Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

Free Sample Chapters 235
of many Pacific War veterans who had stayed in the Reserves in the late
1940s and who had been called to the colors from good jobs and fledgling
businesses in the summer of 1950. But John Yancey was a certified
hero, and the impulse to stand and fight was still very much with him.
The second round of Chinese probes unfolded directly in front of
Yancey’s platoon. They were light, as usual, and the Chinese recoiled
upon contact, content to draw fire to learn the whereabouts of the rifle
pits and supporting machine guns.
Yancey was not overly perturbed by the probes. He had ordered his
gunners to hold their fire in order to avoid giving away their positions.
It was business as usual, but only for a few moments.
The unearthly silence was replaced by the cadenced tread of
thou-sands of sneaker-shod feet crunching down upon the thin film of
snow. In the distance, above the sound of the crunching, Yancey and his
men could discern the rhythmic chant of a single voice. Straining his
hearing to the limit, the former Raider thought he heard the words,
“Nobody lives forever. You die!” repeated over and over in heavily
accented English. It was almost too bizarre to believe.
John Yancey cranked the handle of his sound-powered phone set
and was answered in a whisper by the company exec, 1st Lieutenant
Ray Ball. “Ray,” Yancey warned, “they’re building up for an attack.
Get the 81s and give us some light, and then lay in on the ridge and
work back toward us.”
“There’s a shortage of 81s,” Ball revealed. “We can’t give you many.”
Yancey’s platoon waited while the shadowy mass of Chinese
peas-ant-soldiers stalked nearer. But for the crunching of feet on the
snow, the only sound was that lone Chinese voice: “Nobody lives forever.
You die!”
Index fingers lightly traced the outlines of triggers and trigger guards.
Moments passed, and those fingers toyed with the first pull, then tensed
and froze before squeezing through the final, firing, pull.
It was midnight.
The first trip flares burst, giving the illusion that the Chinese were
motionless silhouettes. The picture that was burned into the retinas and
memory cells of Yancey’s Marines was unprecedented, horrifying.