Night Memoirs
Looking up at the moon tonight, cold air, my dog going for his last pee, I saw the past. A fingernail moon hung
over me in Seoul as I walked through curvy alleys to find my way home after
teaching English comp to military men
close to the DMZ. A backpack full of essays, or sentence exercises, a cup of
coffee from a train station vending machine, a heavy old coat my father used to
wear in cold Minnesota winters. I was
always out at night, walking, riding a bus, getting off a train, sitting on a
bench, thinking, driving home after a late class let out going from one end of
Guam to the other. I was never afraid of the dark. The night was my friend. I
enjoyed the phases of the moon. I breathed in the cold winter air, wind
whipping down through the alleys, or a tropical moon hanging over the sea, warm
air coming in through rolled down windows, or the glance of a mountain’s
silhouette through the train from Seoul to Uijongbu. The night was always my
friend. All the best things happened at night. I loved the dark sky splattered
with twinkling stars. I was alone with my thoughts, my footsteps leaving tracks
for no one to follow, headphones playing old songs in my ears, a familiar hat
keeping my head warm, happiness all the time.
The US 2nd Infantry Division in Korea is headquartered at Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, between Seoul and the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that separates the two Koreas. It is named after corporal Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr., a member of the American aboriginal Hoocaagra ("ho-chunk" or "Wisconsin Winnebago") tribe who had served as a marine in World war II. During the Korean War he joined the army. He spotted a Chinese advance against a 19th Infantry Regiment position on Hill 123, near Chonghyonon, north of the Ch'ongch'on river in North Korea on 5 November 1950; shot twice, he refused to withdraw from his post; hit again, he propped himself against a tree and continued to fire, and eventually ordered a nearby soldier to tie him upright to the tree with a web belt. The Chinese overran the hill, but the main American force managed to repel their attack. Red Cloud's body was recovered the next day with at least eight wounds, surrounded by a large number of dead Chinese.
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