42. Sfc. William Mahon, K Co., 31st Inf. Statement, Apr. 19, 1951.
43. This journal message is initialed in pencil that is so obscured as to be unreadable; it might be "GSS." Whatever the correct initials, they represent someone in the ist Marine Div., G-3 Sect. "Hecklers" in the message refers to any type of aircraft equipped to fly at night and to harass enemy positions and troops. 7th Inf. Div. Command Report, Chosin Reservoir, p. 8, says that Faith was wounded by a hand grenade, a statement probably based on Jones, Report.
44. Maj. Robert E. Jones, Memorandum to Major William R. Lynch, Jr., G-3 Sect. 7th Div. APO 7, Dec. 4, 1950, p. 3. Jones's report to Lynch indentified the Lt. Shelton mentioned in the iith Marine S-3 message as Fields Early Shelton, a lieutenant in the 31st Heavy Mortar Co., a unit of Task Force Faith. US Military Academy, Register of Graduates and Former Cadets of the United States Military Academy, 1975, p. 550, has the following reference to Shelton: "16o12 Fields Early Shelton: B-OH II Jul 24; A-Ky: Inf: 31st Inf 7 Div KW 50-51 CR CI-PH): CGSC 58: Ret 74 Col."
45. Col. Robert E. Jones, USA, Ret., review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, Mar. 2, 1981.
46. Letter from Maj. Gen. David G. Barr, Dec. 12, 1950, Hungnam, Korea, to Mrs. Don C. Faith, Jr., Alexandria, La., copy in General Matthew B. Ridgway Papers, US Army Military History Research Collections, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., Box 17, Folder D-L. Mrs. Faith was in Japan with her 31/2 -year-old daughter, Barbara Ann, when her husband was reported killed in Korea. She returned to the United States in December.
47. Ridgway Papers, Box 17, Folder D-L, copy of Memorandum to CG, 7th Inf. Div., from WOJG Edwin S. Anderson on status of Lt. Col. Don C. Faith, Jr., Jan. 9, 1951. This is a copy that Gen. Barr provided Gen. Ridgway in Korea because he knew that Ridgway would want all possible details about the death of his former aide in the 82nd Airborne Div. and the XVIII Airborne Corps in Europe in World War II; Maj. Edwin S. Anderson, USA, Ret., interview with author, Nov. 3, 1980; Anderson, letter to author, n.d., postmarked Oct. 31, 1980.
48. Ridgway Papers, Box 17, Folder D-L, WOJG Anderson, Memorandum to CG, 7th Inf. Div.; Map of Korea, 1971 Topo Information, Changjin Sheet, scale 1:50,000; Lt. Gen. Ridgway, letter to Mrs. Don C. Faith, Jan. 26, 1951, Ridgway Papers, Folder D-L; May, letter to author, Oct. 31, 1981, p. 6; Mrs. Annie Randolph Wilbur, letter to author, Mar. 30, 1980. Mrs. Wilbur said that Don and Barbara had one child, a daughter named Barbara Ann, about four years old at the time of her father's death. Don was survived also by two brothers and his father and mother. Barbara, who remarried, died in 1960, and is buried in Alexandria, La. At the time Mrs. Wilbur wrote to me, Col. Faith's daughter was named Mrs. Stephen Broyles.
