This murder case in Hawaii has just gotten a whole lot weirder. Obviously this NCO has some serious sexual issues if he is having affairs, watching child porn and prostituting himself to other men:
An Army medic charged with conspiring with his lover to kill his wife in Hawaii will be court-martialed for child pornography and prostitution charges that surfaced while investigating the killing.
Sgt. Michael Walker’s general court-martial is set for June 20 and June 21 at Wheeler Army Airfield on Oahu, said Jim Guzior, spokesman for Tripler Army Medical Center, where Walker has been assigned since 2013. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for next week.
Walker has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in civilian court in the killing of Catherine Walker, who was found stabbed to death in November 2014 in the military housing the couple shared in Honolulu.
Army prosecutors revealed new allegations during a military judicial hearing in March, where they said Michael Walker is accused of possessing and viewing child pornography and receiving money in exchange for sex with men. [Stars & Stripes]
This story from Ft. Bragg is well worth spending a few minutes to read because it is hilarious:
The civilian found living in the barracks of Fort Bragg’s 3rd Special Forces Group was a “con-artist” who had never served in the armed forces, but had enough knowledge of the military to dupe others into believing he was a soldier, according to an investigation obtained by The Fayetteville Observer.
The report does not name the civilian, citing personal privacy, but according to public arrest records that match the circumstances described by the military, the civilian in the barracks was Triston Marquell Chase, 20.
U.S. Army Special Operations Command public affairs officers declined to say what name the civilian was known by to 3rd Group soldiers.
According to the investigative report, the civilian posed as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist for A Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group. He was discovered after a drunken driving arrest on Fort Bragg in December. The civilian — and Chase, according to state court records — has six felony charges from 2014, including identity theft and larceny of a firearm, pending in Harnett County.
In the days following Chase’s arrest, military officials unraveled the story of how he exploited the lack of oversight in the barracks to obtain a room key, access the barracks and live there for months. [Fayetteville Observer]
This guy must have been quiet the personality considering he had people loaning him their cars, and women regularly stopping by:
The person said he felt sorry for the man and provided him a key to his barracks room on the third floor, according to the investigation.
Investigators learned multiple women had visited the civilian in his barracks room and brought him food. One person told investigators that the man said he never had any money because he used his funds to take care of his family.
Heck this guy was even holding room inspections and holding his own formations!:
The fact-finding soldiers went to the barracks where they saw the man outside with six soldiers standing in formation with no Army combat uniform tops, just brown T-shirts, according to the investigation.
The officer told the man he needed to speak with him. The man said he was busy because “my supervisor told me to get these guys straight.” (……..)
The man had become such a staple around the barracks that several soldiers said they had seen him conducting room inspections and assigning rooms to new soldiers, according to the investigation.
Sounds like the Army should get this guy to enlist and serve as the barracks manager.
You would think the Army would have waited to promote a story like this until after she had completed the basic infantry course. You would think the PAO types would have learned this lesson after the embarrassment of the first female combat engineer enlistee who went AWOL:
A Louisiana woman is seeking to make history, enlisting to be the first female infantryman in the United States Army.
25-year-old Tammy Barnett raised her right hand in Shreveport, Louisiana, opting to join the US Army Infantry, a deviation from her original plans when she found out she could be first.
“I was going to go military police, but infantry is similar, and they are more on the front lines, like law enforcement here and I said that’s what I want to do,” said Barnett, a former police officer.
Barnett hopes to make history and lead the way for more women who want to go into the infantry.
“They told me that I would be the first female in history to go infantry in the military,” said Barnett.
“I hope that I give them the courage, because I’m a small female, if I can do it, they can do it too, this could give them the courage to step out of their comfort zone,” explained Barnett. [Popular Military]
You can read more at the link, but she is going to be in for a rude awakening when she finds out that the infantry is nothing like being a policeman other than they are both proficient with shooting weapons. Just for the record I continue to support women in combat arms roles as long as they meet the same standards as men. For example I wonder if Ms. Barnett will have to pass the same physical fitness test and other physical requirements as her male infantry recruits?
According to a court, the threshold for religious accommodation is that the accommodation cannot affect unit cohesion and morale, good order and discipline, healthy and safety:
A decorated army officer is now officially permitted to wear a religious beard and turban in uniform thanks in part to a ruling late Thursday.
Capt. Simratpal Singh — a lifelong practicing Sikh, who was a West Point graduate, Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient —was previously given a temporary accommodation in December. When it was set to expire in February, Singh sued after he was told by the Army he had to report for days of gas mask and helmet testing, citing religious discrimination.
He eventually won, with a court document saying that the temporary order would only be revoked if his beard and turban affected “unit cohesion and morale, good order and discipline, healthy and safety.”
According to The Sikh Coalition, which is currently representing Singh, he is the first Sikh American to receive a religious accommodation while serving. [Mashable]
You can read more at the link, but there have been other Sikhs who have had religious accommodations made for them by the military so I am not sure why Singh is being claimed as the first. In fact there is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to sikhs who have served in the US military.
The recent animated film 300 dramatized the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC that featured a protracted battle between a small Spartan force led by King Leonidas that was tasked with delaying the advance of the much larger force of invading Persians led by King Xerxes.
The battle was portrayed as the small Spartan force protecting the fledgling start of western democracy from being enslaved by the dictatorial Persian King. This movie would go on to be a huge box office success and raise public awareness about the significance of the battle. However, though this famous historical battle happened nearly 2,500 years ago few people today (even in Greece) realize that Greek soldiers over 60 years ago had fought in their own modern day Battle of Thermopylae during the Korean War for similar reasons and fortunately even better results.
Patch worn by Greek soldiers that fought in the Korean War.
Background
When the United Nations authorized the use of force to expel the North Korean military who had invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950 for the sole purpose of reuniting the peninsula under communism, one of the nations that provided a large contingent of combat troops was the nation of Greece. Greece volunteered to supply one Air Force transport squadron and one combat infantry battalion of 840 men to fight in the defense of the Republic of Korea.
It would seem strange at first that a small nation like Greece would be willing to send so many soldiers to fight in a war that on the surface would appear to have nothing to do with them considering how far Korea is from Greece. However, before the Korean War Greece had its own internal civil war against a communist movement that was ultimately crushed by the Greek government. Greece’s own experience against communist backed forces caused much Greek sympathy with the situation that South Korea was faced with back in 1950.
Greek soldiers parade through Athens prior to departing to Korea. Picture from the book, Eagle of the Triangle.
Another factor that influenced Greece’s decision to go to war in Korea was that their ancient rivals, the nation of Turkey had also agreed to send a large combat force in support of the US led war effort in South Korea. Turkey had sent a large combat force to build stronger defense relations with the United States in case Turkey ever needed military assistance in return from the US due to the looming threat of Soviet expansionism. Much of the same thought process could be attributed to the Greek government that sat on the frontier of Soviet expansionism as well. So there was a variety of reasons for why the Greeks decided to go to war in Korea and with that decision the Greeks really did their best to put together a capable combat force to fight for the freedom of South Korea.
