Battle Mountain - The Forgotten Battle of the Forgotten War
Forward by Jack Cuthrell, Korea 50-51,
25th Division, 35th RCT
I just returned from the Korean Family Reunion at Virginia Beach, VA. I am a little frustrated, although not
with the reunion that was one of the friendliest and most inclusive of all reunions. I am frustrated with history.
When I say I was at the Pusan Perimeter, I get a blank stare. No one seems to know much about it.
Let me set the record straight here and now. Without us holding the Pusan Perimeter, there would have been no
Inchon Landing and the war may have been lost. When the Perimeter was formed, we were outnumbered by about six to
one, and out-gunned. To make matters worse, when MacArthur decided to invade Inchon, the Marines were taken off
the line to prepare for the Invasion. That left us even more short-handed. On top of that, we were shorted even
more ammo than we already were. The ammo and equipment meant for the perimeter was diverted to the invasion force,
which meant that we had to hold with even less than we should have.
Everyone has heard of the Punch Bowl, the Bowling Alley, Pork Chop Hill, Old Baldy and Chosin. Hardly anyone
has heard of BATTLE MOUNTAIN. The 35th and 27th regiments of the 25th Division were assigned the area around Subuk-san
and Pil-bong, which became known as Battle Mountain. The North Koreans were massing for an attack through this
section, which to them was the best route to Pusan. We had orders to "hold at all costs." The battle raged for two
weeks and changed hands thirteen times. General Keene said of this battle, "Never before to my knowledge has a
unit closed the gaps in its front line and held it intact while a full-scale battle was raging in the rear areas."
By the time the battle was over, the North Korean forces were no longer an effective fighting force. WE HAD
WHIPPED THEIR ASS!!
In the book, "Fighting on the Brink: Defense of the Pusan Perimeter" by BG Uzal W. Ent, he refers to the 35th
as "The Rock of Pusan." This is in no way meant to suggest that we were the only ones to save Pusan. Every outfit
and every soldier that was at the Perimeter fought under tremendous hardship and with great courage. I, for one,
am proud to say that I was associated with the troops that held the Perimeter. We took General Walker’s order to
"Stay or Die" to heart. We said, "Yes, General. We can do that." And we did it.
I hope this piece which I seemed compelled to write will someday get into the hands of some troops that were
there, and to some that were not. History should not glaze over this part of the war. It was the first victory
over communism and set the stage for what was to follow.
MEMORIES OF THE KOREAN WAR
August 1950 to October 1951
Written by Jack L. Cuthrell
I had just gotten my first three-day pass since I enlisted in the Army a year ago. I gave my address as
Marshall St., Richmond, Virginia, but I was going to Nashville, Tennessee. That was where my girlfriend was
staying. I had been there one day when I heard that the North Koreans had attacked South Korea. I had no idea
where Korea was, and did not care. But by the end of the day, there was much news on the radio about it. There
were reports on the radio that the American Army was being sent to Korea. I thought that I should go home in case
the Army was looking for me. I caught a bus to Richmond and got there a little after dark. My mom met me at the
door. (She didn’t even greet me. All she said was the Army had been trying to get in touch with me.) That made me
a little anxious, so I called the Main Street Station to find out the next train to Columbus, GA. It was 11 a.m.
the next morning.
I arrived in Columbus after midnight, too late to catch the last bus to Fort Benning. I slept in the bus
station until the first bus in the morning. By the time I got to the company area, everything was packed and
loaded on trucks and ready to go to Columbus. I found the first sergeant and got my orders while still in my class
uniform. The guys had packed my things and loaded them on a truck. I found the truck and we headed back to
Columbus. I had come pretty close to being classified as a deserter, so I was really lucky.
There was no delay en route. My train ticket took me to Kansas City, KS. There were guys from all parts of the
East Coast all going to Camp Stoneman, California. The train ride was enjoyable, but it was a good way to see the
rest of the country.
