Sergeant (SGT) Joseph E. Dabney, 4th MRBC, 1st RB&L

From Veritas, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2012

Sergeant (SGT) Joseph E. Dabney, 4th MRBC, 1st RB&L, was one of several soldiers in the Psywar group advance echelon (ADVON) sent to Japan in July 1951. He was also part of the second 4th MRBC increment charged with making Radio Pusan operational in October 1951. Until February 1952, Dabney was a broadcast news script writer on Second Lieutenant (2LT) Eddie Deerfield’s team in Korea.

SGT Joe Dabney poses in front of the Meiji Building [Far East Air Force (FEAF) Headquarters] on ‘A’ Avenue, Tokyo (Summer 1952). — SGT Joe Dabney poses in front of the Meiji Building [Far East Air Force (FEAF) Headquarters], Tokyo (Summer 1952).

A pending compassionate reassignment prompted a recall to Tokyo. While in Korea, the former Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer reporter wrote Psywar commentaries for Yun Chul Sung, the popular broadcaster, competing with William F. ‘Bill’ Morton and Anthony E. ‘Tony’ Severino to see whose work got the most fan mail from avid Korean listeners. Back in Tokyo, Corporal (CPL) Dabney returned to the Voice of the UN Command (VUNC) desk as a script writer. The stateside transfer was not approved. Thus, SGT Dabney was present for the May Day riots in 1952. A year later, Mr. Joe Dabney, Florence (SC) Morning News, re-lived that day with a feature article “Japanese Reds Lost Their Power on May Day, 1952: Morning News Writer Recalls Tokyo Riots.”1

The Joe Dabney photos below span the 1st RB&L at Fort Riley, KS, Tokyo, Japan, and Pusan, Korea.

“Paradise Pines” was the billet area of the 4th MRBC detachment at <i>Radio Pusan</i> (Fall 1951). — “Paradise Pines” was the billet area of the 4th MRBC detachment at *Radio Pusan* (Fall 1951).

CPL Joe Dabney gets a boot shine outside the 4th MRBC enlisted quarters (Quonset hut) at <i>Radio Pusan</i> (Fall 1951). — CPL Joe Dabney gets a boot shine outside the 4th MRBC enlisted quarters (Quonset hut) at *Radio Pusan* (Fall 1951).

Korean refugees collect water from a common spring in Pusan (Fall 1951).

CPLs Bill Morton and Joe Dabney get their picture taken alongside a Korean papa-san and his children in Pusan. — (L to R) CPLs Bill Morton and Joe Dabney get their picture taken alongside a Korean *papa-san* and his children in Pusan.

Refugees bringing charcoal up the hill where <i>Radio Pusan</i> was located (Fall 1951). — Refugees bringing charcoal up the hill where *Radio Pusan* was located (Fall 1951).

This photo shows the Voice of the UN Command (VUNC) News Section, 1st RB&L Group, in their area of the sixth floor, Empire House, Tokyo. (L to R): Department of Army Civilian (DAC) Alexander Liosnoff, radio information specialist; SGT Joseph Dabney, staff news writer; 2LT Arthur Holch, Officer-in-Charge (background); and SGT Leon Nelson (Spring 1952).

The photos below were taken during and after the May Day riots in Tokyo in 1952. They were published in the Florence (SC) Morning News on 1 May 1953.

3,000 Communists, shouting “Go Home, Yank” swung off “A” Avenue to engage police in the Imperial Plaza

Beaten back, knots of Communist rioters retreated down “Z” Avenue

Humiliated by defeat, the rioting Reds overturned American cars and set them afire

Police positioned outside the Dai Ichi (Number One) Building, the Far East Command (FECOM) headquarters of General Matthew B. Ridgway.

SGT Joseph E. Dabney

1st RB&L news desk

On 29 January 1929, Joseph Earl Dabney was born, the youngest of five sons, to a grocery store owner in Kershaw, SC, near Springs Mill. He played baseball for Flat Creek High School. As an English/Journalism major at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, he wrote for and became the editor of the school newspaper, Mount Berry News and yearbook, the Cabin Log, before graduating in May 1949. Following graduation, Dabney took a job with the Cartersville (GA) Daily-Tribune News until he went to the Columbus (GA) Ledger for double the salary in July 1950.

Ironically he received his draft letter after doing a special on the Fort Benning training of Korean War draftees. After six weeks of Basic Combat Training (BCT) by the 96th Field Artillery Battalion, Fort Jackson, SC, Private (PVT) Dabney was sent to Fort Myer, Virginia, in early 1951, to be evaluated for Psywar assignment. Deemed qualified by his newspaper experience, PVT Dabney boarded a train for Fort Riley, KS.2 An early task was to write a Proper Gander article on a unit linguist, Sergeant (SGT) Vladimir B. Strakov, a former Soviet Air Force lieutenant who defected.3

Dabney was “bumped” from the contract flight carrying the 1st RB&L advance echelon (ADVON) to Japan in July 1951. The private was left in Honolulu with a telephone number to call when he got to Japan. When he arrived at Haneda Airbase on Sunday afternoon, the young private called and was picked up by a unit jeep. On Monday, PVT Dabney was taken to the 1st RB&L offices and 1LT Alvin Yudkoff assigned him as a script writer for Voice of the UN Command (VUNC).4 Three months later, Private First Class (PFC) Dabney accompanied Lieutenants William Eisler and Eddie Deerfield to Korea to get Radio Pusan operating. He was one of several broadcast writers in the 4th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company (MRBC) detachment posted at Pusan.5

ENDNOTES

Joseph E. Dabney, interviews by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 12 and 16 December 2011, Fort Bragg, NC, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC, hereafter cited by name and date; Letter, Lee Ki Sung to Yon Chul Son, Radio Pusan, 8 October 1951, Joseph E. Dabney Collection, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC; Joe Dabney, “The Reds’ Newest Weapon: ‘Kaesong,’ 1st RB&L Group, CCF News Commentary, 4 September 1951, Dabney Collection; “Joe Dabney’s Father Passes, January 26,” The Proper Gander, Vol. II, No. 4 (14 February 1952), 1, Dabney Collection; Joe Dabney, “Japanese Reds Lost Their Power on May Day, 1952: Morning News Writer Recalls Tokyo Riots,” Florence (SC) Morning News, Friday, 1 May 1953, 2-A, Dabney Collection. ^[return]
Dabney interview, 12 December 2011. ^[return]
PVT Joe Dabney, “Starkov Baring USSR in Book: Ford, GM Sold Ex-Russian Airman on U.S.,” The Proper Gander (26 April 1951), Dabney Collection. ^[return]
Dabney interview, 12 December 2011. ^[return]
Dabney interview, 16 December 2011; “Morton, Deerfield, Dabney to Korea,” The Proper Gander, Vol. 1, No. 28 (21 November 1951), 1, Dabney Collection, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC. ^[return]