Arrival in Korea
The Greeks arrived in Korea on December 9, 1950 and their Air Force transport squadron was immediately put to use in support of allied operations. The Greek ground forces which were deployed under the name, The Royal Hellenic Battalion had to go through initial pre-combat training at the allied training facility located in Daegu. Unlike some other allied nations that had arrived in Daegu for training the Greek forces were quite well trained on arrival due to many of the soldiers in the unit having prior combat experience fighting in the Greek civil war.
By January the Royal Hellenic Battalion would see its first combat operation when it was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division and fought in the Battle of Hill 381 at Icheon on January 29, 1951. The 334th Regiment of the Chinese 112th Division conducted a surprise attack that night against the Greek battalion. The Royal Hellenic Battalion inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese troops giving them confidence that they could hold their own in what was becoming a bloody war.
The unit would go on to conduct other combat operations in Korea with the 1st Cavalry Division, but when the Korean War’s frontline began to solidify and the war turned into one of holding hill top garrisons as peace talks went on at Panmunjom, the Greeks spent a year defending the South Korean frontier near the village of Yeoncheon just north of Seoul before being moved to conduct operations in the Chorwon area which had by then begun to be known as the infamous Iron Triangle.
Despite the amount of combat the Greeks had seen in two and half years of fighting in the Korean War the bloodiest fighting and their greatest combat achievement of the entire war would occur ironically enough during the very last days of the war.
Prelude to Battle
By June of 1953 an armistice from the peace talks at Panmunjom appeared to be imminent. The Chinese military leadership understood that a truce could be signed at any time and thus they began a series of operations to capture key strategic territory from the United Nations forces that would give the communist allies a military advantage when a truce was signed. One of the most key pieces of terrain that the Chinese wanted to capture was a lonely mountain top outpost in the Iron Triangle known simply as Outpost Harry.
Outpost Harry had received its name because other adjacent hilltops were known as Tom, Dick, and then there was Harry. However, unlike Outposts Tom & Dick, Harry stretched out as a peninsula like landmass from the rest of the allies’ frontlines and the landmass was connected to a Chinese occupied hilltop known as Star Hill. The hill top that the allies garrisoned on OP Harry was 1,280 feet high and looked across the ridge line of the landmass back at Star Hill which was only about 400 yards away and slightly taller then OP Harry.
The reasons the Chinese decided that OP Harry was an important tactical landmass to capture was because the hill offered the best observation of the surrounding area that allowed the allies easy view of any enemy troop movements on their side of the frontline. If the hill was captured the allies wouldn’t just lose their ability to observe Chinese troop movements, but the allies would also have to fall back a distance of about 10 kilometers because the Chinese would have the ability to rain down accurate artillery on the allied side of the border due to the great observation the hilltop provided of the Kumwha Valley that the allies currently occupied.
At the time OP’s Tom, Dick, & Harry were all being defended by the US 15th Infantry Regiment of the US 3rd Infantry Division. At the time, the Greek Battalion, which had become known as the Sparta Battalion was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Koumanakos and was attached to the 15th Infantry to help fortify this section of the frontline. Companies from the regiment would rotate defending the outposts the regiment was responsible for holding on their sector of the frontline. The regiment at the time had roughly 4,000 soldiers including the Greek Battalion to defend their sector.
Article in the January 9, 1953 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper shortly after Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos took command of the Greek Battalion.
The Chinese on the other hand had decided to commit their entire 74th Division of 13,000 soldiers in their offensive operation to capture OP Harry from the US 15th Infantry Regiment and fully expected the operation to be a quick and easy success due to the sheer size of the force they were committing. The confidence of the Chinese was quite evident to the soldiers of the 15th Infantry defending the OP because the Chinese made no effort to disguise their offensive operation. It was clear that the Chinese were going to launch an attack as additional troops, equipment, and supplies could be seen entering the Chinese side of the frontline. An attack was imminent and the soldiers of the 15th Regiment to include Colonel Koumanakos and his men of the Sparta Battalion braced themselves for the heavy combat to come.
The Battle of Outpost Harry Begins
The Chinese assault began on June 10, 1953 with a heavy artillery and mortar barrage on the allied positions. A night time assault which was customary by Chinese forces during the Korean War due to the allies’ air superiority was launched against all the 15th Infantry Regiment’s positions to include the Chinese main effort attacking across the ridge line from Star Hill to capture OP Harry. The American defenders of OP Harry held off the Chinese attack until day break, but fighting continued.
Just after midnight on June 12th the Chinese forces through hand to hand fighting against US forces had captured the northern trench of OP Harry. Once the trench line was captured the Chinese then began efforts to reinforce it before proceeding over the hilltop to capture the southern trench line the US forces still occupied. As the Chinese began to reinforce the trench line a US counterattack using heavy artillery and tanks targeting Chinese soldiers trying to reinforce those in the trench line was launched. The Chinese began to take heavy casualties and by day break withdrew out of the northern trench line when it became apparent they would not be able to successfully hold it from US air attack once the sun came up.
During the day the Chinese continued their artillery barrage on OP Harry as a fresh batch of US forces rotated on to the hilltop while the prior unit carried their dead and wounded off the mountain. Over 200 dead and wounded were pulled off the hill from the previous days fighting all because of the need to hold a bald barren hill. The next night would be a near exact repeat of the night before as the Chinese would once again capture the northern trench line to only lose it once again due to a US counterattack and the Chinese having to abandon the trench line at daybreak. The next day the American unit dragged their dead and wounded back down the hill and were replaced by another American company just like the unit before it.
This cycle would continue until June 15th when Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos was alerted that his men of the Greek Expeditionary Force would be the next unit to defend OP Harry. By this time nearly two US infantry battalions of soldiers had been decimated by the five prior days of fighting on the hill and the Greeks would be the next to withstand the fury of the Chinese attacks.
Defending “Outpost Harros”
On the morning of June 16th the Greeks began their march up the hill to OP Harry as American soldiers from the 15th Infantry Regiment they were replacing, dragged their dead and wounded down the mountain. By now the Greeks had begun to call Outpost Harry, Outpost Harros which means death in the Greek language. This moniker was appropriate considering the amount of blood that was being spilled to defend this remote hilltop fortress. When the Greeks reached the top of the hill they were amazed to find there was nearly nothing left standing due to the blasting the hilltop had taken from Chinese artillery. The Greek soldiers had knew the hilltop had been fairly devastated, but even though they were forewarned about the damage done to OP Harry the level of destruction once on the hilltop still surprised them and made them wonder how anybody had survived such an attack in the first place? More importantly it made them wonder how they were going to survive such an attack as well?
Picture of a US 3rd Infantry Division soldier posing with a Greek soldier during the Korean War. Image from the Outpost Harry Survivors Association Newsletter, April 2006.
Realizing how the hill could not be held if the fortifications were not reconstructed, Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos immediately had his soldiers with the aid of Korean Service Corps workers, begin redigging the trench lines as well as reconstructing the sandbagged fortifications. The Chinese rarely ever attacked during the day so as much work as possible had to be completed during the daylight hours they had left. The Greek soldiers felt like they were digging up a graveyard due to the sheer amount of Chinese bodies left on the hill. The smell of death wreaked everywhere from the decomposing Chinese bodies. Occasionally the Greek soldiers and KSC workers would find an American body intermingled with the masses of Chinese bodies which really showed how up close and personal the hand to hand combat had been to hold the hill. As the American bodies were found the Greeks would carry them back down the hill to be transported to a casualty collection point. It was a grim task that made the Greek soldiers wonder if the next morning it would be them being dragged down the mountain like their American comrades?
