Fighting Through the Mud and Blood of the Korean War.

AuthorAdreon, Leonard
PositionTHE WORLD YESTERDAY - Excerpt

I WAS A CORPSMAN with the First Marine Division fighting at the 38th Parallel in 1951. The Korean War had seen the success of the North Korean forces driving the poorly prepared and inadequately equipped South Korean army to the perimeter of Pusan; the United Nations entrance into the war, spearheaded by the U.S.; and the success of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's forces by a brilliant surprise landing at Inchon, driving the North Koreans back to the 38th.

When MacArthur drove his forces north of the 38th and marched all the way to the Chinese border at the Yalu River, the Chinese interceded and drove the Americans back to the 38th, where the war stalemated for more than two years--until July 27, 1953, when an armistice was negotiated, ending the killing.

During those two years, it was the task of the U.S. military to take and hold the high ground against a determined Chinese Communist force. It is estimated that more than one-half of the war's casualties occurred during the stalemate period. That was the situation I confronted when I arrived in the spring of 1951.

I was assigned to the 2nd platoon of Dog Company for most of that time. The first hill we assaulted was a gruesome learning experience for me. About halfway up I heard the yell, "Corpsman!" Through the mist of the battle, with mortars and shells falling, I could see a Marine corporal waving his arms.

I found him sitting on the wet ground with a dazed expression on his face. Next to him was the prone body of a Marine lying face down in the muck. The corporal and I turned him over but it was immediately clear from the blank stare of death on his face that I was too late. All I could do for him was wipe the black clotted blood from his face and close his eyelids. He was our platoon leader. He was the first of many that I would experience during the months to come.

On that day we were successful in forcing the Chinese to retreat down the North Slope. On the hilltop, the other corpsmen and I stabilized the wounded Marines and sent them on stretchers down the hill to the forward aid tent on the main service road. We then treated the Chinese soldiers who had been left behind and sent them down the hill as POWs.

The Chinese dead were stacked on the North Slope. For me, a difficult job was to lift the bloated and decaying bodies of the Chinese into shallow graves. I realized that somewhere in China was a mother, dad, sister, brother, or others who would never know what happened to their loved...

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