Jan/Feb 2008 - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

LEFT: The old Monk (85 years of age) sounding the Temple drum in our
honor. RIGHT: The huge Bronze Bell at the Temple. The monk let us
strike it and the sound was deafening.
The ROK III Corps and U.S. X Corps were in danger of being
enfiladed.
Hill 342 was a key position, for it commanded the slopes and
road/trails running south into the Wonju plains area. And, from
Hill 342, observed artillery fire could be directed at Wonju and
the road/rail network contiguous to Wonju. It also was a direct
line leading to the Wonju plain and U.S. X Corps rear areas. The
CCF, no less adept at that kind of warfare, knew the significance
of Hill 342. They took and fortified it on 11 Feb. They committed
a reinforced company to hold it, and later, battalion after battalion,
to try and retake it! They didn’t!
All that remained between the CCF and Wonju was the 187th
and remnants of the 38th. Our arrival at the LOD was delayed by
events beyond our control, and there was no alternative except to
make a night attack. Time allowed no other alternatives. K/3/187
took Hill 342 that fateful night of 13/14 Feb and held it! That
involved hand-to-hand fighting to eject the CCF from the intervening
Hills 340 and 341 and finally the crest of 342.
Within the space of a half hour of securing the hill, the
Chinese began a series of counterattacks that extended over a
period of 24 hours. The result: the only CCF on Hill 342 left after
that were their dead and the seriously wounded!
Was 342 worth the price paid? Did it matter? Yes! For during
those three days, the Chinese were bottled up and still kept feeding
men into the narrow passes from which they could not egress.
That concentrated their forces in the narrow defile that was the
Hohesong/Wonju road. More than 20,000+ were backed up in a
few kilometer stretch. They got caught there and they became
decimated by concentrated air and artillery bombardment. That,
coupled with their losses trying to ‘punch the cork out of the bottle’
on Hill 342 and others, caused their offensive to fail. Had it
not, their strategic objective was Taegu, and ultimately Pusan!
I didn’t get to the top of Hill 342. In retrospect, perhaps it is
the way it should be. It may be best that the worst of the past
remain in the past. God is kind for He enables us to remember,
but still mute, that which is the most traumatic of the past and,
instead, relive that which was the most dramatic of the past. It is
only those who have ‘been there and done that who will understand
that which I say, and of that which I have written!
As we drove away from Wonju, I took one more last look at
Hill 342—I won’t go there again—but I’ll never forget the brave
troopers who made it a memorial to KING Company, 187th
ARCT! I had the privilege to command them then—heroic airborne
soldiers!
It seems so long ago, yet so near to mind! (Editor/author’s
Footnote: When RAKKASAN and historian J. D. Coleman was
writing his epic book, “WONJU,” he talked at length with me
and other RAKKASANS about that fateful period in February
1951. I suggested to him that an appropriate subtitle for his book
would be, “The Chinese Gettysburg!” That’s what it was! And, in
my mind, Hil/342 was “Little Roundtop.”
Prior to Wonju, the Chinese still believed they could defeat us
in Korea. After Wonju they knew the best they could get was a
negotiated stalemate. And, as it is so often in war, it comes down
to a turning point where even a rifle company can make a difference!
There is nothing that can equal the determination of an
American airborne infantry rifle company that decides nothing
and no one is going to take from it that which it gave so much to
take! The better part of a CCF regiment found that out the hard
way on Hill 342! And the CCF found that out at Wonju!
For me, the blood my brave troopers shed on Hill 342 has not
dried, nor have the faces of those who died there faded from
view! KING Company fought many battles in Korea—Hill 342
was its finest hour! NE DESIT VIRTUS!
(A final note: I would be remiss if I allowed those who read
this to come away with the impression that I’m honoring just
KING Company. There were other similar hills and other rifle
companies of the 187th, and our artillery counterparts that ‘did
their thing’ those three days. All were equally brave and all share
in the victory that Wonju became.
But, I hope I can be forgiven the pride I have in what KING
Company did—for Hill 342 was the pivotal point of the battle—
the cork in the bottle!
NOTE: This article appeared originally in the Airborne
Quarterly, Winter 2007, p. 57. It is reprinted here with the kind
permission of author Bill Weber.
Don’t want you to think
my visit to Korea was all
nostalgia. While I was
there, the Koreans were
celebrating a FESTIVAL
OF LOVE! The photo is
proof—I should be so
lucky!!!!!
77
The Graybeards January-February 2008