Reconstruction on the southern trench line of OP Harry was going well, but Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos faced a great problem with trying to refortify the northern trenchline of the hilltop garrison. When he sent soldiers to the northern side of the hill to begin the reconstruction the Chinese soldiers were able to see them unlike with the southern trench line and began to rain down accurate mortar fire on them. The first casualties for Colonel Koumanakos men during the Battle of Outpost Harry came from this mortar barrage. Koumanakos ordered his men back to the southern side of the hill and decided to wait until dark to begin work on the northern trenchline again.
Items and pictures of the Greek Expeditionary Force during the Korean War on display at the War Memorial of Korea in the Yongsan District of Seoul.
This was a risky proposition considering the Chinese usually attack at night which meant the soldiers probably had little time to reconstruct the trench. As night fell Colonel Koumanakos pulled his machine gun teams forward to overwatch the soldiers he had working in the darkness to reconstruct the northern fortifications. Surprisingly that night the Chinese did not attack the outpost. The Greeks were lucky that the Chinese had taken a night off on their offensive to reconsolidate and rest their troops. Ceasing this opportunity Colonel Koumanakos had has men work through the night to rebuild the northern defenses. At daybreak the Chinese saw the Greek soldiers working on the northern defenses again and began firing mortar rounds at them. With some of the fortifications reconstructed enough to shelter from mortar fire in, the Greek commander decided to keep his troops on the northern hill face in order to keep improving the defenses. The Greeks worked throughout the day improving the northern defenses despite the mortar fire and then that night they readied themselves for the inevitable Chinese onslaught that was sure to come.
The Final Chinese Offensive
At 11PM the night of June 17th the Chinese onslaught did come as the Chinese after their operational pause made their last ditch effort to capture OP Harry. However, this time it wasn’t the Americans they would be fighting, but the men of Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos’ Greek Battalion. Just like in the prior battles the Chinese just through sheer numbers were once again able to get into the northern trench line. Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos just like the ancient Spartan warrior King Leonidas fought hand to hand with his soldiers against the numerically superior foes. By midnight the Greeks were able to push the Chinese back out of the northern trench line with the aid of a massive artillery barrage the allied forces employed against the advancing Chinese. Despite this initial setback the Chinese were not done with the Greeks yet.
The Chinese launched another attack on the northern trench and this time brought even more soldiers to capture it. The Greeks fought on the hill for three more hours that included once again hand to hand combat in the northern trench line. The Chinese by 3AM on June 18th had recaptured the northern trench line and tried to refortify by massing a ring of artillery fire around the position to deter any counterattack. However, Colonel Koumanakos decided to commit another Greek company of men backed by a platoon of US tanks to recapture the trench line. The Greek soldiers charged through the artillery fire and descended into the trenches to expel the Chinese invaders. The counterattack was successful and the Greeks recaptured the northern trench.
Picture from the Outpost Harry Survivors Association Newsletter, April 2006.
Day break on June 18th approached and the Chinese still had not captured OP Harry and were in fact reeling from the heavy casualties inflicted on them by the gallant Greek defense. Seeing that they had no chance of recapturing their lost positions the Chinese decided to start withdrawing back down the hill in defeat. The Battle of Outpost Harry would be a combat victory worthy of the recognition of their ancient Greek ancestors since the Greek Battalion had held their ground despite overwhelming odds.
However, like the American units they had replaced, the next morning the Greeks began their grim task of dragging their own dead and wounded back down the mountain. Amazingly the Greek casualties had been relatively light in comparison to the Chinese with six Greeks being killed in action with 21 others wounded. The Greek battalion would continue to rotate companies on to OP Harry until June 21st when they handed the outpost back over to the US 15th Infantry Regiment. After the final battle against the Greek defenders the Chinese never did attack again as the allies continued to hold the hill.
The Aftermath
It is estimate out of 13,000 Chinese soldiers used to assault OP Harry 4,500 of them died with many more wounded which left the entire Chinese division combat ineffective for the few remaining weeks of the war. The allies losses were heavy though they were no where near as bad the sacrifice in blood the Chinese made on their assault of OP Harry. American units had 91 men killed as well 8 Korean KATUSA soldiers. The Greeks would ultimately loose 15 men over the course of the eight day battle to defend OP Harry. American and Greek units also had a combined total of 419 more men wounded in action. The amount of men that died, Chinese, American, Greek, and Korean over eight days of fighting over a featureless hill is staggering; especially when one considers that when the ceasefire was signed a little over a month later on July 27, 1953, the allied forces agreed to abandon this featureless hill anyway as part of the Armistice Agreement.
Korea, May, 1953: Two American soldiers cross the battered terrain surrounding Outpost Harry, where enemy troops regularly mounted attacks from three sides. One sergeant recalled a battle during which “the first Red I met came along the trench yelling ‘Comrade, comrade’ holding a grenade in one hand and firing a burp gun with the other.” In mid-June, the Americans weathered an eight-day assault by more than 13,000 Chinese troops. [Stars & Stripes]
There has probably never been as many people killed and wounded in the history of warfare fighting over such an utterly barren and featureless rock. To make matters worse the sacrifice of the men of the Battle of Outpost Harry have never been truly remembered since they are overshadowed by more famous battles during the Korean War that didn’t nearly have the same amount of lives lost.
Despite all this, it is important to realize these men did not die in vain. The valiant defense of OP Harry showed the Chinese that the allies were still resolved to defend South Korea as well as delivering a huge blow to Chinese morale with the steep casualties they received attacking OP Harry. These steep casualties served to speed up the armistice talks to end the war to stop the heavy losses the Chinese were taking. The fact that the large agricultural plain of the Kumwha Valley remains as part of South Korea today is largely because of the sacrifice in blood made by the men who fought on OP Harry back in 1953. I wonder how many people in South Korea know that the existence of a large portion of some of the nation’s most productive agricultural land is because of the largely unknown efforts of a battalion of soldiers from the far away land of Greece?
Greek display at the War Memorial of Korea in the Yongsan District of Seoul.
In the aftermath of the battle a number of awards for combat valor were handed out to include for the first time in US military history five Distinguished Unit Citations to five different companies for actions during one battle. Distinguished Unit Citations were award to four companies from the US 15th Infantry Regiment and to Company P of the Greek Sparta Battalion that conducted the hand to hand fighting to hold Outpost Harry on the final night of the Chinese assault.
