Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [13]
Baker Company was told to swing around to our right and to try to retake the hill that had been lost earlier. The 9th would be attacking from the other side. This hill was later known as the Chinaman Hat. Our attack failed, causing us to withdraw back inside the perimeter.
The night of November 27th was quiet and bitterly cold. Men were beginning to get frost bitten feet, and we were beat from having very little sleep. Our sergeant told us to send one man from each foxhole to go bring back anything they could find to eat, plus ammo. Word had it that we might be pulling out and we would have to travel by foot. G.W. came back with a five pound can of Spam, bread, and all the can heat, ammo and C-rations he could carry.
On the twenty-eighth, under the cover of darkness, a convoy of wounded, two companies, and tanks, started out through the pass. We had received orders to destroy everything that couldn’t be moved. After setting fires, and blowing up all our equipment, we moved out. Around 2300 hours the roadblock that the convoy had passed through an hour earlier came under attack and was taking on heavy fire. The outfit responsible for blocking the road was unable to keep it open, so they began to withdraw. The ROK came under fire around 0200, and they fled into the hills leaving our flank wide open. The 2nd BN was quickly moved into a blocking position in the vicinity of Won-ni.
The 2nd Division served as rear guard for the rest of the Eighth Army, as they proceeded through the pass. We were to hold, and give the convoy at least a ten hour head start—if possible. When darkness began to set in, we were to start our withdrawal. It was close to 0500 hours on the thirtieth when we caught up with the rear of the convoy, for they were having trouble keeping it moving. We were there for over twelve hours before the convoy finally started moving again; the division had to dig in for the night.
The company dug in on a hill, and set booby-traps to our front. It wasn’t long before the booby-traps started going off, then here they came—in white uniforms to blend in with the snow. They broke through our lines and we were soon engaged in hand-to-hand combat; we were holding as daylight approached. Our wounded and dead, were loaded onto a two-and-a-half ton truck, until it was full, then sent out through the pass.
I was shaking so bad from the cold, I could hardly hold my cup to get a sip of coffee. My feet hurt like hell because of the cold—even wearing two pairs of socks didn’t help. Plus, we had cut up our blankets and wrapped them around our boots; we did anything we could to keep warm.
On the 1st of December, around 0300 hours, we came to a roadblock that had been set up by UN forces. We immediately took up positions on some high ground on both sides of the road. We were told to hold until we received orders to withdraw. Having made our way up a hill, we tried to dig in but the ground was frozen. It was about an hour later when orders came to withdraw. As we were coming down the hill, the roadblock came under fire and men began to run everywhere; firing as they ran.
G.W. and I came across two GI’s that were helping their wounded buddy, so we quickly helped them to get him down to the road. When daylight approached, the attack eased up. Orders came down for us to keep moving, as air support was on the way. It was another six or seven miles to the end of the pass. Here a defensive line had been set up and we were to join it.
We had become separated from our company and we tried to locate it, but no one knew where it was. The wounded GI that we had stopped to help died. He was placed with the other dead. The wounded, and those with frostbitten feet, were loaded onto trucks to be moved out first.
G.W. and I were able to get some coffee, and a sandwich to eat; then we got some ammo and hand grenades. We were instructed to find a place anywhere along the line where we could provide fire support. After hours of digging, we finally finished our foxhole. G.W. went to see if he could find some can-of-heat, which he did