal firing of weapons throughout the city had largely been brought under control by the collection of straggler's, and the effective employment of road blocks and check points resulting in the apprehension of large numbers of Communist, and Civil Police, who were carrying weapons without authorization.

The non-uniformed Korean Civil Police were required to be licensed by the Provost Marshal Office at Inchon. They were given passes after proper approval. The passes were written in English and Korean, and those passes which authorized the Civil Police to to carry firearms were stamped by the Company Command and bore the signature of the approved Civil Police Chief of Inchon. All organizations, other than those duly accredited police, have been relieved of their weapons when found.

Speeding on the Inchon-Soul Highway, approximately 20 miles of black top road with a broad dirt shoulder and no drainage ditch, was gradually being reduced as the fighting passed Seoul and the stockpiling of goods in the forward areas increased.

The relationship between the Company MP’s and the attached Korean National Police has been one of mutual respect and assistance in military and social situations.