African American Air Force Soldier's Korean War Photo Album

African American Air Force Photo album of a black soldier in the recently racially integrated 608th Aircraft Control and Warning (ACW) Squadron in the US Air Force based in Korea during the Korean War, 1950-1952. Includes 130 black and white silver gelatin photographs. Album measures 15" x 10.75" and displays a decorative map of Japan and Korea on verso, with lacquered wooden covers and pages separated by vellum sheets. Most photos around 4.5" x 3". Album belongs to Private First Class (as of 1950) Eddie Washington, a black soldier who was enlisted in the 608th ACW. The 608th AC&W Squadron during the Korean War was part of the 502nd Tactical Control (truncated) Group which also included the 605th, 606th and 607th squadrons. The 6123rd Tactical Control Squadron was renamed the 608th about the same time that the move was made to the mountaintop near Kangnung. We also see a jeep from the 6132nd Air Police in one photo. Washington was posted in Kangnung, which was in the northeast section of present-day South Korea, which was and is the pro-Western, capitalist aligned side. At Kangnung, which borders the sea and the communist-aligned North, this ACW squadron was vital to the American strategy in Korea, which sought to neutralize the North Korean communist separatists with overwhelming air power. U.S. planes used incendiary bombs and napalm to destroy nearly all of the north Korean cities and towns, including an estimated 85 percent of its buildings, with a staggering civilian casualty estimate of up to 1.5 million, or 15% of the prewar population. Despite this scorched earth campaign against the north, this album depicts many photos of soldiers fraternizing with Korean people, including one photo of the soldiers enjoying drinks with Korean women at the "Grand Jackie Club" in October 1952. Washington captions one photo of him and his Korean friend and interpreter "Me + my mouth (interpreter) Chong." His experience in the support detachment, as depicted by this album, seems rather tranquil. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that the U.S. waged war primarily through the skies and his unit's role was to facilitate that from a safe distance. Washington and his fellow USAF soldiers, black and white, appear bonded together and generally in good spirits throughout this visual history. Some of the vellum sheets have creases and tears, but the photos, album pages, and covers are all in very good condition. A well-kept memento of a black soldier's experience in the Korean War, the first major U.S. conflict to have fully integrated fighting forces. (Inventory #: 18704)