When we got to Camp Stoneman, there was a tent set up just as we got off the train. There were tables set up on
each side of the tent. You entered the tent and showed your shot record. If you needed any shots you got them, no
matter how many there were. I only got three or four shots. Some people got more. At the end of the aisle were
some bunks. If you felt faint, you were helped to them until you felt good enough to go on. You were taken to the
supply room and issued sheets, a pillow, and pillow case and blanket. Then you were taken to the barracks. You
picked a bunk and made the bed, and sat down to see what would come next. We had no idea what was really going on,
only that we may be going to that place called Korea.
The next day we had to pack up our civilian clothes so they could be sent to our home address. Then they issued
us two sets of full combat gear (consisting of two M-1 rifles, helmets, helmet liners, pistol belts, canteens,
first aid packets, combat packs, with tent halves, poles, ropes, ponchos, mess kits). Some guys were so sore from
the shots that they could hardly carry it all. We were there for two or three more days.
We were then put on a train without letting us know where we were going. It turned out to be Fort Lewis,
Washington. Spending two days on a troop train is not a very good trip. The stay at Fort Lewis was only one day.
Trucks came to take us to the port to load on ships for the trip to Japan. We hung around for about a half day
there, then we moved out. That wound up being the airport. There were some Stratocruisers and some C-130s parked
there. I was hoping to go on the Stratocruisers, but no luck. I was assigned to a C-130.
I think that there were about 20 guys in the group. They gave us a paper bag with our food in it—a sandwich, an
orange, apple, and a cookie. When we went to Alaska where the plane had to refuel, they were supposed to feed us a
hot meal. When we arrived at the air base, there was not anyone there. They did not know we were coming. It took a
while to get someone with authority to get the plane refueled. Meanwhile, we were taken to the mess hall to be
fed. Not knowing that we were coming, there was no hot chow. They fed us cold cuts and cold coffee. We were again
given a bag with some sandwiches and fruit. This was late at night and we were getting tired. There were two
aircraft engines in the center of the plane, so there was not much room to relax. You had to stay where you were
so that the plane could stay balanced. No one got much sleep—just a short nap now and then. We arrived in Japan
early in the morning. After we got off the plane, they took the extra gear we had brought. I was glad to get rid
of that. It got too heavy after a while. They told us we were to go to a base too zero in our rifles. We never got
to do that. We were taken to some barracks where we were going to stay. When we got settled in, we were called to
get some chow. Having not eaten much for the last day or so, that was the best thing we had heard in some time.
The bunk was a welcome sight, also. I lay down and was asleep in seconds.
The next morning, they called us out to check our equipment to make sure we had everything. Then we were told
to take the rest of the day off and get ready to leave the next day. BOY!! I can tell you that I needed that. I
was pooped out. I got my things together and slept most of the day. The next morning after breakfast we fell in
for another inspection and were told we were going to Sasebo, Japan. Where in the hell is Sasebo? Waiting at the
train station was a Japanese train. The cars looked about half as large as ours did. When we loaded on the train,
I noticed there were half seats and half sleepers. The seats were small and the sleepers were straw mats slung
between some poles. I am only 5’11", and they were too small for me, but we did what all soldiers do and found a
way to get some sleep. How long the trip was I do not remember. When we arrived in Sasebo, the Red Cross was there
giving out doughnuts and coffee. That was the one and only time that I ever saw the Red Cross. I thought that they
were everywhere according to their advertisements. We were assigned our barracks and told when chow would be
served. The port of Sasebo looked like an anthill with everyone going in all directions. The ships were being
loaded and unloaded by Japanese carrying everything on their backs from the ships to shore along planks laid from
the ship’s holes to the shore.
There were rumors around that there was a hole in the fence and that some Japanese girls were there to help you
to relieve you of some of your pent-up emotions and some of your money. I did not partake of the opportunity to do
so. Later, I thought that maybe I should have. We usually spent two or three days there. When we loaded on the
ship, it looked like a small cargo ship. The holds were empty with straw mats on the floor. Everyone picked a mat
and bedded down. It took us two days to get to Pusan, Korea. The way I remember that number is that we were issued
two days of C-rations and we had two short arm inspections. If anyone reading this does not know what a short arm
inspection is, this is not the time to explain.
