My grandfather, while recounting his service in Korea, had mentioned that he alongside fellow American troops feared their Turkish allies due to the popular assumption that they were ruthless brutes of men even going as far to collect the ears of their fallen enemies. While I'm sure this is nothing more than an ungrounded rumor shared amongst some Western troops, is there any actual historical truth behind the stories?
Your grandfather's assumptions regarding the Turkish soldiers were widely shared by American troops, who themselves grew their own perception of the Turkish soldier as a sort of warrior from the past.
In a letter from my own personal collection, Private Herbert Grantham who served in the 5th RCT during the Korean War, writes the following:
"There is a rumor going around that in a few days we will be relieved by a Turkish outfit. They say that they are a pretty rough bunch - they like to fight with knives and daggers. I'm glad that they're on our side."
The Turkish infantrymen in the Korean War repeatedly proved himself in battle and earned a reputation of being both aggressive and excellent soldiers. One such example comes from the battle of Kunu-Ri in which the Turkish brigade, encircled by three divisions of the Chinese 38th Army, managed to keep themselves from being completely overrun through the use of the bayonet - ending in 900 Chinese soldiers killed by the bayonet and a Distinguished United Citation from the United States for this action, which incidentally happened to also be their first.
But there was a darker side to the American perception. Many Turkish soldiers felt that the Americans treated them with superiority and with a condescending attitude. Turkish commanders felt resentful towards their Western allies since they were perceived as not having the ability or the training to use more advanced weaponry. Nor where they provided with adequate quantities of American small arms which they needed in the field, in particular for weapons training. The Turkish soldier had not fired an American firearm until they arrived in Korea, two months before the action at Kunu-Ri.
To quote John M. Vander Lippe:
"The feeling among Turkish soldiers that they were being used is perhaps best summed up in a joke in which a Turkish officer tells his troops that American planes would be droopping them behind enemy lines that night. The officer says 'We will have to fly in low, so the Americans will be giving us smaller parachutes,' to which a soldier replies, 'Oh really, they're going to let us have parachutes?'"
While there are no reports of the collection of ears, the popular assumption of their ruthlessness or aggressive means most certainly comes from the battle of Kunu-Ri and the American reports from the battlefield. However, this view of seeing them as brutes dehumanized them and while the American commanders saw them as excellent soldiers, they were not seen as capable or as worthy as American or British soldiers.
Sources:
Grantham, F. Herbert. Letter to his parents. 9 August, 1952. Personal collection.
Forgotten Brigade of the Forgotten War: Turkey's Participation in the Korean War by John M. Vander Lippe in Middle Eastern Studies (2000), 36:1, 92-102.
The one coalition they craved to join: Turkey in the Korean War by Cameron S. Brown in Review of International Studies (2008), 34, 89–108.