Evening star., 1950-12-17
One of the B|oodiest Chapters in Marine History
They Didn't Retreat or Come
Out StraggIing-They Simply
Fought in Another Direction
By Richord X. Tucker

Hagaru looked no better and no worse
than any other small, dismal collection
of brown mud huts known on maps as
IRIS" (towns).
The United States Marines who saw
Koto for the first time on the chilly
morning of November 10. and Hagaru
five days later, knew they were not rich
prizes of war. They were simply stepping
stones, eight miles apart, on stretch
of bleak plateau country leading from
the top of mountain range to Chosin
Reservoir.
The Marines entered with compare
lively light resistance from low ridges.
They used the wood of their shattered
buildings for warming fires and sent pa
trolls forward. No one budding about
the fires or manning the frosty foxholes
those November days could have FORE
cast that within three weeks one of the
hardest and bravest officers of a Marine
regiment would weep In a place called
Hagaru. He said:
Brave Officer Weeps in Bitterness
II tell you we're not coming out of here
as stragglers in retreat. We're coming
out as Marines"
Or that another who fought the Japa-
nese through the toughest days of the
Pacific war would shake hands with a
correspondent committing between Koto
and night communications point and
say:
I'm case you don't get back in the
morning I'd like to say good-by now
I don't expect to be alive two days from
now"
Between the time the first Marine
units saw Koto and the day the brave
officer wept in bitterness, at least six
Chinese divisions had come swarming
over the hills, virtually surrounding most
Of the 1st Marine Division.
The main body of the Marines had
gone halfway up the west bank of the
Chosin Reservoir in subzero cold to an
other village called Yudam-Ni. Then on
the morning of November 25 they jumped
off in an attack to the northwest.
But by now the 9th Army in the
West had reversed its field and the
Marines were heading straight into the
mass of the Chinese Red Army pouring
south. The order came to withdraw,
back to Hagaru at the southern tip of
the reservoir.
1t was too late for the usual type OF
withdrawal. 1t was now case of fight
ing the way back through an enemy
that had suddenly materialized in force
all around them and was cutting the roads
as far back as Koto and beyond.
Enemy Dead Stacked in Layers
At this time the 5th and 7th Marine
Regiments, which had gone to Yudam-Ni,
had one tank between them. One bat
talon of the 7th Marines-now down to
less than half it's normal combat strength
of about 1,000-was told to attack the
Chinese flank and protect the withdrawal
of the rest of the regiments.
One company of this battalion, Fox,
took flanking hill and held 1t four
days against almost incesSant attacks
by e-bloWing, grenade throwing Chi
nese hordes. Enemy dead stacked up in
layer after layer as the Marine machine
guns and rifles hammered away day and
night.
Meanwhile, the single tank led the rest
of the column around the hill and down
the road to Hagaru. On the way back
the Marines had to burn their tents and
destroy their stoves and some other non
combat equipment-but they came out
with their weapons, save for one battery
of field artillery.
At night the 20-below-zero cold stung
hands and feet, and frostbitten noses
increased by the hundreds. Men whose
frostbitten hands would no longer func-
tion had their wrists lashed together
to help carry or drag in sleeping bags
others whose frostbitten feet would no
longer walk. There were times when
the wounded cried for water and there
was no water-only solid ice-and fire
would have meant sudden death from
enemy guns.
But south of them at Hagaru, in a fiat
plateau between rolling ridges, Ma
rine engineer company-never equipped
for airfield work-was frantically hack
ing out makeshift airstrip in the frozen
ground. 1t was finished in about week.
mostly under fire, just smoothed-off
stretch of ground so feet wide.
Road Cut by Ambushes
To land on it two-engined transports
from Yongpo Field had to drop sharply
into the mountain valley with virtually
no time to cline up" on the narrow strip,
then come humping in uphill, because the
strip was on slight incline.
One pilot said:
"Its the first time I ever landed a CAT