The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the 31st RCT at the Chosin Reservoir (Nov. 1950)- Nov. 27th, 2003

Army History Foundation ^ | Matthew J. Seelinger, AHF Research Historian

[snippy_about_it]

Pretty graphic. I "borrowed" the font code from Johnny!

Have a great day, see you later.

[Light Speed]

Happy Thanksgiving Sam and Snippy allong with the FR Family.

Chosin is a difficult topic as per reflection...

The B/W's of the cold terrain..the grim images of retreat.
We can find solace in the bravery of so many..but yet..the overall reality screams ..Why?

History marks the vulnerability of armies in logistical movement...From the Madhi's Jihadi routing armies in the Sudan to Chosin..the lesson is not an unknown...yet it repeats often.

Low tech can massacre high tech on the reality of exposed flanks. Progress forward ..sometimes to deep into certain terrain invites debacles like this.

Korea emphasis the foolishness of ROE..with the crux of the matter being ..one side allowing the other to form up in strength in an area which is offlimits as ROE goes.

The Chi Com's simply overwhelmed via numerics...yet the U.S. and U.N. were aware of China's divisions massing.

Similar realities occured in the Vietnam conflict with the ROE of that day.

Macarthur was correct in his view..that if Korea was to be totally free..the war had to go onto China's soil..preventing her from entering the conflict.

[snippy_about_it]

Well said. Good morning Light Speed.

[snippy_about_it]

Happy Thanksgiving Light Speed !

[manna]

Present!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone at the Foxhole!

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy. Happy Thanksgiving

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C. Happy Thanksgiving.

We have clear skies and cool today. Hope your ISP comes back up soon.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.

[SAMWolf]

1926 KXL-AM in Portland OR begins radio transmissions

And they're still around, it's the local Talk Radio Station.

Lars Larson Show

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Light Speed.

Korea - America's first war where we wouldn't do what was necessary to win. Once you make the decision to let the enemy have places that are "off Limits" to combat operations, you've made the decision to not win.

[SAMWolf]

Hi Manna!

Happy Thanksgiving

[snippy_about_it]

Happy Thanksgiving manna!

[snippy_about_it]

That's a pretty arrangement for the Foxhole, thank you SAM.

[The Mayor]

God had made them rejoice with great joy . . . , so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. —Nehemiah 12:43

Each new day gives us new reasons to sing God's praise.

[snippy_about_it]

Happy Thanksgiving Mayor!

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Mayor. Happy Thanksgiving

[The Mayor]

Happy Thanksgiving to All


My ancestor John Stearns is in here somewhere.


God Bless and have a great Day.

[U S Army EOD]

When I commanded the 8th Ord Det (EOD) in 1968/69, two of my men were Korean War veterans. Frank Griffith was in the 187th AB Brigade and Duane Hegstead was in the 31st RCT. Until reading this, I had no concept on how bad it really was for the 31st.

I was only 23 years old when I made captain and was in a unit full of senior NCO's, some old enough to be my father. All of these people were career/professional soldiers and I had a lot of respect for them. My unit covered the DMZ in Korea and when things really started heating up over there in 68 and 69 we thought we were going to be in for it.

Growing up, and I was still doing that at the time, I was always impressed by some of the war stories from some of the older soldiers. You always have the questions, such as I have been asked myself by another generation, such as, "Gee Sarge, did you every kill any one in the war".

Sgt Hegstead kind of sat me down and told me, "Well sonny this is the way it was". He had been a machine gunner when the Chinese came across. He said to him it looked like somebody had kicked over an ant hill there were so many of them coming toward his position. As far as killing anybody, he thought he may have gotten as many as 200 to 300 in only one day. He said the body pile would be so high in front of his gun that between the charges, they would have to run out in front of the guns to drag the pile down so they would have a clear field of fire for the next charge.

As my eyes got bigger and bigger, I could see Sgt Griffith watching me with a big grin on his face. Sgt Hegstead told me he weighed approximatey 170 pounds when he first went into Korea but lost down to about 140 and was never able to that date gain the weight back. Until reading this, I had no idea how bad it really was.

Later on, when the EC121 was shot down, it really looked like we were going to get into it. The American units all deployed to the phase lines. There were bus load and train load after bus load and train load of South Korean troops headed north. But what scared the hell out of me was meeting the bus load and train load after bus load and train load of children headed south. Man we knew we were in for it.

It was mass confusion, the 2nd ID had to tow about half of their tanks out to the phase lines because they wouldn't run. I found out I didn't have a war plan anywhere. I called my boss at the 83rd Ord Bn and asked him what we were supposed to do. He told me to initiate my war plan, I explained to him we didn't have one nor could I find where we were covered by anybody elses.

He said he would call me back. About an hour later he called and said, "Captain you are just going to have to do the best you can, if you can make it down here once it starts try to, maybe we can figure it out then". My reply was, "Yes sir, I'll come up with something".---Gulp to myself.

Then the phone rang and they needed us to come up to the DMZ. We figured maybe this wasn't to bad since they had to know what the hell was going on right up there. When we got there, we were met by a bunch of very scared young men in the infrantry units wanting to know if we knew what was going on. We knew more than they did, which was nothing.

All the guys in my unit that had been talking tough, but now all the bad ass talk were silent. I think Griff and Hegstead were secretly laughing at us. Actually they weren't being very secret about it.

[U S Army EOD]

Walter Wentchal once made a statement about the retreat in Korea concerning the 2ID that has always stuck with me. It goes kind of like this, "If you have a brother, son, or husband in Korea, write him everyday, but if you have a brother, son, or husband in the Second Infrantry Division, PRAY FOR HIM". I think that pretty much sums it up on how desperate things were.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing your story, U.S. Army EOD.

I found that the good Officers respected and used the experience of their Senior NCO's. In the long run it made things run a lot smoother and the Officer could concentrate on his job and let the NCO's do theirs.