OPERATION ROLL-UP

run Korea to Germany from Alaska to Puerto Rico all over the world the men and women of your army are on the alert to defend our nation you the American people against aggression this is the big picture you welcome to the big picture I'm captain Karl Zimmerman here to tell you about your United States Army in this the final program of the current big picture series we'd like to tell you about a war the army fights all the time the war against waste we'd like to show you how the army encourages its soldiers to be cost conscious first we take you to Washington and a word from the Secretary of the army the Honorable Frank paste jr. when I described the mission of your army on the first program of this big picture series I spoke of concrete action we were taking to eliminate waste in army operations in this program you will see what I was referring to war bias very nature is wasteful and so are the measures we are taking to avoid war army equipment grows obsolete at a rate no business would accept we have such a rapid turnover of people that the efficiency of our organization is constantly impaired remember that soldiers obtained through selective service are available for only two years and several months are required to train them before they can begin to perform their jobs efficiently this year alone we will lose from the army over 700,000 men to properly replace them is really difficult in addition your army composed of more than one the half-million uniformed men and women is far larger than our greatest corporation and is scattered over half the world I've been practically every place on the globe where army troops are stationed one of the great thrills that I get as Secretary of the army is seeing our young men stationed all over the world actually it gives me renewed faith in democracy to see these young men training to defend our way of life to me they're not only soldiers their ambassadors for our way of life and I think they do a splendid job of it I've been to Japan Korea and Okinawa I've been to Hawaii and Alaska where I've seen men battling against the elements I've been all over this country to training stations in this country to the Caribbean to the Panama Canal I've been over to Europe in Germany Austria and Trieste where our men stand for the forces of right against the forces of raw now while all those things are thrilling to me into you as individuals nonetheless it makes for a big complex difficult to operate organization that is one of the things that I have been trying to explain is the problem that faces us in your army today in telling you about our far-flung depots and telling you about a 5,000 mile pipeline to Korea a 3,000 mile pipeline to Europe I'm not trying to say that the army can't do a better job than it's doing today I'm merely trying to make clear to you that it's more difficult than most people think I'm satisfied that we can do a better job I'm satisfied we are doing a better job and in the next half hour you'll see what I mean this is a different kind of war story a war story which began quietly and unspectacular lee no medals were one in this battle no shots were fired but on its outcome could have dependent the future of the United Nations this is a little-known story of the Korean War the events behind the military miracle which saved korea on jun 25th 1950 the morning in korea was peaceful the people mostly farmers and peasants went about their daily tasks in the fields to most Americans Korea was just another name in the headlines then it became more than that as communist troops and equipment poured down from the north and struck across the 38th parallel Korea became the concern of the United Nations in a matter of days the peaceful mountains and rice paddies became a battlefield the vicious attack continued and the people of South Korea reeled back to meet the aggression America acted quickly and flew occupation troops from Japan and the Chiefs of the Far Eastern Command hurriedly met to take charge of the emergency communications between Japan and Washington was night and day armies were on the moon overnight occupation troops were turned into combat soldiers and one of the big problems was to equip them for their new role the facts were not too good there weren't enough vehicles available to meet the exacting demands of combat and our fighting men badly needed weapons tanks guns rifles ammunition they needed all they could get but they fought bravely with what they had the urgent order flashed back to America we must have weapons thousands of them now what Arsenal's in America were already overtaxed military aid programs for Europe and other countries had almost swallowed up equipment salvaged from World War two the unfortunate truth was flashed back to the Far East command it would take months before our production lines were ready and it would take more precious months before the materials could be delivered seven thousand miles away in for real things that were needed most guns and ammunition tanks and vehicles we didn't have without them it would be impossible to stop the advancing revs the urgency of the situation demanded quick action and to achieve the military miracle which saved Korea or military leaders turned to this junk buried in the jungles and half submerged on the beach heads of the Pacific lay tens of thousands of rusting wrecked weapons of another war equipment of all kinds seemingly useless vehicles personnel carriers machinery corroded Hulk's pockmarked with shell fire it was all available the miracle was to make this old equipment fight again plans to retrieve and rehabilitate most of the automotive equipment have been laid long before the Korean campaign but the demands of combat now made the task of paramount importance the job of performing this miracle went to the Japan logistical command from their headquarters in Japan they directed the biggest Salvage drive ever the stakes were high American lives in Korea and the prestige of the United Nations it was a race against time and slowly the miracle of supply which was given the name operation roll up moved into high gear from collection points in the Pacific Islands vehicles and weapons were rounded up gradually the jungle gave up its valuable captives tanks trucks all kinds of vehicles and weapons were routed out of overgrown battlefields and transported to Japan ships belonging to the United States