As you got off the ship, you were asked your name and serial number. You were then directed to an area where
groups were forming. After everyone was off the ship and they were grouped, then you were told where you were
assigned. I was assigned to the 25th Division, 35th Regiment. We were given some "K" rations. (K rations were from
World War II.) It contained crackers, jelly, candy, and cigarettes. I forget if there was anything more in it.
Also, we were given a bandoleer of M-1 ammo. We were told to lock and load and that we may run into some North
Koreans on the way. Right then I knew that this was not the place I wanted to be. We had not gone very far when a
truck tire blew out. One of the guys was so quick to dive to the bed of the truck that he skinned by shin with his
M-1. Thus, my first war wound. One of the guys opened his K rations and soon we all followed sit. Mine had some
Lucky Strike cigarettes with the green package. (They stopped printing the green package in 1941. The dye was
needed for the war effort.). All in all, they were not bad.
We arrived at the orientation area. It was a straw-covered shelter with wooden benches. The sergeant giving the
orientation had been wounded and could not wait to get back to the front. His unit was short-handed and needed all
the help they could get. He told us that we were out-numbered by six to one and figured that was about right. I
surely hoped he was right.
Being that I had gone to demolition school and just came from Fort Benning teaching the officer training
candidates to lay mines, set booby traps, and build foot bridges across rivers, I thought that I would be assigned
to the Engineers. One of the memories I have of being in the school was when we were given a booby trap trigger in
one of the classes. We had to hold it while the instructor gave his lecture. He assured us that some of us would
not hold it to the end. Mine was the second or third to go off. He said that I would not be assigned to the bomb
disposal unit. Good, I said to myself. I didn’t want to go there anyway.
When I arrived in Korea, I was assigned to the third platoon, Heavy Mortar Company, of the 35th Regiment, 25th
Division. They then took my M-1, gave me a 45 pistol and an M-1 carbine. The carbine did not have many bluing on
it, and it looked pretty rough. These are the weapons of a mortar man, which was not much comfort. I could not hit
a barn door at 50 feet, and the carbine did not look very reliable. There was a rumor that a lot of weapons were
salvaged from surplus dumps in Japan. Whether or not that is true, I don’t know.
Around August 15 or 16, I arrived at the platoon area. It was about 50 yards long and 10 yards wide with no one
on either side that I could see. It was at the base of a dike that was about 10 feet tall facing the Naktong-ni
River. On the left was a small hill and to the rear and right was open ground. To the left and by a path was a
foxhole. I was told it was mine, and I was given a 2.3 rocket launcher. The sergeant said that it would not stop
the Russian T-34 tanks, and to use it for personnel. That also was not much comfort. In the middle to the rear was
a .50 caliber machine gun. On top of the dike was a .30 caliber machine gun that we did not use during the day
unless we were attacked. There were three 4.2 guns with not much ammo for each. I was assigned to the number two
gun. There was nothing I knew about mortars. I had seen them fired during basic training, but that was it. My job
was an ammo bearer. It consisted of preparing the rounds with the proper charge and handing it to the number two
gunner, who dropped it in the tube. I got about ten minutes training on how to do that. The number one gunner was
a guy named Mancuso. He took some time with me, and I have never forgotten him. The platoon had been overrun a few
days before and had eleven killed and five wounded. He was one of the survivors.
To the left of the perimeter and about fifty yards out were three foxholes for a listening post. They were
manned at night. Three things happened out there that I remember. One was that from time to time we would crawl up
to the top of the dike to check things out. We kept hearing some tinkling and could not figure out what it was. At
daylight we were going up to check things out and the guy hit me on the back of my head and knocked my helmet off.
