Jan/Feb 2009 - Korean War Veterans Association

Saipan and Okinawa. When the full tale
is told, it may lead some of these in loss
of life.
SHELLS CRASH STEADILY
Look out the narrow slit of a forward
observation bunker and imagine desolate
brown mountain crests, bathed in
full sunlight, stripped of trees and
plants, and churned to ashy sand by the
consistent crash of shells. Tiny figures—men—work
their way up the
sandy slopes that are as pitted as a pockmarked
face, one shell hole merging
into another. Every few seconds an
incoming shell (this is quiet firing, not a
real barrage) bursts on the crest or
slopes, sending up an ugly burst of
brown-black smoke and churning the
sand with jagged steel fragments. Many
miss, but some land among the attackers.
Then litter bearers converge and
slowly struggle down the slopes, still
under fire, with their torn burdens.
Air Srtike on Hill 1062, 1952 (Settlemire)
GIs PRESS FORWARD
Up on the crest—and there are both
Koreans and Americans there—men
inch their way forward through paths of
machine-gun bullets and among the
shell bursts, hoping to blind a Chinese
bunker with their rifles or flame throwers
and then to blow it in with blocks of
TNT. This is the deadliest job of all.
Whether it succeeds or fails some of
these men in the demolition and fire
parties are almost always killed or
wounded as they leap from shell hole to
shell hole.
Kumwha - Triangle Hill (foreground) Hill 1062 (background), October 1952
(Settlemire); 92nd barrage landing on Triangle Hill
Herman L. McCollum A Battery
KIA 17 June 1953
PLAN RUSHING ATTACK
From time to time an air strike hits the
enemy mountain with bombs or napalm,
the screams of the jets in their power
dives sounding all too much like an
incoming whopper. As darkness falls, the
shell bursts turn to flashes of orange and
yellow, and you know that in the black
night men on one side or the other are
creeping forward, seeking out weak spots
for a rushing attack. When there is a
night battle, to get light for their machine
William T. Moore - A Battery KIA 17
June 1953
gunners the Allies turn on batteries of
searchlights while flare planes and star
shells hang new lights in the sky.
Red tracers from machine guns cut the
air like Roman candles; green and red
Chinese signal flares soar up and up and
up; and the firing rises to a crescendo as
the artillery of each side works itself into
a fury.
The brown familiar peaks of daytime
become strange monsters in the thin blue
flare light; erratic smoke trails daub the
sky like a futuristic nightmare. It is a premiere
of hell. Out of the lonely center of
the fire, little lost figures of men grapple
one another in the shaking light, shooting,
clubbing, stabbing, hurling
grenades, and even choking with the bare
hands. Somehow, in the confusion, one
side fells victory and the other gives
ground. The fighters break apart, the losers
pull back, the winners to burrow
feverishly into the shifting sand..
DAYLIGHT IN EAST
The artillery dies down to random
thudding. Another eternity has passed.
There is daylight in the east. The shadows
melt away, and it is dawn again, with
the long fingers of the sun picking out
the fresh bodies on the hill. Men huddle
in their holes, thankful for the warm sun,
fearful for the new day, and the guns
mutter their endless liturgy of death.
End -Excerpts from article “Struggle for
Kumhwa Ridges” By John Randolph
Begin: Excerpt from “92nd AFA BN
History”
In November of 1952, as the North
Korean winter moved in with snow and
below zero temperatures, the 92nd
moved westward north of Chorwon to
support the U.S. units on the front line.
Major casualties occurred during June-
July 1953 shortly before the truce was
signed, while the 92nd was providing
support for Outpost Harry. This engagement
had an especially heavy counter
battery barrage directed at the 92nd, and
incoming rounds were received in all the
firing batteries. Able Battery was hardest
hit with two killed and 17 wounded.
End: Excerpt from “92nd AFA BN
History”
...To be continued
71
The Graybeards
January – February 2009