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By Root 1527 0

night a KATUSA and I were sent to a listening post, which consisted of a two-man foxhole with a telephone line running back to company headquarters. The foxhole was roughly three-or-four feet from a trail leading down from Star Hill, which was under Chinese control. While Kim (the KATUSA) and I took turns of rotating positions, one would be kneeling down while the other one was standing and observing the area around our foxhole. It was Kim’s turn to be standing, when around 2:00 AM he said he smelt Chinese coming. I told him that he didn’t and that he was trying to get me to stand up before my turn. It hadn’t been five minutes, when I noticed a large patrol of Chinese coming down the trail—directly towards us. Crouching down in the hole, I peeked from the top of the hole only to notice they were so close I could see their faces. After they passed us, I quickly got on the phone and reported it to our CP. They informed us to lay low, because we would be receiving artillery near our location. Sure enough, here they came. The third or fourth round hit near the patrol, with the rest falling directly on them. After being ordered back to the MLR, Kim and I were shaking so bad they gave us some hot coffee and told us to get some sleep. No one ever told us what a good, or bad, job we had done; nor did anyone say anything about our encounter with the Chinese that night.

In April the weather started warming up and the Chinese became more active. One night they attacked the outpost with four-or-five human waves. They were able to get into the trenches of L Company, resulting in hand-to-hand combat.

At the end of May, the 2nd BN was relieved from the front and taken to the rear for a little R&R and more training. Rudolph and I never missed a day of seeing each other, whether we were on the line or in a rear blocking position. During the two weeks we were in the rear, we made a promise to each other; if either of us didn’t make it home alive, the survivor would place flowers on the others grave. At the end of these two weeks, our battalion was ordered to move to the rear of the front line.

On the night of June 10, around 6:00 PM, all kinds of artillery shells started falling around our position. Roughly three to three-and-a-half hours later, we were told that Outpost Harry was getting hit hard. They told us to grab our weapons, ammo, and to leave our other equipment, and to load onto the trucks. As we headed to the outpost, there were times we had to dismount and run along side of the tanks as enemy shells were landing near us. Arriving at the rear of the outpost, my squad and another squad along with two tanks received orders to move to the southeast of Harry. Our objective was to protect the tanks from the enemy’s ground forces, while the tanks secured the east side. Earlier in the year, Army Combat Engineers had implanted fifty-five gallon drums of napalm five feet apart around the entire hill. Located inside the command bunker on Outpost Harry, was the detonating switch.

Supported by mortar and artillery fire, the Chinese attacked the hill in two human waves, with each wave consisting of about four-hundred troops. From our position we could see and hear soldiers from both sides screaming, hollering, crying, and dying. The Chinese had managed to get into the trenches of K Company, which resulted in hand-to-hand combat. With the aid of our mortars and artillery, the Chinese were beaten back. Company K held the hill for a short period of time.

At 3:00 AM on the morning of the 11th of June, the Chinese launched the largest human wave attack of them all. Like ants, they were crawling all over the hill. As they crawled up the hill the drums of napalm ignited, spreading fire over the Chinese soldiers; the hill lit up like a Christmas tree. The smell of smoke, and human flesh, lingered over Outpost Harry. I was praying, “Dear Lord, there are many souls departing this earth this morning. Please give them a better home in your Kingdom,” the whole time. Around daylight we were ordered to report to the backside of the outpost, near the aid