One of the Korean War’s most dangerous assignments, minesweeping, is explored in a tense documentary based on the sweeping of Wonsan harbor during the height of the fighting there. Holden portrays Commander DeForest, assigned to Mine Squadron Three. They are charged with the responsibility of clearing the harbor of mines so a fleet of 250 ships can land with United Nations troops. Despite the utmost precautions in their nerve-wracking job, six of the sweepers are blown up, with many casualties. They can’t determine how the mines are being triggered off because they can’t determine what kinds of mines are being used until it’s too late. The captain assigns Commander DeForest to take charge of a small group of frogmen who will try to find and neutralize the mines by swimming out ahead of the ships. The frogmen go through the minefield and go on shore. They need to do investigative work and interview people in the villages. Fishermen were used to help place the mines, but they learn that those who helped were killed to be sure that the information could not get out. How do the villagers know they can trust the UN soldiers? Eventually, they find an abandoned storage area that has the clues they need… and lots of hay!
The script was adapted by E. Jack Neuman and was based on the book Battle Report: The War in Korea by Walter Karig, Malcolm W. Cagle and Frank A. Mason. The book may be borrowed online at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/battlereportwari0000walt/page/n5/mode/2up
The drama portion of this episode was recorded on Sunday, November 1, 1953. Rehearsal began at 11:00am and the recording commenced at 3:30pm, ending at 4:00pm.
This is not a particularly engaging story despite the obvious danger and critical importance of the information that is being sought. Flight of the Bumble Bee, another Korean War story, was a much better story that had peril lurking in the background and at critical moments throughout the production. This story feels more like the hard tasks of detective work being accomplished.
A working title was “Needle in a Haystack.” A Suspense TV adaptation of the story was broadcast the next day and starred starring Lee Marvin and included Ross Martin. A kinescope of the broadcast seems not to have survived. The script was written by Paul Monash and used the “a” and not the “the” in its title.
Each half of the recording has different sound. The second disc must have had some damage and heavy surface noise can be heard in many recorded copies that have been in circulation. These have been reduced. It seems this episode was only transferred once and all recordings have the same source. The overall recording has never circulated in crisp and clear sound; it is hoped that a clean AFRS recording might be found sometime in the future. The halves of the episode network recording posted here are now closer in sound than previously circulating copies.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP531109
THE CAST
WILLIAM HOLDEN (Commander Don DeForest), Joseph Kearns (Captain Spofford), Jack Kruschen (Horla, the Wun San fisherman / Pee Hoo, the Villager), Ben Wright (Lieutenant Shing), Steve Roberts (Sand Hee / Pilot), David Young (Lieutenant), Bert Holland (Seaman), Ted Bliss (Commander), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Tom Holland (Hap), Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), Sylvia Simms (Operator)
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