Vote! Vote! Vote! - Korean War Veterans Association

PART V
92nd ARMORED FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION
Continued from the January–February Issue
of The Graybeards, Vol 23, No. 1
MARCH 1953
Begin: Excerpts from “Memorable Battles
of the Korean War”
Outpost Harry: See Web Pages
http://www.ophsa.org/ and http://www.
kwvm.com/
HOLD AT ALL COSTS. Dan
Braucher of Willowbrook, Illinois, a member
of the Korean War Museum, reminded
America not to forget the siege of Outpost
Harry by writing an article about OP Harry
in the September 1992 issue of The
Graybeards. Dan summed up the events of
one of the worst battles in Korean War history.
We ran across his article while browsing
through old editions of the magazine
not long ago, and found it to be a perfect
complement to interviews which have
been conducted by the staff of the Korean
War and Douglas County Museums in
Tuscola. Member Martin Markley, who
was a company commander at OP Harry,
told us a few other details about Harry for
our article. We combined the
Braucher/Markley information, excerpts
from interviews, information from declassified
documents, and data from government
military records to bring our viewers
this feature article about Outpost Harry.
Harry was an outpost east of the
Chorwon Valley, with sister outposts to the
west called Tom and Dick. OP Dick was
about 100 yards in front of the Main Line
of Resistance (MLR);Tom was about 250-
300 yards in front and below the MLR.
The latter was the floor of the valley.
Harry, which was over 400 yards from the
MLR, was also higher than the MLR, making
supply much more difficult.
The route to the outpost was under constant
enemy observation and fire, and its
OP Harry
height made it harder to pack supplies up
the hill. Unlike Tom and Dick, which
could get supporting fire from the MLR,
Harry got less close supporting fire from
the MLR because company 60mm mortars
and the heavy machine guns did not have
enough range. Harry relied more on
artillery and heavy mortars companies.
For political leverage (and because
Harry had a commanding view of all the
division area which the Chinese
Communist Forces wanted), the CCF were
attempting to take Harry and as many UN
outposts as possible before the soon-to-be
cease fire (July 27, 1953). If the CCF took
Harry, they would have controlled the
entire area.
In a war zone, each unit is assigned an
area of responsibility—sometimes yards,
sometimes miles—depending on the size
and number of units available in the area,
as well as the terrain. Outposts Tom, Dick
and Harry were in the Third Infantry
Division area of responsibility for weeks
before the infamous June 1953 siege took
place.
The 15th Infantry Regiment was
responsible for Harry and Tom at that time,
and the Greeks who were attached to the
15th Infantry Regiment were responsible
68
March – April 2009
The Graybeards