Shown below are a letter, a photo, and a four page document that were sent to me by Jody Baltz, the son-in-law of Robert Wilson Murphy, of one of those two soldiers.
Jody and his wife Lesa, who is the youngest of Wilson’s three daughters, contacted me to let me know that Colonel Mashbir was a hero not only to his father-in-law, but also to Jody and Lesa’s entire family, who deeply respected Colonel Mashbir for what he did.
Jody and Lesa live in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
Circa 1950, Robert Wilson Murphy
Robert Wilson Murphy was restored to duty on 25 March 1949.
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September 2020
Stan:
Attached is the Memo that Col. Mashbir wrote in 1948 that restored my future father-in-law, Robert Wilson Murphy (1928-2017), to duty. He was in the 6th Division, 20th Infantry Regiment, during the Korean occupation (post-WWII) and stationed in Kwangju. The unit was involved in demobilizing the Japanese forces and providing back up to the Korean constables as Korea was overrun at that time by organized criminal and/or communist gangs. During his tour of duty he and another soldier were attacked, but blame was assessed against them, and both were court-martialed and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Eventually they were pardoned and restored to duty.
For over fifty years my father-in-law had a lot of guilt and embarrassment about being court-martialed and imprisoned. He would never talk about his service, but since we were interested he finally let us digitize his photo scrapbook that covered his time in the army and began to tell us about what had happened. In 2006 he obtained a copy of his service file (scorched and partially burned, but it survived the infamous 1973 St. Louis fire) and that is when we found out that Col. Mashbir was instrumental in correcting an injustice. He had written a memo that analyzed the case and recommended his restoration to duty, which was ultimately approved.
After reading about Col. Mashbir’s background and service, we soon realized that it was a miracle that Wilson’s case crossed his desk at that time – first, in that Mashbir was at the Pentagon only a short time before retiring, so the window of opportunity for him to review the case was small, and secondly, in that no one could better appreciate the Korean/Far East situation at the time.
We know it was not a big incident in Mashbir’s career, but it sure made a life-changing difference to a couple of young soldiers he never met and that is why I thought you would be interested in it.
If you have any questions, or need more info, just let me know. If convenient, please reply so that I know the email with the attachments got through to you.
Regards,
Jody Baltz
P.S. As an aside, for many years we could not understand why one of Wilson’s favorite movies was “A Few Good Men” since he rarely watched movies with profane language; that is, until we heard his story.
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The following four page document highlights Colonel Mashbir’s decision to exonerate Robert Wilson Murphy and another young soldier.
-Below the images of this document is a Transcription of the four pages.
This document almost didn’t survive a major fire, but it now lives on as a tribute to one of Colonel Mashbir’s many worthy achievements.
Colonel Mashbir’s father was an attorney, who went blind, and at the age of 13 Sidney Mashbir assisted his father in reading his legal documents to him, and various other legal responsibilities. His attorney skills are apparent in the below document.
Thanks go out to you Jody and your family for sharing this material.
TRANSCRIPTION OF THE ABOVE FOUR PAGE DOCUMENT:
COPY:
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
OFFICE OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL
Washington 25, D. C.
AGEZ 220.89 (2 Dec 48) 7 December 1948
MEMORANDUM FOR: Colonel Lloyd R. Garrison, Chief, Correction Branch, AGO
SUBJECT: Restoration to duty of Sergeant Robert W. Murphy, RA 14 219 538 and Private First Class Curtis V. Allred, RA 19 281 204.
DISCUSSION
- Both of these men were sentenced for “acting jointly and in pursuance of common intent” with certain Koreans, in the damaging of a field safe valued at $40.12; in the felonious taking, stealing and carrying away of a pistol, ammunition and military payment certificates of a total value of $4,333.75 (changed by the court to $1,500); and of wrongly displaying cowardice in permitting depredation of the Non-Commissioned Officers Club, 20th Infantry, and for wrongly displaying cowardice in failing to properly safeguard the contents of the club after overpowering the attackers, by permitting them to commit depredations of government property.
- Certain facts are at once apparent:
a. These men were convicted by evidence of two Koreans, admitted criminals, whose testimony was contradictory to that of the Americans.
b. When first attacked by the armed Koreans, although unarmed, they instantaneously, entirely as a reflex action without time for consideration, and with great personal courage attacked and disarmed the latter, one of them receiving a hand injury while so doing.
c. (1) As is clearly evidenced, on being given a chance to think of the matter these soldiers used very sound and, for their years, quite mature judgement.
(2) Murphy realized that the military payment certificates had no real value for the Koreans and told them so.
(3) In fact, he pretended to go along with their [illegible – fire damaged]
attempting revenge on the 1st Sergeant, and [illegible – fire damaged]
to burn the certificates. This clearly shows that he
used excellent judgement in that destruction [illegible – fire damaged]
entail no real loss. It must have been obvious to him
[Page 1]
AGEZ 220.89 (2 Dec 48) 7 December 1948
SUBJECT: Restoration to duty of Sergeant Robert W. Murphy, RA 14 219 538 and Private First Class Curtis V. Allred, RA 19 281 204.
that the threats to burn the club would, if carried out, be much more costly than some certificates which could be and were for the most part recaptured.
