Evening star., 1951-03-30
Army Asks Report
On Cowardice Charge
By Navy Chaplain
By John A. Giles

A Navy chaplaln'S assertion that
some Army troops displayed cow
ardice in Korea prompted the
Army today to ask Gen. Mac
Arthur for a report as the Navy
started its own independent in
Iquiry.
The criticisms were first printed
lin a West Coast magazine in an
anonymous article of which 1t
Comdr. Otto E. Sporrer has stated
he is the author. The declarations
were dismissed previously as cir
responsible and ill-considered" by
Mai. Gen. Floyd L. Parks. Army
information chief.
Comdr. Sporrer, Roman Cath
olic chaplain, also said in a tele-
vision interview in which he ad-
Imitted authorship of the article
that 400 men of the 7th Division
simulated injury in order to be
evacuated to Japan and that an
Army infantry regiment fled
leaving dead and wounded behind
He also said that, at the same
time, Marines hid their wounds
from medical officers in order to
continue the fighting.
Charges Indignantly Denied.
Those two charges were indig-
nantly denied by Col. S. L. A.
Marshall. now a civilian who has
just returned from Korea after
serving as an Army operations
analyst. His analysis of the very
operation under criticism by the
chaplain now is in official use.
His summary of the chaplain S
charges as they apply to the his
toric retreat of the Marines and
elements of the 7th Infantry Di-
vision from the Chongjin Reser-
voir was that the chaplain docs
not know what he is talking
about
There was no flight" said the
colonel, who was chief historian
of the European theater during
World War II, but an effort on
the part of the infantry to fight
their way back to a junction with
the lSt Marine Division elements.
He added that the soldiers had to
be ordered to do it-by the Marine
general in overall ommand-and
that most of them, including the
colonel in command, were lost In
their effort to carry out the order.
OF the wounded infantrymen
left behind, far up on the east side
of the reservoir. good many were
Evacuated chiefly due to gallantry
of a Marine relief column which
crossed the ice in jeeps. And in
connection with that evacuation,
Col. Marshall told a most unusual
and dramatic story.
1t became possible when North
Korean civilians who were friendly
TO the Americans. volunteered to
work their way through the lines
and carry orders to the infantry
men held prisoner by the Chinese
Reds.
In an extraordinary episode.
the North Koreans reached the
Americans held by the Reds
handed them written orders un-
der the very eyes of the Chinese
guards. And the Americans hob
bled to their feet and started
moving to the shore of the frozen
reservoir, their Chinese guards
merely staring at them.
The Chinese saw the Marine
IJeepS approach and, inexplicablv
let them come to within 100 yards
OF shore before they opened fire
When the relief column halted
at the 100-yard line, the Chinese
ceased fire and they did not fire
ION their prisoners who hobbled
and slid across the ice to the
rescuers.
Il don't understand Chinese
oeIia'lor, commented the colonel.
Cowardice Vehemently Denied.
thus, the wounded men made
their way out, over the shore and
ice, walking cases carrying and
dragging their worse-off COM
panions with them and made
their way back to Hagaru in the
Marine jeeps. Within a day, Col.
Marshall said, Maj. Gen. o. P.
Smith, Marine commander. had
those able to do so back in the
firing line and he laid down an
order that only the wounded were
to ride out of the trap.
That there was cowardice was
denied vehemently by Col. Mar
shall, controlling his anger with
difficulty as he gave the dramatic
account at a Pentagon news con-
ference.
The Marine Corps "looks with
|dlsfavor on any inter-service
pickering" said Maj. Gen. John
c. Mcqueen, Marine information
director, at the same conference.