Freedom Is Not Free - Korean War Veterans Association

64
PART IV
SPRING 1951
One early morning while the moon was
still shining before daylight, our platoon ate
breakfast first and loaded onto tanks for
movement to begin the day's operation of
obtaining critical terrain. The squad leaders
had been briefed as to the enemy situation
the night before, so there was no misunderstanding
as to who would be the first to
make contact with the enemy. After dismounting
from the tanks, we moved out on
foot in a column, checking the safety on our
weapons every so many yards until there
was no doubt in our minds that we were
ready to fire the first instant contact was
made.
The men moved from the column to the
attack formation almost as if it were a training
exercise. Good fortune was with us as
no enemy occupied the first objective. At
that point the second platoon moved
through our platoon to become the attack
platoon, and we fell to the rear to become
the company reserve on the way to the next
objective.
It had been daylight now for some three
hours as the second platoon began an attack
on the company’s right, which happened to
be a descending ridge line. Unfortunately,
they did not succeed due to heavy enemy
rifle fire from a much higher ridge. The first
platoon moved to the left a few hundred
yards and attacked, but they too were
denied the objective. By now it was noon
time-everyone in our platoon took time out
for lunch, because we were in the company
reserve position. The enemy also appeared
to be having lunch, or maybe they were just
conserving ammo, because we observed
only sporadic firing from their position.
From the company reserve position we
could see only half the main objective due
to the heavy second-growth trees which
were small in diameter but quite tall. We
could not see how far the first platoon had
advanced. Things were uncertain at this
time for everyone. It was now close to two
o'clock.
Lt. Riley, who was a few years older
than most of us in the platoon (maybe 27)
came over to our platoon and announced
that if the objective was not taken within the
next hour, we would have to move by foot
back to where we began in the morning. We
would have to move before dark because of
KOREA:
MY STORY – 1950-51
the chance of ambush in the narrow pass at
night.
It now became our turn again, along
with the second platoon to our left, to see if
we could gain control of the ridge. Unlike
our first objective, where we could find no
enemy, now we all knew the enemy was
dug in and did not want to leave.
My squad was to be on the platoon's
right, joining Petit's squad to the left. All my
men were good men who worked well
together as a team when the going was easy
as well as tough.
Because of the second growth saplings, I
put my men in single file, all within eye
contact of each other. The point man picked
his way through saplings that were well
over his head. Everyone followed the point
man, who guided us along a natural drain
that ran through the middle of the ridge. As
we gradually gained elevation, I saw a large
oak tree upon the ridge in the middle of our
assigned area for the attack.
There was no water at this time coming
down the drain—only a lot of rocks washed
clean from previous water flows. The drain
terminated just below the big oak as we
continued moving upward. There was an
almost vertical drop from the oak to the
drain of some seventy-five or eighty feet.
My squad had not received any fire from
the enemy at this time. This told me that we
were undetected up to this point. The
enemy probably had assumed no one would
or could come up on to the ridge from
below the oak. They had elected to defend
the ridge above and below the oak tree. The
By Bob Ondrish
ridge was only about forty yards wide and
descending away from the oak tree.
I already said my squad was a good
team. We scaled the steep outcrop below the
oak, helping each other, pulling and lifting
until we had the entire squad on top. We
were all bunched up, to say the least, but
very quiet. Spreading out the width of the
ridge, we were now on the high ground as it
sloped away.
Sgt. Petit’s squad was now a couple hundred
yards above me, where the ridge line
was much higher, and we were doing a lot
of rifle firing. Actually, he was to my rear
yet we were not receiving any fire from his
men, which let me know his squad had not
reached the top of the ridge.
The enemy must have gotten up out of
their well-dug positions to see what was
going on up the ridge from them. That is
when they ran into my squad. Like mice
jumping into their holes, they were back in
their foxhole, which was a machine gun
positioned to defend down the ridge, not up
the ridge. Their mission, no doubt, was to
defend a draw that separated their ridge
from the beginning of another at a somewhat
lower elevation.
Their main concern at this time was to
eliminate my squad. The machine gun was
lifted out of its original direction of fire, to
the front, and was pointed at my squad to
their rear. Firing began almost as soon as
the tripods hit the ground. My men and I
were all down in the prone position among
the rocks, scattered over the width of the
ridge. Some rocks were smaller than others,
but all provided adequate protection from
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