(4) Furthermore, the judgement he used in not shooting the Koreans when he had the shotgun is underlined by the fact that if he killed them both, he would have at least been convicted of manslaughter; had he only killed one, the other would have sworn him into prison. It must be borne in mind that the testimony of the Koreans who were self-confessed criminals, which was accepted to convict these men was directly contradictory to the evidence of the Americans themselves.
(5) Had they shot the Koreans the prosecution undoubtedly would have adduced evidence to prove that the duties of the soldiers were that of cook and mess-attendant; that they were not officially posted as sentries, and that the use of force was illegal. This latter point would have been emphasized by showing that Murphy shot them with a shotgun instead of a service weapon.
(6) The threats of the Koreans to the effect that their communist friends were surrounding the building and would kill the Americans and burn the building were admitted by the trial JA to have been the principal motive and cannot be discounted, as throughout the war we found the Koreans to be cowardly as individuals but cruel in gangs. The Korean conscript laborers when captured complained much more of the cruelty of their own Korean non-coms than that of the Japs. After the earthquake in Japan (1 September 1923) bands of Koreans began to loot, burn and rape, and to poison wells almost as soon as the fifteen minute first shock ended.
(7) It was a fair assumption, even to two youngsters relatively new to the Orient, that the two men alone would hardly have attempted the crime, unless covered by a larger force.
(8) The disparity in sizes was meaningless [this page section was fire destroyed]
all adult males are taught some form [this page section was fire destroyed]
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AGEZ 220.89 (2 Dec 48) 7 December 1948
SUBJECT: Restoration to duty of Sergeant Robert W. Murphy, RA 14 219 538 and Private First Class Curtis V. Allred, RA 19 281 204.
Had they been expert athletes could the boys have coped with them unarmed. One of our earlier prisoners – a Korean coolie – feigned illness in the compound and when the Australian sentry came over to aid him, this five foot prisoner flipped the six foot armed Aussie half way across the yard.
- Entirely aside from the threat of the Koreans that the band of communists would kill them later and burn the club, we have two American youths of excellent character, from average families, with good religious and family upbringing, to whom undoubtedly the killing of anyone – let alone unarmed men – would be repugnant, faced with the decision of calmly shooting them down with a shotgun in cold blood, or permitting them to damage a safe and burn some certificates or steal them knowing they would surely be caught. They had already shown their courage by their instinctive reflex action to surprise.
- As opposed to this, and after their first reckless attack which did disarm the Koreans, the two men were confronted with the decision as to whether or not they should risk – what from the threats which they believed, appeared to be – certain death and the destruction of the entire club building and all its contents, in order to safeguard some comparatively worthless items which it was not, repeat not, their duty to guard with their lives.
CONCLUSIONS:
- That the men both showed adequate courage in attacking and disarming the Koreans.
- That, realizing the relative uselessness of the material to the Koreans and the moral certainty of its recapture, with good judgement the did not uselessly,
- Risk what they believed to be certain death from the communists.
- Risk destruction by fire of the clubhouse and all [illegible – fire damaged] tents which were much more valuable, than the articles taken.
- That had they shot one or both of the unarmed Koreans [illegible – page section fire damaged]
gun they would inevitably have been charged with murder [illegible – page section fire damaged]
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AGEZ 220.89 (2 Dec 48) 7 December 1948
SUBJECT: Restoration to duty of Sergeant Robert W. Murphy, RA 14 219 538 and Private First Class Curtis V. Allred, RA 19 281 204.
convicted, and had one or both Koreans survived, their perjured testimony would surely have convicted the two Americans.
- That the disparity in physical size was meaningless in view of the age, toughness and probable skill in Judo of the Koreans.
- That neither man was duly posted or armed as a sentry and that as cook and mess attendant it was not, repeat not, their duty to risk their lives for a $40.00 field safe, a non-regulation privately owned pistol and $1500 in military payment certificates which were worthless to the thieves.
- That for some unknown reason, which might possibly have political implications, the sworn testimony of two American soldiers of excellent character, who could not have and were not alleged to or proven to have derived any pecuniary benefit, was disregarded and the evidence of self-admitted foreign criminals was accepted.
- That the threat of seven communist confederates who would kill them and burn the building was highly credible… and was obviously fully believed by the two young Americans. This is admitted by the trial Judge Advocate to have been the real activating force.
- That no civil crime of any kind was involved and the crime of larceny should not have been alleged.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- That both men be restored to duty at the earliest practicable moment.
- That steps be immediately inaugurated to set aside the findings of the court martial.
/s/ Sidney F. Mashbir
SIDNEY F. MASHBIR
Colonel [illegible – fire char]
Branch [illegible – fire char]
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COLONEL MASHBIR, YOU’RE INVITED TO VISIT THE WEBSITE:
TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com