49. Gen. Barr, in the MacArthur hearings on June 22, 1951 ("Military Situation in the Far East: Hearings before the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations," US Senate, 82nd Cong., 1st sess. [Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1951], pp. 2948ff.), said that Lt. Col. Faith's widow had received the Congressional Medal of Honor, Posthumously, for her husband the preceding day. For an account of the ceremony as planned, see the Washington Post and Washington Star, June 20, 1951. The citation for the Medal of Honor was not well prepared and departs in some particulars from a factual record of Faith's known actions in the period Nov. 27-Dec. 2, 195o. He deserved a better statement. Lt. Col. Faith received a special kind of honor when a Fort Benning, Ga. Dependent School was dedicated on Sept. 15, 1952, as the Don C. Faith School. A special Bicentennial issue of the school newspaper, New Faith 4, no. 4 (May, 1976), devotes almost its entire space to the memory of Lt. Col. Faith, including many articles relating to his school years in the Columbus, Ga., public high school, his time in Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, and his subsequent army career. It includes photographs of his own family and of his father and mother. In a ceremony at Fort Benning in 1976, Lt. Col. Faith's name was placed in the Fort Benning Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame. Gen. Ridgway was asked to send a letter that could be read at the ceremony. He gladly consented, writing in part: "I know of no one who more richly deserves that honor, and every honor awarded him during his devoted service in peace and in war, than does Don Faith. He was my Aide for three and one half years. I could have asked for no more devoted assistant, or finer Aide, associate, and companion -conspicuous for high principled integrity, selfless devotion to duty, fearlessness in combat, compassionate consideration for others, cheerfulness and sense of humor." Ridgway, letter to Jerome C. Cox, principal, Fort Benning Dependent Schools, Don C. Faith School, Nov. 5, 1976.
Chapter Ig
i. William J. Hingston, letter to author, n.d. (ca. June 27, 198o).
2. Miller, MS, pp. 22-25. After many operations Miller's left hand had finger stumps too short to hold a pen. Each of the fingers of his right hand had two joints left. Having been left-handed, he had to learn to write with what remained of his right hand. His leg wounds healed so that his knee gave him no problem as long as he exercised it properly. Miller remained in the Army in a useful role; as of this writing he is retired and living in Virginia.
3. Kak, Statement, p. 4.
4. Lt. Col. Ivan H. Long, AUS, Ret., letter to author, July io, 1979.
5 Col. James G. Campbell, USA, Ret., review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, Apr. 9, 1981; Campbell, tape, Nov. 28-29, 198o.
6. Vincent J. Navarre, letter to Capt. Edward P. Stamford, Oct. 15, 1951, copy in author's possession, courtesy of Capt. Stamford.
7. Allied Translation and Interrogation Service (ATIS) Interrogation Reports (Enemy Forces), Issue 22, No. 2706, Dec. 14, 1950, p. 17, National Archives; ATIS Interrogation Reports (Enemy Forces), Issue 22, No. 2736, Dec. 21, 1950, p. 123, National Archives.
8. GHQ FEC, Daily Intelligence Summary, No. 3028, Dec. 24, 195o, National Archives, Federal Records Center, Record Group 407, Box 99.
9. The comments about Finfrock and the group of wounded Americans at the truck on the morning of Dec. 2, 1950, are based on Gugeler, Combat Actions in Korea, p. 87, who gives his source in his n. 37 as a statement or affidavit by Sfc. Willard Donovan, attached to 7th Inf. Div., Command Report, Chosin Reservoir. I did not find the Donovan statement in several attachments to the 7th Div. records of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in the National Archives, Federal Records Center, Record Group 407, when I examined the 7th Inf. Div. records there in 1974. Often such attachments are lost or misfiled after they have been used. Also, different sets of official Army records do not always have complete sets of attachments.
,o. Lt. Col. Ray Embree, letter to author, Mar. 18, 1979; Patton, Statement; Maj. (Chaplain) Martin C. Hoehn, HQ 31st Inf., Statement, Apr. 19, 1951; 2nd Lt. William N. Eichorn, HQ Btry., 57th FA Bn., Statement, Apr. 18, 1951.
ii. For arrangements made for the exchange of these prisoners, see Walter G. Hermes, Truce Tent and Fighting Front: The United States Army in the Korean War (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1966), pp. 414-19.
12. New York Times, Apr. 30, 1953; Washington Post, May 7, 1953. In 1953 some returning American prisoners of war told lurid stories of Chinese atrocities on the battlefield that must be viewed with some skepticism since they do not conform to the general Chinese behavior, which is well documented. The Chinese soldiers did not usually torture their prisoners. The record of the North Koreans' treatment of prisoners is worse than that of the Chinese.
