The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association

two weeks and about Jan. 22 we retook
Wonju. The beginning of February we
moved up to Hoengson again. We no more
than arrived at Hoengson when we were
ordered into Division Reserve at Wonju.
About the middle of February we were
back on the front lines, seems the Gooks
were going to have another go for Wonju.
On the night of February 14th we were hit
very hard. By February 16th the Gooks
had enough and pulled back
After this we moved Northeast into the
mountains, many nights in the mountains
it was 30 below zero and it was tough for
our supplies to keep up with us. The 38th
Regiment had really been clobbered at
Wonju and we were put into reserve for
training, replacements and equipment.
March 10th found us back on line. We
moved to take a pass at Yudong-ni. The
3rd Battalion was to lead and us right
behind.
This attack failed and the next morning
it was the 3rd Battalion and the 2nd
Battalion side by side through the pass.
By nightfall we were in Yodung-ni. The
end of March the 23rd and the 9th
Regiments went into reserve and we
stayed on line. The next month was spent
on trying to find the Gooks and training.
April 25th we moved up to the “Cairo”
line. At this time we the 2nd Battalion was
sent way out front of everyone and formed
a patrol base from which to hunt for
Gooks and to act as an alert for the rest of
the Division.
I have told you the make-up of a
Battalion, that is 3 Rifle Companies and 1
Heavy Weapons Company. Normally 1 or
more Rifle Companies were on line and
the 81st Mortars were immediately behind
them on the back side of the hill, supporting
them. The Mortars being on the down
side of the hill could not see what to shoot
at and that’s why the need for Forward
Observers (FO). We would have an FO
and a Radioman with every Company or
part of Company on line.
The procedure was to first become a
radioman and accompany the FO. The FO
directed the fire of the Mortars on the
enemy and the Radioman relayed the FO’s
directions back to another Radioman at
the Mortars, because of casualties and
rotation there was quite a turnover of people
in the Korean War. The Radioman was
to be the successor to the FO. At this time
Actually the way they were stopped was that the killed
and wounded were piled so high on the barbed wire that
others couldn’t get over the top of them.
I was to become a radioman but within a
few weeks I became a Forward Observer.
I actually liked being on FO, it was
probably safer being with the Rifle company
on line than being with the Mortar
Platoon. Because the Mortars were behind
the Riflemen we got teased a lot for having
a plush job but in reality it was as dangerous
or more so because once the Gooks
had penetrated the Rifle Companies lines
the first thing they looked for was the
Mortars. I also believe that we always had
Gooks at our rear pretending to be South
Koreans and when a battle started they
would get together and attack from the
rear. Before long I was one of the FO’s, I
believe Big Ed was also an FO at this
time. We would go with the Rifle
Companies for about 4 days and rotate
back to the Platoon for 4 days.
BATTLE OF THE SOYANG
RIVER OR THE MAY MAS-
SACRE
The early part of May the absent
Chinese Army who got the hell kicked out
of them in the last six weeks was no where
to be found, but soon they were discovered
to be massing right in front of the 2nd
Division. Coming up “The Battle of the
Soyang River” better known to us as the
“May Massacre.”
We, the 2nd Battalion had been out
front for over a month and early May we
withdrew and became part of the division
reserve. By the middle of May a tremendous
number of Chinese were in front of
us. About this time we were returned to
the Regiment. By the 16th of May the 2nd
Battalion was way out front of the division
again. The 3rd Battalion was about
1500 yards to our rear. It turned out there
was 12 Divisions of Chinese in front of
us. We were 1500 yards in front of everybody
but the Chinese bypassed us and hit
the 3rd Battalion first. It wasn’t long
before they found us and I never seen anything
like it. The night of the 16th I was on
FO, I don’t remember which Company
but when the Gooks attacked the flares
went off lighting up the skies like daylight,
whistles blew, bugles blew and
when I looked down the hill and into the
valley I swear to God there was nothing
but Chinks for as far as you could see,
they were so close to each other you
couldn’t even see the ground.
It reminded me of the fighting in the
Civil War, where in attack everyone
walked standing straight up, shoulder to
shoulder, row by row. With myself and my
radioman there were other FO’s, there was
an Artillery FO and an Airforce FO. Of
course it being dark the Airforce FO
couldn’t be any help but the Artillery FO
and myself called in fire and as fast as
they could fire, the rounds came in, it didn’t
seem to phase them a bit. I still believe
they were all drugged up. That was one
long night, we knew we were completely
surrounded because the whole 2nd
Division was getting clobbered behind us
so we really had no place to go. Actually
the way they were stopped was that the
killed and wounded were piled so high on
the barbed wire that others couldn’t get
over the top of them. On the 18th of May
we were air dropped food and ammunition
to replenish what we had used.
The night of the 18th of May we were
over run and Uncas Bill Hardin was
killed. Bill was a very good friend of all of
us. Actually he was wounded while with
us and was taken to the Medic tent, the
Chinks over run the Medics tent and killed
Bill while he was laying on a table. It was
early morning when we got over run and
very dark, I was with the Platoon and not
on FO. I was in my foxhole and heard all
the firing and knew exactly what it was. I
stayed in my foxhole, pulled the pin on a
grenade and when they got close to me I
was going to lay the Grenade on the
ground outside my foxhole. Instead they
ran through the Platoon firing like crazy
and then they were gone.
Here I am with a live grenade in my
hand and no pin, I couldn’t throw it
January/February, 2000 Page 63