but mend by Japanese seamen carried the equipment to Japan storage areas began to grow trucks thousands of trucks tanks hundreds of tanks tractors and machinery of all kinds weapons carriers jeeps ambulances day by day the equipment poured in all kinds the scrapyards grew and the huge stockpile stretched almost as far as the eye could see meanwhile the task of reclaiming the collected scrap went on Japanese plants and factories formerly devoted to production of war against the United States were converted for the Herculean task before them more than 50,000 Japanese workmen were hired and trained to work on the assembly lines sparked by American supervision the factories operated on a mass production schedule and slowly fit into the huge piles of war weary equipment the miracle of rejuvenation began trucks strip to their chassis skilled scavengers went to work stripping the rusty carcass they removed the caf engine wheels and axle assemblies the clean picked skeleton of the body frame was dipped into an alkali bath to get rid of the rust dirt and grease all the different parts of the vehicle were cleaned chemically mechanically or by hand after the cleaning the component parts were repaired engines the heart of the vehicle got complete surgery cylinders were reboard Pistons refinished engine blocks were home and crank shafts were reground in a metalizing process worn out parts were built up by grafting molten metal onto them and were then ground down to the correct size and finish rebuilt engines got a protective coat of paint in front of a man-made waterfall which cleans the air of offensive fumes a two-hour test run followed and then it was packed to a weight requisition to make this synchronize rebuild operation work smoothly more than 40,000 different items had to reach the assembly lines at the proper time throughout the day the repair and reassembly went on the baguette its cracks welded and rivets replaced it was ready to start a second light the assembly went smoothly taking only 30 minutes to dress the frame with axle assemblies engine wheels cab and hood completely equipped the vehicle rolled off the assembly line ready for the punishing test that would qualify it for active duty all the know-how of American industry was thrown behind the effort of bringing the old weapons back to life and as the rejuvenated items came off finished assembly lines they were quickly sped to the fighting fronts late one afternoon in November nineteen fifty word came to Japan that the second division had suffered heavy losses in Korea before dawn the next day three trainloads of equipment enough for an entire combat infantry division were being loaded on ships at Japanese ports another time 52 hours after the Marines marched out of the chosen ambush ree equipment for an entire division was at sea and all of this equipment came from our derelict weapon heats the mountains of material collected from the battlefields of guam saipan and okinawa with these reclaimed weapons UN forces broke out of the Pusan Perimeter with rifles salvaged from the scrap heap the tenth Corps hit the beaches at Incheon and the 8th army pushed north to meet them in the first three months of the war we used 100,000 tons of ammunition all of it reclaimed through operation roll up in the first four months of the campaign 89,000 m1 rifles were rebuilt from the old weapons reaped in the Pacific roll up or brought back from Korea 49,000 jeeps and trucks were salvaged and used in Korea forty-five percent of all the tanks used in Korea were reincarnated from broken hulks eighty-two percent of the armored car seventy-five percent of the artillery sixty-four percent of the precision instruments and eighty percent of the infantry weapons mortars rifles carbines bazookas and machine-gun all were brought back from the jungle and made to fight again from the front impossible orders would come in activate and equip a medium tank battalion said the orders and an army of workers clawed into the heap of dead steal the Japan logistical command scoured the whole of Japan for tank men and screamed men arriving on every ship anybody with tank experience pitched in to get the world war 2 Goliath back into shape 28 days after the order 44 good as new medium tanks were in action in Korea riding in rehabilitated tanks vehicles and with their fingers on the trigger of former scrap heap guns the 8th army drove the Reds out of South Korea the miracle had been worked the North Korean army was defeated before the first shipment of rifles from the u.s. reached Korea but for these made over weapons Korea could have been bloodier and costlier it could have been a tragic defeat for the free world and in working this miracle operation rollups saved the American taxpayer billions of dollars today this reclamation program continues to convert wrecked weapons into fighting machines and does it at great saving every four minutes a new vehicle rolls off the assembly line and takes its place in the ranks of ready replacements these trucks would cost six thousand dollars in the States but rebuilt in Japan they cost one-fourth of that figure it's salvages a two-thousand-dollar g for eight hundred dollars an eighteen thousand dollar tractor for five hundred dollars and a gun worth many thousands of dollars is returned to active duty for four hundred dollars size is no problem to these giant ordnance repair shops whether it's a two-hundred-thousand-dollar tank completely rebuilt for less than five thousand dollars massive five and six ton prime movers bulldozers or other heavy-duty equipment trailers trailer tanks fire engines road graders the number of vehicles rebuilt in one year has reached a quarter-million the variety of repair is infinite have tracked personnel carriers or small arms several rifles or carbines can be rebuilt for the price of a box of cigars not only ordnance items but everything signal equipment machines like this complex and delicate teletypewriter with its hundreds of parts are completely reclaimed by Japanese mechanics and outstanding discovery has been that about half of the old tires which have been deteriorating in the jungle for the past six years can be economically reconditioned operation roll-up brings back to life sixteen thousand tires and just as many tubes every month the tires are inspected and shell splinters and fragments are removed they are repaired and recapped with new rubber