The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

the enemy. So the former choice was
instantly given away. The latter one wasn’t
any better than the former one. In the
first place I didn’t know where I was and
where our base was located. This was
entirely as strange place to me as to those
GIs. Besides it was too risky to get
through the enemies surrounding.
However, there was not time to hesitate
and I had to risk the danger. Leaving
my fate to God, I immediately started to
creep, as the enemy was closing up.
Under the full moonlight, they could see
any small subject very easily. I moved
onto the frozen reservoir, heading southward
by the indication of the north star.
After creeping about five hundred yards
on the ice, I became safe from bullets.
Suddenly extreme exhaustion caught
me -- thirsty, hungry, and sleepy! Biting
snow didn’t ease my thirstiness. I couldn’t
creep any more. Then I walked. At this
moment, I saw several red tracers of
machine gun flying at far south. That’s
ours! Now I found the direction. It was
the symbol of hope. I walked toward the
tracers. It was very far away but the red
tracers kept appearing as if it was inspiring
my hope.
I didn’t know when (what time) it was.
Even this new hope couldn’t keep me
from exhaustion. Everything became
undesirable. Nothing interested me but to
have a nice sleep. The hallucination
appeared. The nice warm rooms in my
house. I fell down on the ice and was soon
asleep.
Somebody shook my shoulder, “Here,
wake up. Wake up!” I opened my eyes.
There were three GIs. One helped me to
get up. I probably had slept a few minutes.
“Do you now where the Marine base
is?” one guy asked. “Yes, I know where it
is,” I said. “Come on! We will help you to
walk.” I was dragged by them until I got
my awareness back. The long, long
march. After four hours of hike on the
reservoir we finally closed to the Marine
Outpost.
“Halt!” The guard said. “Pass word.”
“We don’t know what the pass word is.
Haven’t heard for three days.” “Say some
English.”
One guy talked to him in English and
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finally the guard accepted us as friendly
troops. “You may come up with your
hands on your heads.”
We were led to a small town. This was
Hagaru-ri, 0700, December 3rd. They
served us food, hot chow! I ate two trays
of food, then slept for 24 hours without
realizing that this town was also surrounded.
I felt safe.
I learned the next day that some people
were back to Hagaru-ri after having
walked through the Reservoir. I was told
that Dr. Navarre was missing. Sgt.
Anderson and a few others and some
ROKAs had returned safely. A part of
those casualties were rescued by a Marine
rescue team. This Hagarie-ri had been
surrounded by CCF for days and we had
to break through this encirclement, which
we did and arrived safely back at Hagaruri
also.
(Thank you Dr. Dibble and Dr. Lee for a
great story. Those at the Chosin will read
every word and should be proud of the
heroes of the ROK Army that also suffered
many losses but also fought with great
valor. Editor.)
James D. Adkins Roy E. Allen Albin Bilinski Ernest V. “Jack” Morton, Jr.
Robert Park
Robert Park
Carl W. Royer Steve Schwarz Marvin B. Showalter Marvin B. Showalter
Frank Marcan
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