HEADQUARTERS
EIGHTH UNITED STATES ARMY ( KOREA )
Office of the Commanding General
APO 301
GENERAL ORDER
number 453
23rd June 1951
Section 1
AWARD OF DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION
BATTLE HONOURS – By direction of the President, under the provisions of Executive Order 9396 (Sec I, WD Bul. 22, 1943) Superseding Executive Order 9075 (Sec III, WD Bul. 16, 1942) and pursuant to authority in AR 260-15, the following units are cited as public evidence of deserved honour and distinction.
3RD BATTALION, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT
2ND BATTALION, PRINCESS PATRICIA'S CANADIAN LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY A
72ND HEAVY TANK BATTALION (UNITED STATES)
are cited for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of combat duties in action against the armed enemy near Kapyong, Korea, on the 24 and 25 April 1951. The enemy had broken through the main line of resistance and penetrated to the area north of Kapyong. The units listed above were deployed to stem the assault. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, moved to the right flank of the sector and took up defensive positions north of the Pukham River. The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, defended in the vicinity of Hill 677 on the left flank. Company A, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, supported all units to the full extent of its capacity and, in addition, kept the main roads open and assisted in evacuating the wounded. Troops from a retreating division passed through the sector which enabled enemy troops to infiltrate with the withdrawing forces. The enemy attacked savagely under the clangor of bugles and trumpets. The forward elements were completely surrounded going through the first day and into the second. Again and again the enemy threw waves of troops at the gallant defenders, and many times succeeded in penetrating the outer defences, but each time the courageous, indomitable, and determined soldiers repulsed the fanatical attacks. Ammunition ran low and there was no time for food. Critical supplies were dropped by air to the encircled troops, and they stood their ground in resolute defiance of the enemy. With serene and indefatigable persistence, the gallant soldiers held their defensive positions and took heavy tolls of the enemy. In some instances when the enemy penetrated the defences, the commanders directed friendly artillery fire on their own positions in repelling the thrusts. Toward the close of 25 April, the enemy break-through had been stopped. The seriousness of the break-through on the central front had been changed from defeat to victory by the gallant stand of these heroic and courageous soldiers. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; and Company A, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, displayed such gallantry, determination, and espirit de corps in accomplishing their missions under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions as to set them apart and above other units participating in the campaign, and by their achievements they brought distinguished credit on themselves, their homelands, and all freedom-loving nations
BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL VAN FLEET:
Leven C. Allen
Major General US Army
Chief of Staff
Source
Yes. Good job. They were brave men. Brave men fought from many countries.
I stand by the earlier points I made.
HMCS Cayuga, commanded by Captain Jeffry Brock, and sister ships in the Pacific Destroyer Command, HMCS Athabaskan and Sioux, quickly responded to the war alert and set sail for Korea.
Initially, the threesome was dispatched to prowl waters and islands off the west coast of Korea to search junks and sampans that might be carrying munitions or North Korean marines. Early in December 1950, however, the situation on the mainland redirected the Canadian flotilla's attention.
Facing more than 300,000 Chinese Communist soldiers (who entered the war in November 1950), UN troops in advanced positions near the Yalu River in North Korea began retreating south. The withdrawal was known as the Big Bug-Out. Overnight, Brock received new orders to lead a task force and to assist by all means in his power the evacuation of the Eighth U.S. Army from Chinnampo, the port for the North Korean capital of P'yongyang.
The RCN destroyers Cayuga, Athabaskan and Sioux steamed toward the enemy port preparing to provide cover for a fleet of U.S. transport ships exiting the harbour, to give gunfire support to the retreating army and to make sure that the large stores of fuel and munitions in Chinnampo did not fall into Chinese hands.
The mission faced seemingly insurmountable problems.
Chinnampo was situated 30 kilometres up the Daido-Ko River, well beyond the range of RCN naval guns. In addition, Daido-Ko estuary was cluttered with a maze of low islands and shifting mud flats. The tides would be difficult to navigate, as would the floating mines planted by the North Koreans. Complicating matters was the winter weather, which had closed in with freezing drizzle and north winds that effectively reduced the temperature with sub-zero wind chills. On Dec. 4, 1950, as Brock assembled his relief armada, he received word that Chinnampo was bulging with soldiers, civilians and equipment and that the situation had reached emergency proportions. The Canadian captain would now have to launch his Dunkirk-like rescue mission in the dead of night.
"It was as black as the inside of a cow," Brock later wrote in his log.
Nevertheless, the RCN ships led the way. First minesweepers attempted to clear a channel 500 yards wide with unlit dan buoys, but the strong winds ripped most of them loose. That forced Cayuga's asdic (sonar) operators to guide the flotilla away from semi-submerged mines all the way up the estuary.
Meanwhile, the tide ebbed to its shallowest depth. At times the ships' keels had less than 20 inches of water beneath them, so the naval squadron was forced to advance "dead slow ahead." Then, the drizzle became a blizzard and visibility was diminished so badly that double the number of lookouts were positioned on bows. As another precaution, shells were stockpiled on deck to reduce the number of steps should the shooting start suddenly.
Below decks, the watch became a nightmare for the ships' navigators as they dashed from radar screens to chart tables and back. In Cayuga's plot room, Andrew Collier made 132 navigational fixes that night, described by one officer as "a masterful piece of work."
By daybreak, Cayuga had led the armada safely into Chinnampo harbour. Throughout the morning, Brock supervised the evacuation of troops and materiel onto the U.S. transports. Meanwhile, as a steady stream of sampans carried refugees out of the city, Athabaskan scrutinized each vessel for mines and weapons. Simultaneously, UN navy demolition and fire parties were dispatched to destroy what equipment couldn't be saved. And as reports of a Chinese breakthrough north of the city reached the port, Brock ordered the transport vessels to weigh anchor, leaving the last three destroyers alone in the harbour to complete the job.
At 5:35 p.m., Brock ordered all guns to open fire. Within minutes, explosions rocked the railway marshalling yards, the city's cement factory, its shipyards and gasoline storage tanks. North Korea's key port city, which had once been home to 75,000 people, was now, from its industrial district to its waterfront, an inferno. A day later, when the entire UN flotilla was clear of the Daido-Ko River channel and en route to safety in the south, Chinnampo was still ablaze.
Following what was heralded as "the most important and most dangerous naval mission of the Korean War," Cayuga's skipper was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, its navigator, Andrew Collier, the Distinguished Service Cross, and its coxswain, D.J. Pearson, the British Empire Medal.