Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [99]
We also did a lot of running—especially up hills. There was a very steep hill near Tent Camp Two, and after supper we had to duck walk up that hill. Later, we would be weighted down with a water cooled machine gun, and duck walk up and down that hill until sunset—then even after dark. We would be ready for the task of running up those man killing hills in North Korea.
Due to the need of us getting to Korea in a hurry, our training did not stop at night. We got very little sleep and this was good training for us, because sleep deprivation is a big part of warfare. I remember one time I had to keep my eyes open with my fingers, because when I let go of my eyelids they dropped closed.
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We were at the Chosin Reservoir, near the village of Yudam-ni, when Sergeant Frank Warrior came to my foxhole to tell me the CO wanted to see me about a mission—which was strictly voluntary. Arriving at the CO’s tent, a (Nationalist) Chinese Marine, Lt. Lee—one of our interpreters—was waiting for me. The CO told me that Lt. Lee wanted to go into North Korean villages, at night, where he knew Chinese soldiers were hiding in houses to keep from freezing to death. Lt. Lee thought he could go by himself—unarmed—and talk them into surrendering. Saying that was a good way to get killed, the CO told him he could not go unless he had a sidearm and took a BAR man with him. “So now it’s up to you,” said the CO. Thinking this Chinese Marine was either nuts, or the bravest man in Korea, I decided to ride shotgun.
Lee was to knock on the door and begin talking. However, if he was to drop to the snow or I heard a shot, I was to sweep the entire hut with my automatic rifle. I loaded all the ammo I could carry, and off we went. The first hut we came to, Lee hit the snow and I poured more than forty rounds into the hut—no one came out. We found the enemy was packed in so tight that the dead couldn’t fall. Scared that others would come bailing out firing their burp-guns and throwing grenades, we headed back thinking we had bitten off enough for one night.
We went into other villages using the same tactic and did not get many to surrender. I guess the Chinese finally learned they had a choice of surrendering or dying, because after the first few nights we started taking prisoners.
I sometimes wonder how many Chinese I killed during the Chosin Reservoir campaign. I have flashbacks of those nights, and of blood running from under the front doors.
While at the Chosin, we dug in every afternoon and studied the area to our front, so we wouldn’t shoot at bushes during the night. We were setting up for a fight one night, so I put a few magazines of ammo on the parapet of our foxhole. I told my buddy, Don Auellar, to take care of the grenades. As usual, the next morning I went out to see if all the dead to our front were really dead. I found one of our grenades, and it still had the pin in it. Taking the grenade back to Don, I said, “These work a lot better, Don, if you pull the pin.” He never lived it down, but in the heat of battle it’s easy to do something foolish like that.
Before the breakout of the Chosin Reservoir, Don found two pairs of nearly clean wool socks. Being the best buddy a Marine could have, he gave one pair to me. Not having our snow pacs off our feet for over a month, we hobbled down to the river to wash our feet and put on our new socks. To our amazement, our socks had become part of our feet. Needless to say, we were shocked seeing them black, and blistered. Don asked, “What happened? These aren’t my feet.” That too, was my thought. Walking back to our foxhole, an officer noticed us and drove us to the surgeons’ tent. After looking at our feet, he ordered Don to ride with the convoy out of the Frozen Chosin. However, since I was a BAR man, I would have to stay; all the firepower we had was needed to get us out. Don was certain I would not