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Dick Brown
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« : November 28, 2010, 06:23:49 PM » |
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Good Evening, Henry Just got through reading the BFP on-line and was taken with their coverage of two Vermonters who were involved in the Korean Conflict 60 years ago, specifically their role in the battle of Chosin Reservoir from November 26 to December 12, 1950. Those who grew up in that era certainly remember that phase of US History where 36,000 of our Armed Services were killed over that 3 year span and where little was accomplished except driving the North Koreans back from their invasion of the South's border.
Three of my four DI's at Parris Island , whose job was to turn the 72 of us into Marines during my boot camp in November, 1954,had previously been in combat in Korea and two , both Staff Sargent's , had been at Chosin Reservoir. My memory recalls that both were bitter about MacArthur's fantasy plan to cross the Yalu River and occupy Manchuria ,and both blamed the failure of Headquarter Staffs from both the Army & the Marine Corps , to communicate the size of the Chinese Army who had been deployed to stop the UN troops ( estimated size ...180,000 Chinese strung out to engage both Army & USMC units ).... so that the attack , when it came , was pretty much an ambush. In their opinion at that time, in 1954, this was one of the finest hours of Marine Corps History ( and official reports confirmed their story ) , in that the Marines marched out of that area, bringing not only their wounded, but also their dead ( frozen bodies in trucks, amtracs and other mechanical transportation vehicles ) rather then leave them to the enemy .They also brought their weapons, their ammunition and their colors rather then surrendering any or all to the Chinese.
I still remember the respect that we recruits felt for these men , and the belief instilled in us by them ,that the Marines would never abandon their own when things got tough. Sixty years ago, few in the USA cared and they ( the US Forces in Korea )were only a blip on the radar, but as the BFP article points out , it was a real war, not a police action and 36,00 did not come home.
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