13. Map of the Hagaru-ri Defense Perimeter, Nov. 28-29, 195o, in Montross and Canzona, The Chosin Campaign, p. 19q. The northwestern arc of the Hagaru-ri perimeter was essentially unchanged in the period Dec. 1-4.
14. 1st Motor Transport Bn., 1st Marine Div., Jan. 14, 1951, Annex Item to 1st Marine Div. Special Action Report, Oct. 8-Dec. 15, 195o, p. 10; Lt. Col. Olin L. Beall, USMC, CO, HQ 1st Motor Transport Bn., 1st Marine Div., Statement, n.d., apparently written in 1951, pp. 3-4 (hereafter cited as Beall, Statement); copies of both in author's possession. Geer, The New Breed, pp. 343 if., has a generally good account of Beall's rescue efforts. All the above sources, however, appear to err on the dates on which the events occurred. They
place the events as occurring Dec. 2- 5, 1950; they actually occurred Dec. 1-3, 195o. These errors may have been caused by erroneous dates in 1st Motor Transport Bn., Special Action Report, Oct. 8- Dec. 15, 1950, which was prepared more than a month after the events and is dated Jan. 14, 1951, and which both Beall and Geer, writing at a later time, used to date the events.
15. USMC, resume of Olin L. Beall's service to 1935; Beall's statement. Beall was born Aug. 15, 1898, at Beltsville, Md. He was promoted from gunner with rank of warrant officer to first lieutenant in 1942 and served in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel in July, 1948. He was a hard-bitten, no-nonsense officer of the "old breed," but, as his performance at Chosin showed, he had a big heart and much humanity.
16. Beall, Statement, pp. 4-5.
17. Sgt. Joe A. Medina, Statement, quoted in Public Information Office (PIO) EUSAK (press release), for delivery to the United States, n.d., apparently March or April, 1951.
18. Geer, The New Breed, pp. 344-45; Montross and Canzona, The Chosin Campaign, p. 24S; 1st Motor Transport Bn., Annex Item, ist Marine Div., Special Action Report, Oct. 8-Dec. 15, 1950, pp. 10-12.
19. Beall, Statement, p. 7. Beall's statement was submitted to the 1st Marine Div. apparently in 1951 but possibly later.
20. Ibid., pp. 4, 7-
21. 1st Motor Transport Bn., Report, Annex Item, 1st Marine Div., Special Action Report, Oct. 8-Dec. 15, 1950, p. 12, report dated Jan. 14, 1951.
22. For the sources used in this description of Beall's rescue work, see notes 1321 above and Lt. Col. George G. Boram, inspector general, Report on 7th Div., Chosin Action, p. 9. A word should be added about Geer, who interviewed persons involved in Beall's rescue work and gave many details not included in either Beall's Statement or in the 1st Motor Transport Bn.'s official report (see note 21).
23. Almond, Diary, Dec. 5, 1950.
Chapter 20
1. 7th Inf. Div., Action Report Dec. [2], 1950, National Archives, Federal Records Center, Record Group 407, Box 3172; Montross and Canzona, The Cbosin Campaign, P. 245, n. 30. In the note Montross and Canzona cite as their source "1st Mar Div tel to S-3, 11-12 Mar, 1150 2 Dec 1950." The latter entry, "11-12 Mar," is not clear. My examination of 1st Marine Div., G-3 Journal, Dec. 2, shows that Serial Entry 12, sent out at 11:50 A.M. to the 11th Marines concerned a 1st Marine force in the Yudam-ni area or elsewhere. A search in the G-3 Journal and Message File did not disclose such a message to a Task Force Faith relief force, and a telephone message could not have been sent to such a force in any event.
2. Statement of Col. Alpha A. Bowser, 1st Marine Div. G-3, to Col. S. L. A. Marshall in an interview beginning at 7:00 P.m. on Jan. 2, 1951, p. 6 of typescript. Typescript of Marshall's interview with Col. Bowser and Lt. Col. J. L. Winecoff, assistant G-3, in author's possession; Col. Robert E. Jones, review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, Mar. 2, 1981, p. 8.