then the tread is remoted giving the tire a new lease on life it's another way of making every bit of army equipment give full dollar value and the total savings alone on salvage tires amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars today after its gradual build-up the money-saving army reclamation program is in full swing as the result of a large-scale cost consciousness program the tentacles of conservation and salvage stretch out to the corners of the world wherever there are military posts they stretch right onto the battlefield where the money saving fight is still carried on conservation teams follow in the wake of combat retrieving and collecting abandoned equipment everything is picked up and brought in including captured enemy weapons and equipment gasoline cans are collected by the thousands after reconditioning they are used time and time again battered canteens are remoulded and put back into use reconditioning of clothing is a big item in the Army's money-saving program in forward areas Native women are used to wash and renovate the collected items from the frontline laundry the clothing is sent back to warehouses in Japan where it gets further renovation it is unpacked repaired sorted bundled and bailed and returned to stock in 15 month period in 1951 three and a half million items of clothing were reclaimed even useless scraps of cable are stripped down and put to another use shell cases are another big item of Salvage ordnance retrieving parties pick up the piles of use shell cases from gun emplacements all along the front line and take them to a central dump Korean labor is used to do the work wherever possible and they wear special wooden harnesses to carry the heavy loads on their backs the Signal Corps also carries on its conservation program in behalf of the American taxpayer and rehabilitates its old cable for reuse time and time again in an eight month period approximately 1 million dollars was saved by rehabilitating cable which is now being reused in the war zones in the States the drive toward economy and salvage continues Russian tanks captured in Korea or hauled from the scrapyard and are cut up in readiness for being melted down out of these Russian and Japanese tanks new weapons are being forged for United Nations troops the Army's preventive maintenance program begun after World War two is today paying off in more dollars saved the letterkenny ordnance depot in pennsylvania is one of the army's large storage areas where surplus vehicles are kept fighting fit tanks and combat vehicles surplus after the last war have been successfully stored for six years in special dehumidified cans the army had this equipment in storage when the Korean conflict began but it was a battle of time it would have taken months to ship this equipment to the battle area operation roll up a time saver as well as a money saver filled the gap until we could get equipment out of storage and on its way to Korea stored in a ready to roll condition the vehicles are all set to be dispatched they can be preserved for years while stored in the humidity free cans the echo stored this way can remain in their cocoons for as long as 20 years without deteriorating the atmosphere inside the cans is scientifically controlled a starting device which is triggered by blonde human hair keeps the dehumidifier working the human hair which must be blond say the experts tightens as the atmosphere and the can changes and automatically starts the dehumidifier by signs and posters soldiers and government employees are constantly being reminded of the Army's cost consciousness campaign army equipment and vehicles are tagged with their price to further the money saving drive another of the Army's big money saving items is the preventive maintenance packing given to equipment before shipment equipment going to the Arctic gets a tin foil covering as well as a coat of grease preventive to stop rust all items for export are treated with a special Greece compound mixture and are packed in special preventive wrappings to ensure their arrival in good working condition the army today dutifully aware of his responsibilities to the taxpaying people of America is on guard against waste everywhere the army continues its war of Salvage in this battle there will be no ceasefire America today faces a new problem it faces the problem of purchasing insurance for peace for the first time in its peacetime history we are people who believe in insurance we are likewise people who believe in getting the most for the dollar that is how America has grown to the great nation that it is today his secretary of the army I am dedicated to the proposition that we will get more for the taxpayers dollar that means it will get more fighting power for every army dollar that's spent expressed in simple terms it means that if a soldier turns off a light button that might otherwise be on it means that if he stops a motor that's running if he protects a rifle that he might otherwise lose that means that somewhere in the world there is more equipment for those who are fighting for the forces of freedom that's why we have a cost consciousness program and have had one for over a year that identifies in every soldiers mind the fact that he is a taxpayer as well as a soldier that's why we started operation red tape to try to cut the red tape out of the army if it's possible even more important that's how we achieve certain measurable savings such as eight billion dollars in saving for rehabilitation of old equipment there are other statements of savings here but the big point is that I think today the army as a whole realizes that it's important that it saved the taxpayers dollar their dollar in doing so it means that the ensure French for peace can be bought more cheaply in a time when our economy is as important as our national defense Thank You mr. secretary for being our guest on this final program of the current big picture series what you have seen during the past 13 weeks has been a documentation of your army at work an army second to none dedicated to freedom and the defense of the United States an army of men and women intelligent trained soldiers who strength lies in their state of preparedness an army of the finest weapons in the world day backed by science and industry in are being made of many individual parts welded together by teamwork the army of the United States is your army