GENERAL RAYMOND G. DAVIS - Korean War Veterans Association

DAVIS from page 3
sion headquarters and one regiment were
east of the mountains and two regiments
west of the mountains, divided by Toktong
Pass. We had a rifle company up there in
the pass, and they were surrounded and
being destroyed. After four efforts to get to
them failed, the regimental commander
sent for me and told me to come up with a
plan to go and save the company and
open the pass.
The first four efforts failed because they
tried to use the single, narrow road that
went into the pass. Davis decided to skip
the road and set out through the bitter-cold
mountains.
We launched out. Artillery reported a
temperature of 40 below zero in the valley.
My brother-in-law, in the weather service,
said that where we were, wind chill was
like 75 below. Ice all over your face --just
unbelievable. Deep snow. We went single
file ‘cause our radios wouldn’t work --
they were frozen -- and we couldn’t put
out patrols. Some of our weapons wouldn’t
work because of the cold. The
Browning Automatic Rifle, for example.
When we went down south to get refurbished
to come back, the regiment was
missing something like 1,300 BARS,
because they wouldn’t work, and the
troops had just thrown ‘em away and
found something that did work. We couldn’t
use our water-cooled machine guns
and things like that, because they were
frozen. The troops were heavily loaded.
They had their sleeping bags and supposedly
three days of food. Of course, the
food was all frozen; they couldn’t eat it.
The water was frozen.
When we first started out, we had to
fight our way out through a Chinese encirclement
in the hills. That’s when my
troops got involved with some dug-in
Chinese, and we had a few hand-to-hand
skirmishes.
Traveling in the night, Davis’ battalion
got within a mile of the stranded Fox
Company. Unable to contact Fox by radio,
Davis was concerned that the stranded
Marines would shoot at his troops if they
tried to approach in the dark He decided to
set up a perimeter and bed his troops down
till daylight.
Somehow my radio operator got his
radio to work, and we talked to Fox
Davis as General of the Marines
Company. And Capt. Barber, the CO, his
first comment was that he would send a
patrol out to guide us in. Well, I could see
Chinese between us, and I said that
wouldn’t work. I did tell him to apply
artillery and air to those Chinese so we
could come on in. And we got in. And we
opened the pass and got the two regiments
through and got the division back
together and they fought their way to the
sea. Somebody that said our effort had
resulted in the saving of 100,000 civilians
who had followed us down to the sea. The
Chinese had destroyed their villages, in
that weather. And there were 90,000 military
-- the U.S. Army, the South Korean
Army, the air, Marines -- 90,000 military,
and we all got out because my Marines
opened that pass. So we got on the ships
and sailed south.
Actions of Davis at the Chosin
While the lead battalion fought to break
through the Chinese on the MSR, Lt. Col.
Raymond G. Davis maneuvered his 1st
Battalion, 7th Marines, into position for his
cross-country rescue of Barber. During the
day of December 1, Davis put his battalion
into the exact condition he wanted for his
relief mission.
First, he stripped his battalion of all
heavy weapons except two mortars and six
.30-caliber machine guns. Each man carried
one mortar round in addition to his
own personal ammo. Extra mortar rounds
were carried on stretchers. Personal gear,
except for a sleeping bag, was loaded on
company trucks. Four meals of rations
were distributed to each marine. Extra batteries
for the radios were passed out. After
he culled sick and weak men from his battalion,
Davis was ready.
A marine since 1938, Davis had been
born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, on January 13,
1915. After high school in Atlanta he
attended the Georgia School of
Technology, graduating in 1938 with a
degree in chemical engineering. Soon after
graduation he resigned the commission
he’d earned in the army’s ROTC program
to accept an appointment as a marine corps
second lieutenant. By August 1942 he was
commanding an antiaircraft machine gun
battery ashore at Guadalcanal. Further
combat followed in eastern New Guinea
and on New Britain.
Davis’s exceptional skill as a combat
leader brought promotion and greater
responsibility. As a major he took command
of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st
Marine Division, in April 1944. Five
months later he led them into the hell of
Peleliu. Although wounded in the first hour
of the attack on the coral island, Davis
refused to leave his men. Later, when a
Japanese banzai charge shattered his battalion’s
defensive lines, he personally rallied
and led his men in fighting to reestablish
the line. Davis’s exceptional bravery
brought him the Navy Cross.
And now, six years later, Davis was
again commanding a marine battalion in a
tight spot. His first objective was a hill on
the east side of the MSR about a mile south
of Yudam-ni. The men called it “Turkey
Hill” in memory of the Thanksgiving dinner
they’d enjoyed there just a few days
before.
Davis expected a tough fight. Instead,
Turkey Hill fell after a short firefight. He
radioed his regimental commander. “I’ve
taken Turkey Hill already,” he said. “I’d
like to press on. My marines are sweating
from the climb. I don’t want them to freeze
in the night.”
Though it was just about 9:00 P.M., the
temperature already stood at minus twenty
degrees. Davis wasted no time. He organized
his battalion into a column of companies.
He moved to the lead company’s CO,
a young lieutenant. Pointing to a bright star
in the eastern sky Davis told the lieutenant,
“Guide on that star.” The marines started
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