Local resident’s top secret assignment

For 40 years retired U.S. Army Colonel Ben S. Malcom was required to keep secret his role in the Korean War. To tell anyone, including his wife and friends, would have been to share information marked top-secret by the U.S. military.

Col. Malcom was a part of the special forces 8240th Army Unit (January 1951-July 1953) which used unconventional warfare methods in the form of guerrilla operations to combat the North Korean army. By the end of the war in 1953, there were more than 22,000 North Korean guerrillas fighting the North Korean and Chinese armed forces. The 8240th unit's activities remained highly classified until 1990.

Unconventional warfare operations first began Jan. 8, 1951, when a South Korean navy ship discovered more than 10,000 North Korean guerrillas fighting the North Korean People's army in Hwanghae Province. The guerrilla fighters varied in age and were low on supplies: there was only one weapon for ever ten men. These fighters requested the aid of American soldiers for supplies and training. Paengnyong-Do Island, 125 miles behind enemy lines and off North Korea's west coast, was set up as a base, and American advisers were brought in to train the North Korean guerrilla fighters in intelligence-gathering, demolitions and basic infantry tactics.

Malcom, then an army first lieutenant, was one of a small number of American advisers assigned to train and lead these guerrillas in their operations. Malcom was just 23 years old when he was sent into the Korean War to lead approximately 800 North Korean guerrilla soldiers in Jan. 1952. He was placed in charge of the 4th Guerrilla Battalion, nicknamed the "White Tigers."

Malcom and his men mounted a series of operations that combined sabotage and intelligence gathering. Chinese fishing junk boats were used to travel unsuspected through enemy waters. At midnight on July 14, 1952, Malcom lead 120 guerrillas on 4 Chinese fishing junks into enemy territory. Their mission was to take down a major North Korean stronghold on the west coast, deep in the heart of communist territory. The stronghold housed a 76 millimeter artillery piece and machine guns hidden deep inside the mainland's tallest mountain. Shots from the 76 millimeter were able to reach Wallae-do, an island 2 miles off the coast used for guerrilla training, and the North Korean army frequently fired on the small island. The partisans were involved in hand to hand combat and after a short but fierce battle took control of the stronghold. However, their victory was short-lived. Before they were able to get back to their boats, more than 100 North Korean reinforcements had made their way to the beach and had blocked the White Tigers from safety. Malcom called in marine fighter planes to help clear a path for the unit to escape through. The planes made three passes over the area and were able to clear a pass for the ground unit, who were involved in hand to hand combat, to make it to the beach. The remaining North Korean soldiers retreated. That day 63 enemy soldiers were killed. The White Tigers lost 6 men and 7 more were wounded. This mission is remembered as one of the greatest victories for the 8240th unit.

The guerrillas were also trained as paratroopers and were dropped behind enemy lines to gather intelligence and to rescue American pilots who had been shot down behind the 38th parallel. Carrier pigeons were brought in from Fort Gordon, Georgia to aid in these missions. At that time carrier pigeons were not common practice for war time operations, and they were tested before being sent out on their first mission. The pigeons were able to travel up to 250 miles from their drop spot. "We attached the pigeons to the ankles of the men before they were dropped in enemy territory. Once dropped, the soldiers were to write on a piece of paper what they found when they landed and then attach the paper to the pigeons and free them. That way we could keep better tabs on where our men were and what they were encountering on the ground." Ten pigeons were dropped with the first batch. After 48 hours not a single pigeon had returned to base. Finally after 3 days the first soldier made his way back to camp. "When we asked him why none of the pigeons had made it back, he told us that it the soldiers doubted the pigeons would be able to find their way back to the base." So the soldiers made what they believed to be a better use for the pigeons: they ate them. After that Malcom realized that with such an unconventional technique, they needed to demonstrate the pigeon's abilities to the soldiers before sending them off. Malcom was stationed in Korea until Dec. 1952.

For years Malcom inquired about the status of the 8240th. The men assigned to that unit were not given the recognition they deserved due to the classified nature of their unit. It took twelve years for the men of the 8240th to receive their Combat Infantryman's Badges. Malcom wasn't even allowed to tell his military friends about his participation in the war and how he earned his badges.

Col. Malcom served as a military advisor with the 23rd Vietnamese Division in the Vietnam war from 1964-1965, and eventually retired, after 29 years of service, in 1979. After his retirement, Malcom worked for four years as Executive to the Chairman of the Board, Rollins, Inc. in Atlanta. From 1983 to 2000 he co-owned Future Wood lumber company in Fayetteville. He sold the company in 2000, but his corporation, Timber Specialties, Inc. is still in existence. Malcom stays busy with speaking engagements around the country and teaches 4 classes each year at the John F. Kennedy Special Forces School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He also teaches one class each year at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Colonel Malcom is known throughout the Armed Forces for laying the groundwork for today's Special Forces Operations.

Malcom is the author of "White Tiger, My Secret War in North Korea" along with Ron Martz. He has recently been featured in a one hour documentary on the History Channel in the series "Heroes Under Fire." The documentary, entitled "The White Tigers," can be seen this Saturday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m.

Malcom and his wife Joyce now reside in Fayetteville. They have one son, Ben Thomas Malcom who resides in Monroe, Ga. with his wife.

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