The sound that we were hearing was the strap on my helmet hitting the barrel of my rifle. Second, I remember that
some flares went off behind us, so we opened in that direction. One guy was assigned to fire rifle grenades in
that direction, too. He must have loaded a live round instead of the blank. There was a bright flash, he went down
in his hole, and would not come out until dawn. It turned out to be some animals that must have set the flares
off, because after we stopped firing, all was quiet. We never did say anything about him doing that. A few days
later he had volunteered for a rifle company. I guess he wanted to prove that he was not a coward. The next time I
saw him, he was on a litter jeep with a wound in his thigh, on his way to Japan.
Another time out, we were in rain. It was raining really hard and the holes were full of water, so we sat at
the bottom of the dike. All of us had our rifles under our ponchos sitting in the rain. We heard someone walking
on the dike right above us. There was nothing we could do but sit still and hope he kept going. It was very dark
and he was concentrating on where he was going. After he had passed far enough, we called on the sound power phone
to the machine gun on the dike. They got him. There never was any more, so he must have been lost.
At night there always was fighting going on in our concentrations to the left. With the ammo we had, we could
only fire so much a day. So the forward observer (FO) had to pick and choose when and where to fire. One morning
the FO showed up about dawn being run off the hill. He told the Medic that there was a wounded GI about 100 yards
out. The Medic’s name was Keith. As he went by me, he looked down at me as if to say, "come help me." I looked
away. Later, I felt I should have gone with him. I told myself that if that happened again, I would do what I
could and not shirk what I should do. Keith brought the GI in. He was a big blond kid with five or six burp gun
slugs in his gut. We were cut off for three days, and Keith stayed by his side the whole time. The afternoon of
the third day, a personnel carrier got through with some medical people. While they were giving him some plasma,
he passed away. Keith took it very hard.
You did not keep track of the days, but you knew when it was Sunday, because Keith made sure that we took our
Cloroquinine to ward off malaria. More on this later. I think in early summer 1951, we were at the Imjin River
area. Keith was awarded the Silver Star for his work there. Not long after that, he was sent to the rear because
of battle fatigue. We got a new Medic and he was good also, but we missed Keith. He was gone for some time. When
he returned, we were really glad to have him back, and we told him how much we had missed him.
Back to Pusan. We were at a place called Battle Mountain. It changed hands six times in seven days. The NK
would run our guys off at night, and we would take it back the next day. During the night, the NK would infiltrate
through to the rear and gather up. When they thought they had enough, they would stage an attack. Sometimes there
was as much fighting in the rear as the front. That is why we were cut off so much of the time. We had been cut
off a couple days and had run out of food. We called to get a spotter plane to drop to us some food. In the
morning, he came over and dropped a metal box. We rushed out to open it and it was 50-caliber ammo. We needed
50-caliber ammo like a hole in the head. We had a 50-caliber machine gun that would fire five to ten rounds, then
jam because it was so worn out. Later in the afternoon, we did get some C-rations. Someone got our food and we got
their ammo. I hope they got their ammo later, too.
We had a cook that would bring us hot chow whenever he could. He would wait until the roadblock was clear and
then get the food to us. One of the guys commented one day that he would get hit one of these days, so it did
happen. The road had been opened and he and his jeep driver were going through when the NK closed the road again.
The cook and driver were found the next day. We never did get much hot chow after that.
I remember that once during the winter of 1950, the cook showed up early one morning with his truck that had
stoves in it. We got to have eggs any way we wanted, with Spam and bread. It was cold as hell, and that was the
best breakfast I have ever had before or since. At Christmas 1950, we were set up at Kaesong and things had been
very quiet. The cooks had brought us our Christmas dinner, and we were in line to eat. All hell broke loose and
the NK had hit the infantry in front of us. They were pulling back. The cooks closed the food up and bugged out.
The cook said we would get our dinner later. Three or four days later when things had stabilized, we got our
dinner with all the trimmings. Another time during the summer of 1950, we were on top of a hill and had just
finished eating when we heard jets coming. We were so far up the hill that the jets were the same height as us.
When they passed, they had to turn sideways to get through the valley. Sometimes I think those guys had more guts
than brains. Let me say that the cooks do not get enough credit for the work they do. There is nothing better to
help your moral than a hot meal occasionally.
