Following the entrance of the People's Republic of China into the war in late November 1950, Hudner and his squadron were dispatched to the Chosin Reservoir, where an intense campaign was being fought between the People's Volunteer Army and the U.S. X Corps. Almost 100,000 Chinese troops had surrounded 15,000 U.S. troops, and the pilots on "Leyte" were flying dozens of close air support missions every day to prevent the Chinese from overrunning the area.