Company P Greek Expeditionary Forces Battalion (Second Award) is cited for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action against an armed enemy in the vicinity of Surang-NI, Korea during the period 17 June to 18 June 1953. Assigned the defense of a vital outpost position (Harry), the company encountered a major enemy assault on the evening of June 17. After an intense concentration of enemy mortar and artillery fire, the hostile forces, which had taken up an attack position on the northeast and northwest side of the outpost , moved rapidly through their own and friendly artillery fire to gain a foothold on the northern slope of the position. Refusing to withdraw, Company P closed in and met the attackers in a furious hand to hand struggle in which many of the enemy were driven off. The aggressors regrouped, quickly attacked a second time, and again gained the friendly trenches. Immediately, the Greek Forces launched a series of counterattacks, simultaneously dispatching a diversionary force to the east of the outpost which successfully channeled the enemy thrusts. After 2 hours of close in fighting, the aggressors were again routed and the friendly positions restored. The outstanding conduct and exemplary courage exhibited by members of Company P, Greek Expeditionary Forces Battalion, reflects great credit on themselves and are in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service and the Kingdom of Greece.
Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos’ six month tour of duty in Korea would come to an end on July 20, 1953 just days before the signing of the Armistice Agreement officially ending the war. He would receive many combat awards due to his service in Korea. Most notably he was awarded the US Legion of Merit and Silver Star for his actions during the Korean War.
Article from the March 25, 1954 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper.
In total the Greek forces in the Korean War would be awarded six Distinguished Unit Citations, along with individual servicemembers being recognized with 32 Silver Stars and 110 Bronze Stars from the US military. A total of 4,992 Greeks would fight in the Korean War with 18 officer and approximately 200 enlisted men killed in action and 400 more wounded. The final Greek unit would redeploy from the Korean peninsula in 1955 with the stabilization of the Demilitarized Zone.
From the December 7, 1955 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper.
Koumanakos would go on to become a Major General in the Greek Army and would remain the nation’s most decorated military officer before retiring and unfortunately passing away in 2003. Unfortunately in 1968 a military junta that took control of Greece ended up imprisoning the then retired Major General Koumanakos. They imprisoned him due to his domestic fame that the junta feared could one day cause him to become a political rival.
Article from the July 9, 1969 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper.
However, nothing in Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos long military career would be able to surpass the truly heroic stand against overwhelming odds by the soldiers of the Greek Battalion he commanded during the Korean War. Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos was not only respected by the soldiers of the Sparta Battalion, but many US soldiers respected him as well as evident by this passage from a book written by a soldier who fought in the Battle of Outpost Harry:
For the first time in my experience we had company. In addition to the scouts, this bunker housed a forward observer for the artillery, along with his aides and other occasional guests. For example, it was the custom of the commander of the Greek Battalion, Colonel Koumanakos to sleep on the front line when his troops were on line. He and his staff would come forward to the outpost at night, returning to their battalion headquarters to work during the day. This resolve of the high ranking Greek officers to expose themselves to the same dangers as their men impressed me at the time and still impresses me. Our squad had not seen its own officer up front in the two months I been on the line. So far as we knew, neither had our other squads seen him. To see the lieutenant, someone had to drive back to regimental headquarters. If the lieutenant needed to communicate with us, he used the telephone, if it was working, or the radio.
We Are Innocents: An Infanryman in Korea
By William D. Dannenmaier, page 119 Outpost Harry Survivors Association Newsletter, April 2006.
Lieutenant Colonel Koumanakos may not have been singularly as heroic as King Leonidas, but his combat leadership as witnessed by both Greek and American soldiers is sure to have made the spirit of King Leonidas proud and that is why he and all the soldiers of the Greek battalion are truly heroes of the Korean War.
The Korean War featured some heroes that had colorful life stories such as the Frenchman Ralph Monclar & the Turk Tahsin Yazici before finding themselves in the frozen rice paddies of the Korean peninsula. However, probably no American combat hero from the war had as unconventional military career as the legendary Lewis L. Millett.
Millett was born in Mechanic Falls, Maine, on December 15, 1920, but spent the majority of his childhood growing up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. He left high school at Dartmouth after his junior year in 1938 to enlist in the state’s National Guard. Millett wanted to fight the fascism he saw threatening the world that was rising from Nazi Germany and thus left his National Guard unit and joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. However, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that he United States would not enter the war against the Nazis, Millett deserted the US Army and hitchhiked to Canada where he enlisted in the Canadian military.
In the Canadian Army Millett was selected with one other American to attend “Top Secret” training in radio location in what later became known as radar. It was a bit ironic that one US Army deserter and the other American a Marine that was released from service for a bad conduct discharge were now receiving “Top Secret” training in Canada. However, Millett would never serve as a radar operator because of the aerial gunnery training he had received in the Army Air Corps. The Canadian Army decided to put these skills to use by deploying him to England to man an anti-aircraft artillery gun during the bombing blitz of London.
Service During World War II
In the aftermath of the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war against Nazi Germany. In early 1942 as US troops began to flow into England, Millett took this opportunity to leave the Canadian Army and re-enlist in the US Army. In August 1942 Millet was deployed to North Africa where his first combat action ironically enough involved fighting not the Germans, but the French. The Vichy Regime forces that were allied with the Nazis were guarding the French colonial possessions in North Africa. When Millett’s unit conducted an amphibious landing at Oran, Algeria his unit suffered a number of casualties from the fight against the French forces.
Millet would go on in North Africa to be awarded the Silver Star for driving a burning half track filled with ammunition away from his unit and bailing out just before it exploded. Millet would also serve in the invasion of Italy to include the Battle of Anzio. It was here that his prior desertion caught up to him and the then Sergeant Millett was court martial by his command. He was found guilty and ordered to pay a $52 fine. He was angry about the court martial, but his command told him that they conducted the court martial now in order to prevent him from receiving greater punishment in the future. A few weeks later Millet was awarded a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant.
Combat Actions In Korea
When the war ended Millet left active duty, joined the Maine National Guard, and eventually enrolled at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He attended school for three years before being called up for duty in Japan in January 1949. The now Captain Millet was assigned as a battery commander in a field artillery battalion that was part of the 25th Infantry Division.
The 25ID saw heavy combat during the Korean War and Millet was of course in the thick of it. When the company commander of the E company, 27th Infantry Regiment Captain Reginald B. Desiderio was killed on November 27, 1950 he would posthumously be awarded the nation’s highest award for combat valor, the Medal of Honor. The regimental commander needed a new commander to replace the heroic CPT Desiderio and the person he recommended wasn’t even an infantryman, it was the unit’s forward observer, CPT Lewis Millett.
However, Millett couldn’t immediately take command because he had been wounded in the same battle that CPT Desidero had been killed. While he was recovering from his wounds Millett was assigned to fly as an observer in an L-5 observation plane. It was during this time that Millett was awarded his most unusual combat award. The plane was flown by a fearless pilot by the name of Captain James Lawrence who witnessed a South African fighter plan make a crash landing behind enemy lines. Lawrence skillfully landed his plane to evacuate the injured South African pilot by the name of John Davis. The L-5 was only a two seat aircraft and Lawrence asked Millett if he wouldn’t mind jumping out of the plane while he evacuated Davis back to the rear. Most people probably would have minded being left behind enemy lines especially when injured yourself, but Millett jumped out of the plane while Lawrence loaded up Davis and evacuated him to the rear. Lawrence flew back and picked up Millett just in time because they flew out in a hail of bullets from a Chinese patrol that detected his landing. For volunteering to jump out of the plane while Davis was evacuated the South African Air Force awarded Millett a bottle of scotch. Millett would remember years later how ironic it was that Davis a white man of apartheid South Africa would ultimately give his life a few months later flying air support for the all-black US 24th Infantry Regiment.