Back to Pusan. On one trick at the listening post, it was really foggy. We all heard something to our right and
turned that way. You could only see a few yards. Soon a NK appeared through the fog. We all opened up at the same
time. The NK died soon after. Later in the morning at the position, someone asked me what had happened to my
watch. The face was shattered, so the NK must have gotten a shot off and hit my watch. In my excitement, I didn’t
notice my watch.
I was pulling night watch at the .50 caliber machine, it had been raining for two or three days and everything
was wet and muddy. There was a fence post about fifty yards out, and if you looked at it too long, it would start
to move. A flare went off out by the post and I opened up with the machine gun. It fired five or six rounds and
jammed. I jerked on the belt a few times, but that did not help. Then I opened the breach and tried to position a
new round in the chamber. It was so dark that I was trying to do that by feel. By this time, everyone was up and
ready for whatever might come. It must have been an animal that tripped the flare, because nothing happened. I
spent the rest of the time with my rifle, which I was not sure it was any good either due to all the rain and mud.
The next morning I figured out what had happened. I was slamming the cover so hard that it would spring open
again.
The 25th was called the Phantom Division by the gooks due to the 27th Regiment that was held off the line to
plug the holes that the North Koreans tried to open. Around the middle of September they brought us our trucks. I
had never given it a thought of how the guns would be moved. There was a buzz around the position like something
was going to happen. The next day we got word that the Marines had landed at Inchon and we were to go on the
attack. The next day we moved out around dusk to cross the Naktong River. The engineers were held up for some
reason and we did not cross until the next morning. The infantry was moving so fast that we did not fire the whole
day. The next afternoon we were told to go to a position to our right. It had gotten dark and we still had not
found where we were supposed to be. So we set up a perimeter and stayed the night. I don’t think anyone slept all
night. Lieutenant Dorflin contacted headquarters the next morning to find out where we were supposed to be. The
maps that we used were Japanese and were not very accurate. It was some time before the mapmakers got over there
to make us some good maps. We were moving so fast that there were days that we did not fire at all. Occasionally
there would be a roadblock and we gave support. I remember that after we had passed Seoul, we kept moving for two
or three days and slept very little.
Everyone took turns driving the truck with one other guy to keep each other awake. The rest tried to get some
sleep. Our truck was close to the last ones in the line. You would think that trying to sleep in the back of a ¾
ton Dodge Power Wagon would be impossible. Not so. We were moving at night and had stopped for a while. A
firefight had broken out up ahead. The NK had set up a roadblock. After it had been cleared and we moved out, we
found out that the NK had waited for most of the trucks to go by to hit the rear of the convoy. The guys in the
truck four or five ahead of us had all fallen asleep and had not moved on with the rest. That saved us from being
hit at the roadblock. This was one of three or four times that I was in the wrong place at the right time to
enable me to make it through the war. We were moving so fast that the food could not keep up, so we ate a lot of
rice that we found in the villages. We had no water either, so we got water where we could. I hated the halazone
taste.
The Turks were assigned to the 25th. When they first relieved us, I thought that they were not very well armed.
They had many Thompson machine guns and 1903 rifles. Everybody had a KNIFE. In the late fall, the Turks relieved
us. We moved off the hill to about five hundred yards away. We had not been allowed any fires. The first thing the
Turks did was to build fires and then they had a party. They were a fearless bunch. In the summer of 1951, the
Turks were supposed to relieve the Marines to the left of us. We were relieved also. It turned out that the
Marines had not taken the ground they were supposed to, and the Turks would not relieve them. We were diverted
around to help the Marines. We had been on the line for four weeks and needed a rest, which made us mad as hell.
In one day we took the ground the Marines could not take in three. From that time on, my opinion of the Marines
was that they were more bark than bite.
It was early November and it was cold already. We had gotten shoepacks, an extra pair of socks, wool long
johns, and sweaters. There were no gloves, pile jackets, pile hats or parkas. More on this later.
