With all the auction attention given to Marilyn Monroe's dress ¬ the one she wore while singing happy birthday to President Kennedy, hardly anyone noticed her "Korean War Dress." That dress went for a mere $112,000 compared to the $1.26 million for the "Happy Birthday Dress."

Watching the "Korean War Dress" auction on television brought back many memories. I looked carefully. It was well preserved with no apparent Korean dust to be seen anywhere on the dress. And that is the point of this piece ¬ a story friends have heard from me many times over the years.

My assignment, back in 1953, was to wet the Korean roads down so that a visiting Marilyn Monroe would not be exposed to or annoyed by one speck of dust. Korean roads were notoriously dusty in the dry season. Commanding the 633rd Engineer Combat Company, my troops were regularly called on to use our water trailers to spray roads behind the lines. Wetting the roads allowed artillery and tanks to change without Chinese spotters monitoring the dust as the equipment moved to each new location.

Back to Marilyn's Korean War Dress. It was purple and rather low cut. The drive from her quarters to the amphitheater where she performed was a short one, and it was dust free, as could be evidenced from the image on television at the auction.

Spraying the roads was generally a task that few of my soldiers wanted. It was boring. This job was different. I was overwhelmed with volunteers who wanted to drive the water truck. Never before had one of our engineering assignments drawn so much attention and immediate support. Several hours before her scheduled arrival, an over-staffed water truck lumbered to the Camp Casey helicopter pad. On board were several sergeants, the normal driver (we felt that was only fair), and a young lieutenant by the name of Bob McMillan. We put so much water on those roads that they almost washed away - at least there was no dust!

After convincing the Military Police that it was essential for us to stand by for Marilyn Monroe's arrival, we stationed ourselves right next to the helicopter pad. Soon, we heard the sound of a large helicopter coming from one of the valleys. Next, there was the radiant Marilyn Monroe. She was beautiful. With a wave and a kiss unmistakably ¬ we felt ¬ thrown to all of us on the truck, she was off to the general's jeep to change into that dress. Three sergeants, one private and one lieutenant had come face to face with Marilyn Monroe. For us, it was the event of a lifetime, and we can look back with pride in preserving that dress for the auction.