Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [68]
On the 29th of November, we became part of Task Force Drysdale, which was named for Lt. Colonel Douglas B. Drysdale—the commander of the British 41 Independent Commando, Royal Marines. It consisted of 235 men of the Royal Marines, 205 men of the U.S. Marines (Capt. Sitter’s George Company), 190 men of the 31st Infantry Regiment (Capt. Peckham’s Baker Company), and approximately 82 U.S. Marines that included clerks, MP’s, truck drivers and Navy Corpsman. The task force total 712 men, plus armor support. It’s mission—to cut through the Chinese forces along the ten-to-fourteen mile road between Koto-ri and Hagaru-ri.
General Smith had ordered Colonel Chesty Puller to hold Hagaru-ri. Puller’s Marines had their hands full defending the perimeter of Koto-ri.
At 0945 hours on the 29th of November, as a mist hung over the snow covered countryside, Task Force Drysdale moved northward. Behind the British Commandos was Baker Company. We were huddled-up in the trucks with our heads buried in our field jackets to protect us from the biting cold. Not hearing the small arms fire at first, suddenly mortar rounds began to fall, and then came the machine gun fire.
Quickly the drivers slammed on their brakes and the trucks came to a sliding stop on the icy road. Our truck came to a stop—on a narrow road—just as a grenade landed in the trucks bed, near my feet. Without thinking, I quickly grabbed it and threw it out of the truck. We bailed out, diving for a ditch along the side of the road. It really wasn’t a ditch, more like a low place between a railroad embankment on one side and the roadbed on the other.
The Chinese began lobbing mortar shells on us, along with raking the ditch banks with machine gun fire. We fought Chinese attacks throughout all hours of the night. However, due to distance, terrain, and other circumstances, we had no communication. So, neither the front nor rear of the convoy knew the middle of the column had been cut off. Those in the middle were us (Baker Company), some of the British Commandos, some Marines from the service and support units, and a detachment of Marine MP’s.
As darkness set in we came under increasing enemy fire, and casualties continued to mount. We stacked the bodies around our speedily formed perimeter; the freezing temperature wasn’t helping either. We tried to get our vehicles turned around and head back to Koto-ri, but we were unsuccessful.
I received my first wound on the twenty-ninth; a shrapnel wound to my left arm. It wasn’t a serious wound, so I got it cared for and refused to go to Koto-ri. I returned to my squad and shortly thereafter received a shrapnel wound to my right leg. By this time the fighting was bad and one of the guys standing next to me was shot in the forehead, with the bullet embedding itself in his helmet.
When I went to the aid station, I found the corpsmen were too busy treating the more seriously wounded, so I returned to my position. About 2100 hours, on the twenty-ninth, the gunner sergeant from my squad jumped down from his weapon and refused a direct order, from Capt. Peckham, to return to his weapon. In front of the vehicle, the sergeant got down on his hands and knees, and started praying.
Without success the captain tried to find someone to take over the rifle, so I volunteered to do it. During the fighting, I received shrapnel wounds to my left leg and bullet wounds to my right leg and arm. With what was left of the 75mm recoilless rifle crew, they continued to fire at the enemy mortar flashes. Just as I finished reloading the rifle, I was hit above my eye—not getting a chance to fire it.
Hell Fire Valley, which was about one mile long and had very little cover, was the scene of an all night fight.
Ahead of us about fifty-to-one-hundred yards, were the remnants of Drysdale’s Commandos, who were getting cut to pieces. Under the cover of darkness, the Chinese would make those nerve wracking screeches on