Orders had come down to report any evidence that might show there might be troop movement. There were some
reported and we were told to stop. After a couple of days, we were sent in reserve. Our area was about a mile or
so from the front at a house with a good-sized yard next to the road. I think we had been there one day. The guns
were set up in case there was a fire mission. That night, all was quiet. The guards had been posted and the guys
had found a place to bed down. I was on duty first down by the road. There was a lot of firing going up at the
front, and it kept getting closer. About an hour had passed. I heard noise coming down the road. I called to get
the platoon leader up. By this time, everyone was up and ready for a fight. It turned out to be South Koreans
heading south in a hurry. The platoon leader had us load up the guns and get ready to move out.
About this time some Chinese came over a knoll left of the house. They had sent up flares and we could see them
clearly. We had picked off quite a few and headed for the trucks. I forget how far we had gone before the Chinese
slammed the door shut. Soon after, they took our trucks and left us with one Jeep and trailer with one gun and
maybe two dozen rounds of ammo. They took the trucks to keep them from getting captured, so we had to walk out. I
remember one night laying on the ground in my sleeping bag, looking up at the stars. I could see the big and small
dipper, the North Star. I also saw a shooting star. It was so nice and peaceful I forgot the war for a little
while.
We had walked a very long way and the guys were having trouble with their feet. One of the guys got frostbitten
toes and wound up losing two of them. We were not used to walking much. When we gout our trucks back, we kept
going south for another day or so. I guess we had broken contact with the Chinese, because we stopped and waited a
couple of days. We were assigned to a patrol with ‘A’ Company, I think—a couple of tanks and a recon platoon.
They had us go north about five miles and set up a perimeter. The Infantry was sent out to make contact with
the Chinese. The first day nothing happened, but it was cold!! I had pulled my guard duty and went to sleep in the
back of a 2-½ ton truck. I had been asleep for awhile, and I got cold on my chest. I turned over on my side. After
a while I got cold again, and turned over on my other side and got cold again. The cold was coming down through
the canvas cover, through my sleeping bag, field jacket, shirt, sweater, and long john shirt. I got up to see why
I was so cold. I had gone to sleep with all my clothes and had sweated and that had turned to frost. NOW THAT IS
COLD!
The second day, we fired one round. Why I don’t know. Early the next morning, word came that they had made
contact with the Chinese and to get ready to move out. When we had fired the round the day before, it had thawed
out some and that night it had frozen again. The base plate had frozen to the ground and we could not get it up.
We hooked the winch of a 2-½ ton truck to pull it up. The handles bent, but it came loose. The handles stayed bent
the rest of the time I was there.
Another thing I remember about the cold was there were no gloves, so you had to hold the round long enough for
it to get warm to keep it from peeling the skin off your hands. You took turns dropping rounds, warming your hands
so you could drop the next round.
We headed south in a hurry. This was not a Bug-out like before. There was some order to this withdrawal. There
was a leap frog approach to this one. We were set up around Pyongyang on the 25th of December. Things were quiet.
Some guys had dug bunkers. I had a nice one in the side of a hill.
The mess sergeant had brought us Christmas Dinner, turkey, and all the trimmings. The line was formed to start
to eat. All hell broke loose. We were in reserve so we had not set up the guns. The order came to pack up and move
out as soon as possible. The mess sergeant packed up. As he was leaving, he said we would get our Christmas
dinner. When we were ready to leave I thought about my bunker. I ran over and tossed a grenade in. The SOB’s
weren’t going to use my bunker. The withdrawal took five or six days. I did know that you lose all sense of time.
Things had gotten quiet again. The mess sergeant showed up with our Christmas dinner. It was New Year’s Day.
There was a lot of fighting going on at this time, but the line did not change much. We still had not gotten
any winter clothes—only the Mickey Mouse boots and an extra pair of socks. You pinned them under your shirt and
changed them every couple of days.
The first week of March, orders came down to get ready to move out at midnight. We moved into position along
the Han River in the dark and set up the guns. At six o’clock in the morning, all the artillery was to open up at
one time for the start of Operation Ripper. Boy, that was a helluva racket. I did not know we had so many guns.
