Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [14]
We were told that when morning came a truck would be taking us to an assembly area. All day long stragglers were coming in, and GI’s were running out to help them. Medics were going up and down the line, asking if everyone was alright. G.W. went around asking about our company, when he met other guys like us—separated from their company. Around 1500 hours, word came down the line for one man from each foxhole to go eat, and then they were to come back so the other man could eat. After we had eaten, G.W. went back out again to find our company. When he returned, he said the company was scattered all up and down the line. We were to stay put until morning, then we would all join up—after breakfast—at the road.
Here we joined up with what was left of Baker Company; it was extremely cold and due to frostbite, some men could barely walk. Under the cover of air support, we moved to the next defensive line. The Chinese were right behind us, but we made it to the line.
Our outfit continued on, setting up another defensive line further down the road. Then the next day lines began leapfrogging through each other. This continued until we reached a town where we set up a perimeter. The weather was miserable—snowing all through the night. We held the Chinese back until the 3rd of December, then we withdrew to the south.
A lot of good men from all units across Korea were lost. Baker Company itself was in bad shape; we were down to about half a company. Chinaman’s Hat was a battle that no man who was there can ever forget—I can’t. Had it not been for the U.S. Air Force, the 2nd Infantry Division would have been annihilated. We owe those guys our thanks.
Somehow intelligence screwed up—they should have known the Chinese were in North Korea.
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We continued to use this leap-frog maneuver as we withdrew until mid-December, when the French Battalion moved up to help strengthen up the 23rd Infantry Regiment. After a fierce fire fight, the Chinese seemed to have eased up to the point we were able to build fires to get warm. However, there were always men manning foxholes to keep watch.
Orders came down for Baker Company, and the French Battalion, to take a town that was said to have four to five hundred North Koreans there. After a few hours, the North Koreans withdrew to the hills.
Again, with the help of tanks and twin-40’s, we set up another roadblock. The 37th FA was brought up to give us fire support, if we needed it. There were small attacks during the morning hours, but they were always beaten back. It seemed the Chinese had stopped their attacks, because after every fire fight we only found dead North Koreans.
It was near the end of December, when our company was given another mission; take another town and set up a roadblock. Along with the French, tanks, twin-40’s, artillery, and planes, we started our mission. We headed down the road with two platoons on each side. As we neared the town, we saw that a roadblock had already been set up. We radioed battalion headquarters to see if there were any friendly forces in the town. After waiting for two hours, the tanks started moving up the road towards the roadblock. As they approached, they came under fire; planes were called in to hit the roadblock. When they hit, we attacked and took the town—what was left of it. And what we found would have made anyone sick! Civilian women and children, butchered; elderly men and women had been shot. This had all been done—to their own people—by North Korean soldiers.
Here we set up a roadblock; the tanks and twin-40’s were placed in the middle, with our company on one side and the French on the other side. The next morning more outfits moved in, and surrounded the town. Our medics helped the local civilians the best they could. Everyone had settled in for a counterattack, but there was only a small fire fight involving one of the companies that was located on a hill.