After recovering from his injuries Millett then took command of E Company. Millett knew he had a tough task on his hand trying to live up to the Medal of Honor bravery of his predecessor, but it didn’t take long for him to prove he was up to the task. On February 7, 1951 Millett’s undersized company of about 100 men were traveling north up an ice covered road near the small hamlet of Soam-ni supported by two tanks. While advancing up the road his unit was engaged by a patrol of Chinese infantrymen located on Hill 180 overlooking the road. One of Millett’s platoons was penned down by automatic weapons fire and Millett could not extract them. This is when Millett made the decision that became one of the most recognized combat actions of the Korean War, he told his men to fix bayonets.
Painting of CPT Millet and his men conducting their famous bayonet charge via the VFW Post 10216 website.
Millett had heard that the Chinese were passing around propaganda leaflets saying that the US soldiers were afraid to fight up close with bayonets and because of this Millett had begun training his men long and hard on close combat fighting. Ironically Millett being an artilleryman never received any bayonet training in the US Army, but during his time in the Canadian Army he did he receive this training and after all this years he was able to put those skills to use training his company. This training ultimately paid off for Millett and his men because he felt that the only way to extract his trapped platoon was to lead the rest of his company up the hill with a bayonet charge that the Chinese would have never expected. Just three days before this engagement Millett had led another bayonet charge against a Chinese ambush that caused them to flee, which Millett was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for. Millett found himself now in almost the same identical situation and he was betting that the result would be same.
Millet order his men to run across a frozen rice paddy to the base of the hill. From here Millett with his big red handle bar moustache decided to lead the charge himself up the hill. Unlike the bayonet charge three days prior, these Chinese decided to stay and fight. Millett half way up the hill noticed that not everyone was advancing up the hill and that was when he made his now famous quote of, “C’mon you sons of bitches and fight!” Maybe not all of Millett’s American soldiers were following him up the hill, but at least one Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) soldier did. Millett directed him to place covering fire at the Chinese while he advanced further up the hill and assaulted a foxhole that had an anti-tank team in it. Millett bayoneted and killed all three men in the foxhole who were so surprised to see him that they had no time to react.
Millet continued to assault through the position and engage more Chinese infantrymen when he was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade blast, however Millett refused to be medically evacuated until his men had secured the hill top and defeated the Chinese attack.
A few weeks later Millett would be removed from his command, but it wasn’t from his grenade shrapnel injuries. His regimental commander told him he was being removed from command because he couldn’t afford to have him get killed when he was going to be awarded the nation’s highest award for gallantry, the Medal of Honor. A few months later on July 5, 1951 Captain Lewis L. Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House by President Harry Truman. Here is the text of Millett’s Medal of Honor citation:
Capt. Millett, Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. While personally leading his company in an attack against a strongly held position he noted that the 1st Platoon was pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and antitank fire. Capt. Millett ordered the 3d Platoon forward, placed himself at the head of the 2 platoons, and, with fixed bayonet, led the assault up the fire-swept hill. In the fierce charge Capt. Millett bayoneted 2 enemy soldiers and boldly continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement. Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind hand-to-hand assault carried to the crest of the hill. His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder. During this fierce onslaught Capt. Millett was wounded by grenade fragments but refused evacuation until the objective was taken and firmly secured. The superb leadership, conspicuous courage, and consummate devotion to duty demonstrated by Capt. Millett were directly responsible for the successful accomplishment of a hazardous mission and reflect the highest credit on himself and the heroic traditions of the military service.
Post-Korean War Service
After returning from Korea Millett would go on to become an aide-de-camp to General John R. Hodge. Hodge used to be the commander of US forces in Korea prior to the Korean War before he was forced out due to his poor relationship with South Korean President Syngman Rhee as well as General Douglas McArthur. After completing his aide duties the now Major Millett was then sent to Greece as a military adviser to the Greek Army. Following his assignment in Greece Millett then attended the advanced infantry course at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Due to his battlefield commission and postings he had never attended this course that young captains are required to attend. I can only imagine what the captains in this course thought of having a veteran of two wars and a Medal of Honor awardee as a classmate?
In 1958 Millett would also attend and graduate from Ranger School where he would ultimately go on to establish the first Ranger school in Vietnam in 1960 as well as serving two years in Laos between 1968-1970. In 1970 he was transferred to Vietnam to work with the infamous Phoenix Program that was killing or capturing Vietcong leadership operating in various villages. Incredibly he was able to bring his wife and kids over to Vietnam and even had his kids participate in some patrols with him. By 1972 Millett had felt they had won the war and he and his family returned home. However, in 1973 Millett retired from the Army as Colonel because he felt that the US government had quit on the Vietnamese after what he felt was a US victory just a year earlier.
After retirement Millett worked as a deputy sheriff in Tennessee before moving out to California where he spent the rest of his life being active in various veterans groups. Millett was married for forty years to his wife Winona Williams who he met in 1951 at an event celebrating his awarding of the Medal of Honor. She died in 1993 after giving birth to four kids with Millett. Tragically one of Millett’s sons, John an Army Staff Sergeant, would die in the Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash in Gandar, Newfoundland that claimed the lives of 240 members of the 101st Airborne Division that were returning home from a peacekeeping mission in the Egyptian Sinai. Colonel Lewis Millett would eventually pass away himself on November 14, 2009 at the age of 88 thus ending the incredible life of an extraordinary man who was clearly a Hero of the Korean War.
Battlefield: Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, CCF Spring Offensive
Date: Sept. 1950 – June 1951
Background
The American territory of Puerto Rico has a long and valiant history of providing soldiers to fight in every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the present day War On Terror. However, despite Puerto Rican soldiers making steep sacrifices and showing exceptional valor in all these conflicts, one war rises above all the rest in terms of its deadliness and the bravery shown by the Puerto Ricans and that was the Korean War. No conflict in Puerto Rican history had soldiers receive more combat honors and claim the lives of even more Puerto Ricans than the Korean War.
Picture of Charlie Company 1st BN 295th IN in Iraq back in 2005. Photo from ElBoricua.com.
The origins of Puerto Ricans fighting for the United States began in 1899 when an act of Congress was passed to create a military force to defend Puerto Rico in peace time after the US gained possession of the territory following the Spanish-American War. This fighting force was officially formed in 1901 and composed entirely of locals and called the “Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry”. During World War I this unit saw its first deployment when it was sent to secure the Panama Canal Zone from any enemy attack. Following the war the unit was renamed the 65th Infantry Regiment in 1920.
65th Regiment Coat of Arms
At the start of World War II the regiment was once again sent to secure the Panama Canal Zone, however in 1944 the decision was made to deploy the regiment to North Africa and then eventually Europe where the 65th would see its first major combat operations. When the unit arrived in France they interestingly enough relieved the primarily Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Regiment that was a highly decorated unit from the war that included Korean born Hero of the Korean War Captain Young-oak Kim. During World War II the regiment would suffer 47 casualties and had two soldiers receive Silver Stars, and 22 more Bronze Stars. In one battle during the Korean War the 65th Infantry Regiment would suffer more casualties and be recognized with more combat heroics than all of World War II.