During the fire mission, I looked up and saw a Chinese mortar round coming toward us. I just stood there. I
couldn’t go anywhere. There was no place to go anyway. It landed about fifty yards to my left. It hit the footpath
and did not go down. It bounced over a little knoll. My heart started to beat again.
After the infantry had gotten out of range, we packed up to cross the river. The engineers had built a bridge
by now. Along the riverbank was gravel. Our trailer was loaded with ammo, so we got hung up on the bank, sunk in
the stuff. It was almost dark when we got across. We were alone looking for the rest of the platoon. While driving
in the dark with no lights and making a turn, the driver put us in a ditch. There was no one around to help us, so
here we were alone with Chinese all around. The only thing to do was to set guards out and hope for the best. No
one slept all night. A little after daylight, a 2-½ ton truck came by and pulled us out. We found the rest of the
platoon about noon. We sure were glad to see them. The report that I heard was that we captured 3,000 prisoners
that day.
I do not remember much after that until April 21st. That night after the guards were set out, I laid down on my
sleeping bag. After a little while of lying there, things did not seem right. I got up and walked around. It was
just too quiet. There was a half-track with quad 50s on it and a tank in the front of us. I talked to the guy in
the half-track and asked him how many rounds he had. He said about 5000. I asked how long that would last. He said
about 15 to 20 minutes in an attack. I talked to the tanker, too. Not long after that I heard a noise to our left.
I got the guys up, just in case. The noise got further to our rear. Around midnight they hit us. We had twenty or
thirty rounds of ammo per gun. That did not last very long. After the ammo was gone, the trucks were loaded up to
move out. The Chinese had broken through our left and were trying to surround us. Captain Berry of A Company sent
some guys over to plug the hole. The tank started to leave so we went with them. About 200 yards out, we got
stopped by some Chinese. That was broken and we moved out again. It was just getting light when we ran onto an
ammo truck and ambulance by the side of the road. The truck driver and ambulance driver were dead. Looking inside
the ambulance, we found one guy still alive. He was taken out and put in our truck. To the right of us was a small
hill. To our left were some rice paddies.
From the knoll, the gooks launched an attack. They were only a couple of hundred yards away. We bailed out of
our trucks and into the edge of the rice paddy and started to fire our rifles. We stopped the attack in about five
minutes and the gooks withdrew over the knoll. On the side of the road was an ammo truck and the driver was dead.
I climbed up to see if it would start. Moving the GI over, I tried to start it. I heard some pings and saw a
couple of new holes in the hood. I bailed out of there and went to the other side of the road. Some firing was
coming from that side. There was an abandoned weapons carrier with a .50 caliber mounted on it. I got in there and
tried to fire it in that direction. It did not fire, so I tried to change barrels. More rounds were hitting close
to me. I thought at that time that the son of a bitch is trying to kill me. In my haste to change the barrel, I
did not get it to fire so I bailed out of there and got behind the rice paddy to see if I could locate that son of
a bitch. Shortly, some GI’s came over the hill. I guess they took care of him.
Things quieted down and we moved out. A helicopter landed close to the road to take the wounded. They took our
wounded GI. That was the only time I saw a helicopter during the war.
During our withdrawal from North Korea in the winter, we were called for a fire mission. There was a small draw
just off the road. We had to set the guns up close together. We got set up and we all hung the first round and
dropped them at once. Our second did not go off and we called a misfire. Lifting the barrel, the round came out.
Putting the barrel back down, there was a thunk. Everyone looked at each other with eyes wide open. There was
another round still in the gun. The first round had not gone off. With the guns so close, we had missed it. Two
things passed through your mind. (1) If both rounds had gone off we would have been blown to hell. (2) If the
first round had gone off there would have been some guys with serious wounds.
Another time a fire mission was called and we had to put our guns on a frozen rice paddy. We just dug the base
plate in the paddy a little bit, thinking the first would set the gun. They called for the first round. We dropped
it and the gun disappeared over the rice paddy. The gun had just bounced off the ice, crossed over the paddy, and
flipped over the other side. We were more careful where we put the guns after that. |
