Ambush

Few things in life can change a man more than war. Author Robert Buckley can attest to this from his experience as a soldier in Korea. It was this experience that inspired him to write Ambush, a fictionalized story from his experience as a soldier in the Korean War.

Drafted into the army after high school, Buckley sailed from Washington state across the Pacific, barely missing the worst of a storm that beat against the sides of the two-stacker ship. He was only too glad when they made the port in Yokohama, Japan for a few days. From there they sailed to Pusan Korea, now called Bosan, where they stayed in two-man pup tents. The tents were so dirty, Buckley sat outside all night and tried to get some sleep without much luck.

The next morning, he and his fellow soldiers were bunched together, and their names were called off for their duty stations. Semitrailers were standing ready to take most as infantry up on the Demilitarized Zone. When Buckley heard his name called out, he yelled out "Here!" and was ordered to get into a different three-quarter-ton truck. That was when he realized he was one of the lucky ones and would not be spending his time in Korea at the Demilitarized Zone.

When he became a short-timer and it was time for him to rotate out, he was called into the command tent where the company commander ordered him to escort twenty-seven aluminum tubes with dead soldiers back to San Francisco. As he approached the flight deck, he saw three rows of nine flag-draped aluminum tubes. Other than the pilots, Buckley was alone, sitting in a canvas jump seat on the side of the aircraft for the entire flight. The twenty-seven officers inside the aluminum tubes did not die in battle. They were killed in a fire caused by a man smoking in bed. After his term in Korea, Buckley worked in Walpole Maximum Security State Prison as a prison guard from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. After he retired as a prison guard, he managed a security company with his wife until he was seventy-eight years old. He now lives in Florida.