The Great Flood of 1998

On 6 August 1998, one of the greatest floods on record occurred in many areas of the Republic of South Korea. Many people lost everything, some... even their lives. I was fortunate in that my apartment was on the second floor, but my office was not. The photograph above is of my office on Camp Casey, Korea. I am the manager of the West Casey MOS Library. The picture was taken about two weeks prior to the flood. My building is a standard sized quonset hut. In it, there are thousands of military manuals which may be borrowed by soldiers for training, reference, or research. Until 6 August 1998, my library had the most extensive collection of publications available anywhere in Korea. But, 6 August changed all that, as you will shortly see.

This page is separated into five categories. They are entitled as follows: "The Clean-Up Operation", "The Building Restoration", "The Library Restocking", "Credit Where Credit is Due" and "The Attempt to Cause Failure".

The Clean-Up Operation

This is the sight that greeted me on the morning of the second day of the clean-up. Unfortunately, the photos of the first day were lost due to an incorrect format of the floppy disk used in the digital camera. The mud is still wet and slippery as it has rained on and off everyday. On the afternoon of the first day, ten soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 72nd Armor arrived to help remove all the destroyed books and shelves and other office materials. On the second morning, soldiers from the 122nd Signal Battalion replaced the 1/72nd Armor and completed the removal of destroyed equipment. Left click on the image at left to see a variety of cleaning up photos.

The Building Renovation

With the initial clean-up operation complete, much remains to be done to accomplish the mission of returning this place to it's former glory. The inside is cleaned out, and the outside area is cleaned off, but the interior and exterior still require much effort. I was told by many people that it was impossible to restore that building. But, Mr. Iacomacci and I had the same dream. We saw our library not as it was, nor as it is, but as it shall be. Sadly, his death prevented him from seeing the dream completed. But his spirit still works with mine. See for yourself how the dream progresses. Left click on the image at left to see a variety of renovation photos.

The Library Restocking

The renovation is completed and the building and surrounding areas look great. However, no matter how good a library looks, it is not a library without books. During the clean-up and renovation, I had been ordering the books that were destroyed. Each book had to be ordered individually by it's number. It took about 1-1/2 months to complete the ordering. I had hoped to have the shelves before receiving the new manuals, but that was not to be. When the books did arrive, it was a mess of the highest degree. Have a look. Left click on the image at left to see a variety of restocking photos.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

This section is to show appreciation and thank those few who helped me with the rebuilding of my library. Each one of these individuals contributed in one way or another and, collectively, are responsible for the success of the mission. The photograph is of me, and I hope to have a picture of each of those folks mentioned on the "Credit Where Credit is Due" page. Left click on the image at left to meet the people who helped me to reconstruct the library to its current state.

The Attempt to Cause Failure

This is not my building, but it is built pretty much with the same layout, except for the lack of a back room. If the status of my building was left up to the one man who could have made everything extremely easy and fast by helping, then the building would resemble the one in the photograph. That was because he (the Education Services Officer, or ESO) not only did not help, he continued to try to sabotage any advancement made by me. If you think I could be mistaken in my previous statements, left click on the image at left to see the facts and judge for yourselves.