Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [15]
There would be no Christmas Dinner for Baker Company, or any other company that was in the hills surrounding the town. Having been told we would be home before Christmas, the men were not in a very good mood; we were still fighting, and freezing our asses off.
The 2nd Infantry Division was relieved by the ROK on the 28th of December, and we moved to an assembly area near Seoul. A lot of us missed reveille the following morning, because we had gone into town to party. They almost put the whole company on report, but we didn’t care. After being on the front line for six months, us men from Baker Company felt we were entitled to a little relaxation. This came to an end on New Years Eve, as the 2nd was ordered back to the front. Once our equipment had been replaced, and were supplied with ammo and hand grenades, we were ready to move out.
Baker Company was given the mission to destroy an enemy roadblock. We were to jump off at 0600 hours on New Years Day, 1951. So, men wrote letters home that night. G.W. wrote my mother a letter for me.
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The 2nd Infantry Division, and the French, had set up a line of defense—in South Korea. Word came down for us to set out booby-traps, and to be ready for a big attack. We fixed our foxholes to take artillery and mortar fire, stocked them with ammo and grenades, but the attack never materialized. Patrols were sent out—within three miles of our position—to see if they could locate the enemy. They returned without ever making contact, so headquarters wanted a patrol sent to the Twin Tunnels to see if the enemy was located in that area.
On the 28th of January, a motorized patrol was sent out from Fox and Charlie Companies. When they returned, they reported the same thing—no enemy. Headquarters wasn’t satisfied, so the following day they sent out another patrol, which consisted of forty-four men and two platoon leaders. They had six barmen, one 75mm and one 57mm recoilless rifles, and one 3.5 rocket launcher. The patrol was ambushed by two-hundred Chinese, which forced them to leave their vehicles and run up a hill where they had to set up to defend themselves. Unfortunately, twenty guys who had joined Charlie Company only four days earlier, stayed with their vehicles—they were all killed.
A larger patrol was sent to rescue the other patrol, but they too got into a fierce fire fight. So, the rest of the company and the French were sent to help. We ended up in a three day battle that cost the division and French over 1300 casualties. However, there were over 4000 Chinese casualties.
This was later known as the Slaughter at Twin Tunnels.
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During the 1st and 2nd of February, our wounded were evacuated to the battalion aid station. Baker Company, along with the French, four tanks and two twin-40’s, set up a perimeter around the 37th FA. The entire 2nd Division was to take the town of Chipyong-ni, which was a few miles from the Twin Tunnels.
On the 3rd of February, under a heavy barrage of fire from our artillery, mortars, tanks and twin-40’s, we took the town. The following day we moved into the town, with Baker Company, and the French being placed in reserves. Messages were coming in that the Chinese were coming over the mountains on both our flanks—the town was surrounded.
Six days later, on the ninth, Baker Company was sent to Hill 503, which was located about three-and-a-half miles out of town. We were to take the hill, then report back if we noticed any enemy troop movement. It took us several hours to climb to the top of the hill, because of the deep snow. Lucky for us, there was no enemy when we reached the top. If we had seen any Chinese, the liaison officer was to call in for artillery support. It was extremely cold that night and we all wanted off that miserable hill, but we were ordered to stay.
Our right flank was attacked during the morning of the eleventh, but by daylight the enemy withdrew. Two men had been wounded and a few men were to take them back to base camp. Later that afternoon the men returned saying they had run into some Chinese, and they had