The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

Map 2
We didn’t get much sleep that night because we
kept hearing the North Koreans blowing whistles
in the little village to our right rear.
Everybody was uneasy because whistles have a
psychological effect and the North Koreans
know it. Also we were very low on ammo. No
re-supply had arrived.
walk down the hill to the aid station. No
litters arrived. Finally just before dusk a
helicopter arrived for Capt. Hula, but
since he had died it was sent to us.
Hannikiavi was hit in. the stomach and
Queja in the knee and both were losing a
lot of blood. The pilot of the helicopter
said he could only carry one litter case, so
Queja told Hannikiavi to go ahead. It was
a very noble gesture. We left a squad
down below where Queja was and carried
Fauss to the same place. They stayed
there all night. At 3 A.M. Queja died from
exposure and shock, Fauss was not
removed until noon the next day and then
he was carried down by our 1st Sergeant
and Supply Sergeant in a shelter half.
All night long the tank fired and the
mortar shells landed. I dug in very deep
that night. Although it was cold and rainy
we spread pine boughs on the damp
ground in our hole and kept fairly dry
considering the conditions. When mortars
are landing one’s faith in the almighty
reaches a peak. For only he is your protector
then.
We didn’t get much sleep that night
because we kept hearing the North
Koreans blowing whistles in the little village
to our right rear. Everybody was
uneasy because whistles have a psychological
effect and the North Koreans
know it. Also we were very low on
ammo. No re-supply had arrived.
As dawn broke we expected to see
North Koreans all around us, supposing
they would take advantage of the dark to
steal up on us. Luckily, however, only
one crept up and we surrounded and captured
him. He said he had a lot of young
soldiers in the village behind us and they
had refused to “Banzai” us that night
from the rear. He was bitter and decided
to quit. What we believed was that he
tried to get them to come back on our hill
for their wounded and that we caught him
in the act. The whistles were blown in an
attempt to scare us off.
We sighted another man in our rear
very near the squad guarding our two
wounded and everybody fired at him. He
just sauntered off behind a knob. As he
came out into the open again, however,
our machine guns pulled him down and
he toppled over in a heap.
After our ammo and rations arrived
orders came to move out and assault Hill
268 directly across from us. During all
this time we were receiving heavy mortar
and tank fire. Fortunately, it was all either
long or short and very few rounds landed
among our men.
Hill 268
Hill 268 was close to Hill 160; observation
was good and sniper fire a great
menace. Going from one to the other
involved moving straight down the side
of Hill 160 and then up Hill 268, Hill 268
looks like a caterpillar with a long thin
body and feelers at both ends. These feelers
are fingers (See map 3). The top of the
hill is long and narrow and the sides
almost perpendicular
except for the fingers. On
the top are four heavy
knobs (marked 2, 3, 4,
and 5 on the map.).
Along the sides is a
heavy growth of trees,
but few are on the top.
The plan called for
“L” Company to move
up a finger (as shown on
the map) and for elements
of “B” Company
of the 1st Bn. to be on “L’s” left. “K”
Company was to move up another finger
and side as shown on Map 3. “L’s” was
part of 1 and the area to the left; “K’ was
to take the rest of 1 and the knob marked
2. Once these were secured, “I” Comply
was to move up the side (right of 2) and
take 3, 4 and 5. We knew the enemy was
on the hill because we could see emplacements
and many men moving about on 1
and 2.
Map 3
At 0700 “K” Company, minus my platoon
(Weapons) moved down the forward
slope of 160. “L” moved out also. Both
companies were exposed but used as
much cover as possible getting down.
Luckily the enemy didn’t fire too much,
probably in the hope of deceiving us as to
his number and position. My platoon,
remaining on 160 to give support, set up
mortars and our 57 R.R. and watched
closely as our three rifle platoons went
down the hill. Soon we began to get small
arms fire and had to stay under cover constantly.
This makes it difficult when you
try at the same time to observe through
glasses. Some machine guns were set up
too to give overhead fire. Soon “I”
Company arrived on our hill and waited
for “K” and “L” to assault 268. During all
this time enemy tank fire kept coming in
but it landed short or long as before. Even
See NAKTONG on page 56
Page 20
The Graybeards