Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [123]
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As we were bunking down one night, another soldier and myself crawled into a bunker that had a log roof covered with dirt. The rest of the guys were set up in tents not far from the opening of the bunker. In the early hours of the morning I woke up covered in dirt and I felt around for the other soldier, only to find that he was gone. I crawled over to the bunkers opening and cautiously whispered out the names of my men—no one responded. So, I grabbed my weapon and started down the hill looking for them.
Finally, I located them; they had moved to a safer place. Apparently, during the early hours of the morning we had been shelled by enemy artillery, with the bunker taking a direct hit. And since I didn’t come out with the other soldier, they assumed I was dead.
It’s hard to believe one can sleep through artillery shelling like that, but when one goes on very little sleep for days—they can become “dead” tired.
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Our company was on the move when we reached a safe area—stopping to rest overnight. The captain yelled, “Sgt. Rice take a bazooka and one man with you to secure the area; no tanks get through.” I gathered my men telling them the captain had a dangerous mission and that I needed one man to go with me. Immediately, Sgt. Lawrence Saunders stepped forward saying he wanted to go.
I had a lot of good men in my platoon, and Saunders was no exception.
After grabbing the bazooka, and ammo, we set off back down the road. Finally, we came to where the road made a ninety degree turn to the left. We then climbed up a steep bank where we could look down on the road, and when we got situated we came up with an escape plan. I told Saunders after we knocked out the lead tank, I was going to run down the back of the hill. He told me I better not slow down or he would run over me.
We mostly set there listening to the silence, then just before dark we heard a tank start up. As it moved towards us, the earth began to shake—by now our adrenaline had kicked in. The tank got within one-hundred yards of us when it stopped momentarily. Before reaching our spot, there was a road that turned left. Suddenly, the tanks engine revved up as it headed up the other road. Soon, the tank had rumbled out of earshot, and sight.
Saunders and I joyfully returned to the platoon.
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One day Charlie Company was too far out in front when they began to get overrun. They had to fall back, so their flanks closed together. I was instructed to take four men and hold as long as possible; Charlie Company would be passing through us.
Along with the men, we took two mortars. The Chinese were coming over the hill behind Charlie Company like ants. So, immediately I started calling in drops—visually. As men from Charlie Company rapidly passed through us, they said, “Good luck Sarge.” I told them it was going to take more than luck.
Suddenly, a tank came up along our right flank and started firing directly at the Chinese. I quickly yelled to the tank commander to get his tank out of there. He told me he was okay; I agreed, but told him the Chinese would be zeroing in on his tank, which would make it rough on us.
Finally, all of Charlie Company had made it through—now it was our turn to leave. We didn’t even have time to remove the mortar tubes from their base plates. After tossing them into the back of the truck, the guys jumped in. I quickly jumped onto the running board, hanging onto the door as we sped away.
Luckily, we made it out with no casualties or injuries.
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We had been firing continuously for hours when a gunner yelled, “Misfire on #4.” I had the gunner unscrew the tube and slowly turn it upside down as I was prepared to catch the shell—nothing came out. So, I packed the tube with a small sand bag and called for a truck driver to take it to Ordnance. About thirty minutes later he returned with the tube, telling me there was no projectile in the tube.
After daylight we found the undischarged round lying about fifty yards out in front of us. To give the rounds a little more “umph,” we placed