Article from the December 9, 1950 Stars & Stripes newspaper that describes the history of the 65th Infantry Regiment.
Deployment to Korea
LTC Harris was a 1930 West Point graduate who had served in the European theater during World War II. He assumed command of the 65th Infantry Regiment on July 26, 1949. According to the book, Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953, LTC Harris at first was not happy with the assignment because he felt it was a career ending assignment due to the perception the military had of the 65th Regiment which was known as the “Rum and Coca-Cola” outfit. To win the confidence of his men Harris rescinded an order that forbid the men of the 65th Regiment from speaking Spanish. However, he did specify that all military communications would be in English. Though LTC Harris was apprehensive at first of the assignment he soon came to enjoy the outstanding training available to his unit in Puerto Rico due to easy access to the training area in Vieques. Eventually Harris felt that the 65th Regiment was as well trained as any unit he had been with. It did not take the Pentagon long to notice this as well.
Due to an exceptional performance during a training exercise with the US 82nd Airborne & 3rd Infantry Divisions at Vieques, the Pentagon felt the 65th Infantry Regiment was ready for deployment to Korea despite being an understrength at the time. According to the book MacArthur’s War : Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero, the soldiers of the 65th Infantry Regiment were upset about being sent to Korea because they had enlisted with the promise that they would not be deployed from their home island any farther than the Panama Canal Zone. Despite the protests, the Puerto Ricans set sail for Korea on August 25, 1950 and on their way to Korea the 65the Regiment’s ship passed through the Panama Canal, which was the area the Puerto Ricans had long defended through two World Wars. However, the regiment didn’t just simply pass through the canal; in order to make up for their shortages the regiment stopped in Panama to be augmented with soldiers from the US Army 33rd Division stationed at Ft. Kobbe in Panama. The 33rd’s commander augmented the Puerto Ricans with mostly blacks, Hispanics, and Asians he no longer wanted.
By the time the 65th Infantry Regiment left Panama it was composed of a motley crew of Puerto Ricans, black Virgin Islanders, African-Americans, Japanese, and Hispanics who manned three infantry battalion, one artillery battalion, and one tank company all under the command of non-Spanish speaking white officers led by Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris.
Article in the July 20, 1951 Stars & Stripes newspaper about the deployment of the 65th Infantry Regiment to Korea.
It should come as no surprise that such a motley crew as this began to call themselves the “The Borinqueneers” which is the combination of the words “Borinquen” (which was what the Tainos called the island before the arrival of the Spaniards) and “Buccaneers”. When these Borinqueneers left Puerto Rico they fully expected to see heavy combat in Korea because the North Korean and United Nations forces were still engaged in a do or die conflict along the Pusan Perimeter. However, when they arrived in Korea on September 22, 1950, the Incheon Landing Operation had already been executed followed by the capturing of Seoul. Like many of the UN forces that arrived in the Port of Pusan during this time period it appeared that the war was nearly over and they would just see some mop up duty at best.
There is however a famous story that shortly after arriving at Pusan, Colonel Harris was approached by Eigth Army commander Lt. Gen. Walton Walker. The general asked LTC Harris, “Will the Puerto Ricans fight?”
“I and my Puerto Ricans will fight anybody,” replied Harris proudly.
Walker then pointed to a waiting northbound train and ordered, “Get on, and then go that way.”
And north they went, but not too far north because like most of the newly arriving units the Puerto Ricans were tasked with anti-guerrilla operations in southeast Korea. To cause further communications problems between the English speaking white officers and the mostly Spanish speaking soldiers, Korean Augmentees to the US Army (KATUSA) soldiers were added to the unit. According to MacArthur’s War : Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero, the 65th Regiment had even lower morale with the arrival of the Koreans, which many of the Puerto Rican soldiers felt were cowardly soldiers because of their reputation for running from the advancing North Koreans, while the Americans had to stand and fight in their place. Whatever the truth may be one thing is for sure, there couldn’t have been a unit in the Korean War that was more difficult to command and control then what LTC Harris had to deal with commanding the 65th Infantry Regiment.
Early Operations In Korea
The first area the 65th Regiment was tasked to conduct anti-guerrilla patrols was around the city of Yongdong, which was believed to the be center of guerrilla activities in the southeast. Some readers may remember that Yondong is where the highly controversial No Gun Ri incident occurred in July 1950 that continues to be a subject of controversy to this day. It was in this area that the Puerto Ricans would suffer their first fatality only a week after arriving in Korea when on September 29, 1950 communist guerrillas ambushed a Borinqueneer patrol and killed one soldier and wounded three more. By October 9th the 65th Regiment had suffered 17 fatalites in the Yongdong area, but had killed 105 guerrillas and captured 500 more. Throughout the rest of the month of October the 65th Regiment continued to patrol the sector and twice repelled attacks by over 500 guerrillas against them.
3rd Infantry Division Commander General Robert Soule on the left stands next to 65th Infantry Regiment Commander Lieutenant Colonel William Harris.
By November the Borinqueneers were attached to the 3rd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Robert Soule, which served as the regiment’s higher headquarters unit. Soule was familiar with LTC Harris and his 65th Regiment since they had trained together back on the island of Vieques prior to their deployment to Korea. The 65th Regiment crossed the 38th parallel via ship and entered North Korea. By November 7th they were tasked to conduct patrols around the North Korean port city of Wonsan on the peninsula’s east coast in order to secure the port for the arrival of the 3rd Infantry Division.
The Borinqueneers were the first elements of the division to arrive at Wonsan. The 65th Regiment held off a number of Chinese probing attacks around the city as they secured the port for the arrival of the rest of the division. However, according to MacArthur’s War : Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero, LTC Harris was criticized by X Corps Commander General Ned Almond when he said that his 65th Regiment “had not been energetic in its movement west”. Almond had tasked a battalion of the 65th Regiment to move west 50 miles across steep mountains with poor roads while being attacked by bands of North Korean guerrilla fighters to link up with advancing 8th Army units. Harris would send another battalion to assist, but the best the 65th would do is make radio contact with the advancing 8th Army units to their west. This is just one of many examples of how clueless the upper echelons of command were in regards to the situation that front line units found themselves up against in Korea. This lack of appreciation for the terrain and enemy would ultimately lead to a massive defeat of the UN forces in North Korea.
Taskforce Dog & the Breakout From the Chosun Reservoir
As the Chinese intervention escalated the 3rd Infantry Division soon found themselves tasked to move north to assist the breakout of the US 1st Marine Division and the US 7th Infantry Division from the Chosun Reservoir after a massive Chinese military force surrounded the Marines and Soldiers deep within the mountains of North Korea. General Soule needed to send a unit up into the valley towards the Chosun Reservoir to secure an avenue of retreat for the Marines and Soldiers still fighting their way out of the reservoir. He chose the 2nd Battalion, 65th regiment augmented with the 999th Field Artillery Battalion and designated them as Taskforce Dog.
