Payday: The Dan Hughes Story

Dan Hughes biography-chapter 6_Layout 1 2/15/2016 5:43 PM Page 67
Dan was moved from the platoon headquarters bunker to one near
the large fire direction center bunker and shared it with a doctor and
a chaplain. Their meals were served in a field artillery mess bunker.
One night during routine shelling, a 75-mm projectile went
through the armor in front of the radiator of one of the half quad-50s
half-tracks. The shell did not explode, but it tore the engine apart and
the half-track had to be towed off and replaced. The old ammunition
used by the Koreans exploded only about 70 percent of the time.
The ground fire from the quad-50s was being used more every night
as the forward units found out how effective they were. General
Ginder, commander of the 45th Division, and General White,
commander of the X Corps, sent word to Dan’s battalion commander
that they would like to come to the front line and observe a fire
demonstration from the quad-50s. Of course, he and Dudley were
selected for the firing mission. Fourteen of the half-tracks were within
range of Heartbreak Ridge, even though some were in antiaircraft
positions around the field artillery and had not been firing regularly.
They aimed them at different spots along the ridge so they could
saturate the entire area. They planned a time-on target shoot, which
meant that the projectiles of the different guns would commence
Battalion Headquarters, rear area.
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