Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [128]
Immediately, I jumped out and rolled into a tight ball just as they exploded. After the smoke cleared, my right leg was full of shrapnel and I wasn’t able to hear a sound. Dazed and disoriented, I noticed that both the machine gun and my M-1 had been destroyed. I quickly took off running down the hill, to my squad, to find anything else to shoot with.
Calling for my BAR man, I was informed that he had been wounded. So, I yelled for his BAR and ammo, which someone brought to me. After inserting a new clip, and placing two more in my jacket, back up the muddy hill I went. With some of my men following me, it started raining grenades as we got within twenty yards of the top; again we were pinned down. I got up and continued up the hill, firing at everything that moved. As I reached the top, I turned around and saw that my guys, along with men from other squads, had followed me.
Lt. Jackson’s platoon, who had come up the left slope, was on top of the hill. I was glad to see them! Later, I found out that Jackson and his men had a hell of a time getting to the top. The lieutenant had been wounded while his men were pinned down, the first time. After our artillery had shelled the enemy, he was able to continue their attack only to be pinned down a second time. Though wounded, he charged the enemy’s position, taking away one of the enemy soldiers weapon using it to beat him to death. He then chased several more away, and as they ran down the hill, he threw grenades at them, killing three more with his rifle. Finally, the company commander ordered him to go back and have his wound looked at.
After we got some control of the hill, I realized how bad my leg was. As I headed back down the hill, I came upon one of my guys lying on the ground. He said he had been hit in the chest and could barely breathe. It being a chest wound, I knew there was nothing I could do for him, but to get him to the aid station. They guy must have weighed about one-hundred eighty pounds, and I may have hit one-forty. I told him to get on my back, and then down the hill we went.
We began to take sniper fire from an area of the hill that was still under enemy control. As I carried him, I would slip and fall in the mud; only to get up and go again. Nearing the bottom, I fell again, but this time I was unable to get up—I had lost too much blood. Blood was running down my leg and had pooled in my boot. Lying there, I decided I would check his wound. Taking off his jacket, I got a surprise—no blood. After further investigation, he had a piece of metal, about the size of a thumbnail, just above his left nipple; I picked it off! I told him to get up off his ass and that he could carry me the rest of the way.
Later, we learned there were over three-hundred Chinese that were equipped with 81mm mortars, machine guns, automatic weapons, small arms, and grenades, dug in on Hill 329.
On the 21st of May, it took us three hours and thirty minutes to buy Hill 329. We paid for it with the lives of five men: thirty-three men were awarded the Purple Heart: three men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross—First Lieutenant Paul Clawson (KIA), First Lieutenant Willis Jackson, and myself.
I am proud to have served in the U.S. Army, but never as proud as I was to have served with that group of soldiers on that hill in Korea on that miserable day in May of 1951.
~~Forty~~
Richard Esser
USS New Jersey – BB-62
U.S. Navy
In the fall of 1947, at the age of eighteen, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve; I was stationed at the Naval Training Station in Lorain, Ohio.
With the Korean War starting in June of 1950, I was called to active duty in December 1950. I reported for my thirteen weeks of training at Great Lakes, Illinois. After basic, I was assigned to the battleship USS New Jersey.
On April 5, 1951, I boarded