The Bornqueneers underneath Taksforce Dog were dubbed Taskforce Childs because they were commanded by Lt. Col. George Weldon Childs, the 65th Infantry regimental executive officer. Task Force Childs was given the mission of defending the town of Maijong-Dong, clearing the division main supply route of enemy forces from Maijong-Dong to Sudong-ni and protecting the withdrawal of the 1st Marine Division from Hagaru-ri.
Taskforce Dog fought their way through light Chinese resistance to the village of Chinhung-ni with the assistance of their attached field artillery battalion. Once at Chinhung-ni the Borinqueneers secured the village which allowed Marine elements already at the village to launch a counterattack up the ridgelines along Funchlin Pass to clear it of Chinese to allow the trapped US elements further up the valley at Koto-ri to withdraw to Chinhung-ni and then ultimately to the waiting boats at Hungnam. It must have been some sight back then for the Marines & soldiers who spent days in heavy combat against the Chinese to cross into friendly lines and be greeted by the motley crew of the US 65th Infantry Regiment.
Taskforce Dog continued to hold the village and once all the trapped US forces had retreated through the hamlet they moved down the valley themselves and took up positions around the coastal plains that surrounded the city of Hungnam. With the port secured by the 3rd Infantry Division and their attached 65th Regiment, the exhausted Marines and soldiers who had been trapped in the Chosin Reservoir were able to conduct an orderly amphibious withdrawal from Hungnam that included the evacuation of thousands of North Korean refugees. Before the Borinqueneers departed Hungnam an award ceremony was held to honor the various heroes of Taskforce Dog that had helped evacuate the Marines & soldiers from the Chosun Reservoir. One of those awarded was Lieutenant Colonel William Harris. He was pinned with the Silver Star by X Corps Commander General Almond. LTC Harris is reported to have said that he wished he could break the Silver Star apart and give a piece of it to every Borinqueneer dead or alive that had made the evacuation of Hungnam such a success. The unit would also be awarded the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal for their part in the evacuation of Hungnam.
General Ned Almond Pins Lieutenant Colonel William Harris with the Silver Star.
Here is an amazing conversation from the book Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953 that General Almond had with Harris that really shows how the men of the 65th Infantry Regiment changed the perceptions that many senior leaders had at the time of colored soldiers:
The Borinqueneers ultimately ended up being the last unit to evacuate the city with LTC Harris being the last American to board a outbound boat. When their ship left Hungnam the port and the city was shelled by the US Navy to where it would be of no use to the advancing communist forces. When the 65th Regiment arrived in Pusan, here is how one company commander from the unit described the combat actions of the regiment:
Capt. George F. Ammon of Vicksburg, Miss. who has commanded a compny of the 65th for two years, said the youngsters “crowned themselves with glory and proved themselves a well trained combat unit” in their baptism of fire on the frozen northeast coastal front. “They were a well-disciplined outfit with that devil may care attitude.”
Capt. Ammon said, “When they were sent to drive back the Chinese they moved out aggressively and carried the fight to the enemy every minute. When they were on the defensive they stayed in their foxholes even when their positions were over run and picked off the commies with the cooolness and precision of season veterans.”
The Puerto Ricans had made a name for themselves for their actions in North Korea and they would have plenty more combat action to come as the new 8th US Army Commander General Matthew Ridgway was determined to end the massive UN retreat that was threatening to end the war as a US defeat. Ridgway had taken over for General Walton Walker who had been killed on December 23, 1950 in an auto accident just south of Uijongbu. He had plans on how to turn the tide of the war in the favor of the UN forces and the 65th Infantry Regiment would go on to be a key part of this plan’s success.
The Borinqueneers On the Offensive
In the first three months of 1951, the 65th Infantry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris was kept busy as it spearheaded a number of division operation to include in early February, when its 1st and 2nd battalions conducted the last battalion-sized bayonet assault in U.S. military history, leading to the capture of P’ajang-ni, a fortified hilly village south of Seoul.
South Korea, Feb. 2, 1951 Puerto Rico’s 65th U.S. Infantry Regiment. The battle portrayed in the painting was the last recorded battalion-sized bayonet attack by the U.S. Army. The painting by J. Andrea was done in 1992, was commissioned by the National Guard Heritage Foundation.
It was during this timeframe that the LTC Harris’ 65th Regiment was augmented with the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) because it was mistakenly believed the Filipinos spoke Spanish. LTC Harris had a growing feud with the PEFTOK commander Lieutenant Colonel Mariano Azurin. Ultimatey LTC Harris was able to get LTC Azurin replaced with fellow Hero of the Korean War LTC Dionisio Ojeda. Harris and Ojeda would go on to be a formidable leadership team for the 65th Regiment.
The victory of the US 23 Infantry Regiment at Chipyong-ni in February 1951 led by fellow Heroes of the Korean War Colonel Paul Freeman & Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar opened the door to a peninsula wide 8th Army offensive that by mid-month, the 65th Regiment had become the first United Nations unit to reach the Han River. By mid-March, it had become the first element to re-cross the Han in the 8th Army’s final drive north. The motley crew of the 65th Regiment received the ultimate accolade for their battlefield performance when Douglas MacArthur’s said, “Give me Puerto Rican soldiers like those of the 65th and I will invade China.”
Stopping the Chinese Spring Offensive
It would seem strange at first that soldiers from a tropical island in the Caribbean would find themselves become battled hardened warriors in the frozen mountains of Korea, but that is exactly what happened. The Borinqueneers soon found themselves advancing north of Seoul and took up positions on the western front near the village of Yoncheon. When the Chinese Spring Offensive began on 22-30 April 1951, the 65th Regiment with their attached Philippine battalion were located between the British 29th Brigade to the west and the Turkish Brigade to the east that was just recovering from heavy losses inflicted on the unit by the Chinese during the Battle of Kunu-ri a few months prior.
Directly opposite of the 65th Regiment’s positions were four Chinese division numbering about 40,000 men. The 65th Regiment did not receive contact from these Chinese units until just after midnight on April 23rd. The Chinese opened their attack with a heavy artillery barrage before advancing on the regiment in the darkness of the night, which they preferred to fight in. Once the artillery barrage ended it was clear an assault on the regiment’s positions was coming because of the loud noises from the Chinese’s bugles, gongs, and drums that they used to communicate between their units. There was even a report that the Chinese may have initiated the attack by releasing water from a dam up river that allegedly killed many Puerto Ricans.
During the massive Chinese assault on the east side of the 65th Regiment the Chinese were able to push the Turkish Brigade from their positions and began to envelope the eastern flank of the Filipino battalion. The situation only got worse as the 65th Infantry Regiment began to fallback from the Chinese attack on their exposed flank because of the withdrawal of the Turks. The Chinese attackers had gone behind the PEFTOK’s lines and attacked the Borinquneers. LTC Harris had his men fall back to reconsolidate another defensive line to fight the Chinese from. As they fell back the Chinese then turned their attention once again towards the Filipinos. Lieutenant Colonel Ojeda and his men were able to hold out against the Chinese attacks on the ridgeline they controlled. Due to the withdrawal of both the Turks and the Puerto Ricans, the Filipinos found themselves trapped on their hill top fortress and surrounded by the Chinese.
Like Ojeda’s Fighting Filipinos another unit attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, the Belgian battalion was likewise trapped north of enemy lines and the 3rd ID commander General Robert Soule decided their was only one unit that could get them out, the Borinqueneers. General Soule ordered the 65th Regiment augmented with tanks from the 64th Tank Battalion to counterattack north and link up with the Filipinos and Belgians and then conduct a fighting withdrawal south. By mid-day on April 23rd, LTC Harris moved his men north and took up blocking positions on the north side of the Hantan River. Once in position the Filipinos and the Belgians counterattacked south through the Chinese lines and linked up with LTC Harris and his men. The 65th Regiment then covered the withdrawal of both units as they moved south to link up with the British 29th Brigade.
Once the 65th Regiment linked up with the 29th Brigade they were tasked to fill in holes along the Brigade’s front line in the vicinity of Kamak Mountain while other brigade elements tried to extract the trapped British Gloucestershire Regiment that was commanded by Hero of the Korean War Lieutenant Colonel James P. Carne. By the night of April 24th the 29th Brigade was still unable to extract the Glosters and thus turned to the 65th Regiment to help.
The 65th Regiment was tasked to scale the ridgelines of Kamak Mountain and clear it of Chinese in order to help rescue the trapped Glosters at first light on April 25th. However, before the 65th Regiment could launch their attack, the 29th Brigade Commander General Tom Brodie decided to send the PEFTOK battalion augmented with a British tank platoon to advance up a narrow valley to link up with the Glosters in a last gasp effort to rescue them. This effort ended up being a failure because the ridgelines were filled with hardened Chinese soldiers firing down on the Filipinos.
During this fight General Brodie was informed that the allied leadership had decided to pull the UN forces’ frontline further south so all the allied units could reorganize their frontlines. Due to this, any attack to clear Kamak Mountain by the 65th Infantry Regiment was called off and only one platoon of tanks from the regiment was assigned to try and breakthrough to the Glosters, which ended up being a failure as well because approximately an entire Chinese division had moved into the valley by this time. On the western side of the ridgeline a combined US-ROK assault had also failed to reach the trapped unit but they were able to rescue a few stragglers that were able to evade the Chinese when they overran their position. Ultimately the Glosters were completely destroyed with only a 67 men able to make it off the mountain that day with the rest of the 700 man unit either dead or captured to include their commander LTC Carne.
Aftermath of the Chinese Spring Offensive
Overall the Chinese Spring Offensive was a failure and the allies ultimately reclaimed the lost territory with an offensive operation that Lieutenant Colonel William Harris’ 65th Regiment participated in. After the battle the allies estimated that 75,000 enemy soldiers died during the Spring Offensive with 50,000 of them dying in the Seoul corridor where the Battle of the Imjim occurred.
The Chinese would never truly recover from this defeat and after their failed second spring offensive two weeks later the communists initiated ceasefire negotiations after even more heavy losses. The ceasefire negotiations caused the war to turn into a hill top war for the next two years until a final ceasefire had been declared. Without the heroic fighting of the 65th Regiment along with the rest of the allied forces that fought tenaciously in the Seoul corridor, the ceasefire may have come much sooner with the communist controlling Seoul and in a position of strength to dictate the terms of the ceasefire. As history turned out the position of strength the allies ended up negotiating from during the ceasefire negotiations was in part due to the actions of the fighting Borinqueneers.
Remembering the 65th Infantry Regiment
Following the Chinese Spring Offensive the first batch of soldiers that composed the 65th Infantry Regiment were rotated out to include their commander LTC Harris. When the 65th Regiment entered the war, many leaders questioned the combat abilities of this motley crew of soldiers from around the world. However, after their actions in North Korea and along the Imjim River there was no doubt that this unit had become one of the best of all the United Nations forces deployed to Korea.
Article from the June 21, 1951 Stars & Stripes newspaper describes LTC William Harris’ Change of Command on June 20, 1951.
LTC Harris, told them in 1951 after he changed command, “there were many who under-rated you when you first came to Korea. I can assure you now that there is no one who does not agree that you have proved yourselves as fine combat soldiers. You are damn good and I’m proud of you.”
In a total of three years of fighting in some of the toughest battles of the Korean War, the 65th earned two U.S. Presidential Unit Citations, two Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations, two U.S. Meritorious Unit Commendations and the Greek Gold Medal of Bravery. Four of its soldiers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor. In total Puerto Ricans that served in the Korean War were awarded 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 256 Silver Stars, and 606 Bronze Stars. This is far more than the 24 medals awarded to Puerto Ricans during World War II. However, the 65th Regiment soldiers that would follow LTC Harris and his men never quite lived up to the heroics of that first group. In fact 95 65th Regiment soldiers were court martialed in 1952 for cowardice after losing key positions to the Chinese in the Chorwon Valley. The 65th Regiment would go on to redeem themselves in 1953 for exceptional combat actions during the Battle of Outpost Harry.
An article in the March 3, 1953 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper describes how non-Puerto Rican replacements would be assigned to the 65th Regiment for the first time.
In all, some 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, the bulk of them with the 65th Infantry Regiment. Some 743 were killed and 2,318 wounded. In 1954 the 65th Regiment returned to Puerto Rico and lives on today as the Puerto Rican National Guard.
Note: You can read more of the ROK Drop featured series Heroes of the Korean War at the below link:
If THAAD is going to be deployed to South Korea it appears it will happen pretty rapidly:
The United States hopes to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea “as quickly as possible” and the two countries will begin formal discussions on the matter “in the next few days,” the Defense Department said Monday.
“We would like to see this move as quickly as possible. We’re beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a briefing.
Shortly after North Korea’s long-range missile launch Sunday, South Korea and the U.S. announced they would launch formal consultations on the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the South to better defend against the North’s nuclear and missile threats. [Korea Times]
Picture of ridgeline leading to OP Harry from the 
, LTC Harris at first was not happy with the assignment because he felt it was a career ending assignment due to the perception the military had of the 65th Regiment which was known as the “Rum and Coca-Cola” outfit. To win the confidence of his men Harris rescinded an order that forbid the men of the 65th Regiment from speaking Spanish. However, he did specify that all military communications would be in English. Though LTC Harris was apprehensive at first of the assignment he soon came to enjoy the outstanding training available to his unit in Puerto Rico due to easy access to the training area in Vieques. Eventually Harris felt that the 65th Regiment was as well trained as any unit he had been with. It did not take the Pentagon long to notice this as well.
, the soldiers of the 65th Infantry Regiment were upset about being sent to Korea because they had enlisted with the promise that they would not be deployed from their home island any farther than the Panama Canal Zone. Despite the protests, the Puerto Ricans set sail for Korea on August 25, 1950 and on their way to Korea the 65the Regiment’s ship passed through the Panama Canal, which was the area the Puerto Ricans had long defended through two World Wars. However, the regiment didn’t just simply pass through the canal; in order to make up for their shortages the regiment stopped in Panama to be augmented with soldiers from the US Army 33rd Division stationed at Ft. Kobbe in Panama. The 33rd’s commander augmented the Puerto Ricans with mostly blacks, Hispanics, and Asians he no longer wanted.