3. Marshall's interview with Bowser (see note 2 above), p. 6. There was no 7th Div. CP at Hagaru-ri.
4. Machine copy of handwritten order, Serial Entry 18 in ist Marine Div., G-3 Message File, Dec. 1, in author's possession, courtesy of USMC.
5. Machine copy of this handwritten memorandum in author's possession, courtesy of USMC. In Item No. i the two groups from the 7th Div. were then under ist Marine Div. command, not under 7th Div. command as the wording implies. In my interview with him on June 12, 1978, Brig. Gen. William R. Lynch, USA, Ret., identified the person in the 1st Marine Div. G-3 Sect. to whom he handed this memorandum as the assistant G-3-Lt. Col. J. L. Winecoff. In the same interview Lynch confirmed that Gen. Hodes was in the office of the chief of staff, X Corps, at Hamhung when the telephone conversation took place with him at Hagaru-ri, and Lynch identified the handwriting as his.
6. 1st Marine Div., G-3 Journal, Nov. 29-Dec. 3, ig5o, machine copy in author's possession, courtesy of USMC.
7. GHQ, FEC, Daily Intelligence Summary No. 3028, Dec. 24, 1950, National Archives, Federal Records Center, Record Group 407, Box 99•
8. Col. Thomas L. Ridge, USMC, Ret., letter to author, Mar. 27, 1977.
9. Lynch, letter to author, July 30, ig8o, p. 2.
io. Lynch, letter to author, May 18, 1981, and review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, June 3, 1981.
i1. Author's interview with Brig. Gen. William R. Lynch, USA, Ret., June 12, 1978.
12. Capt. Robert E. Drake, letter to author, Jan. 10, 1977. Drake's reference to a Marine regimental CP must be to Lt. Col. Ridge's 3rd Bn., 1st Marine CP, which was also the Hagaru-ri Defense Command CP. There was no Marine regimental CP in Hagaru-ri at that time. In his memorandum to the CO, 31st Inf., Dec. 12, 195o, Drake refers to assisting in the evacuation of survivors of Task Force Faith, saying that his unit recovered about 20 men who had been wounded in action. He is referring to men who came through the Marine perimeter where a few of his tanks took position on Dec. 2. I have prepared in MS form a history of the X Corps in northeast Korea, including its evacuation from Hungnam and the battles on the Hagaru-ri perimeter. I also have in MS form a history of the CCF 2nd Phase Offensive against Eighth Army in the west, which drove that army out of North Korea and back to Seoul.
13. Col. Wesley J. Curtis, letter to author, June 5, 1980, p. 6; Capt. Erwin B. Bigger, letter to author and review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, Mar. 29, 1981, and telephone conversation with author, Mar. ii, 1981; Lynch, review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, June 3, 1981.
14. Col. Berry K. Anderson died on Aug. 9, 1974. Brig. Gen. Hodes rose to commander in chief, USAREUR, in 1956 and retired as a four-star general in 1959. He died at Fort Sam Houston, Texas on Feb. 14, 1962. Lt. Gen. Oliver P. Smith, CG, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, retired on Sept. 1, 1955, having been advanced to four-star rank. He died on Dec. 25, 1977 in Los Altos, Calif.
Chapter 21
1. Montross and Canzona, The Chosin Campaign, p. 245; Curtis, MS, p. 17; Coombs, Thesis; "31st Regimental Combat Team 27 Nov 1950, Estimated Strength," pp. 83-85 (see Appendix C of this book); author's correspondence and interview with Brig. Gen. William R. Lynch, Jr. See Appendix C for estimated breakdown of personnel count in the 31st RCT, Nov. 27, 1950.
2. Montross and Canzona, The Cbosin Campaign, pp. 245-46; Geer, The New Breed, pp. 342-43.
3. Montross and Canzona, The Chosin Campaign, pp. 287-88, and app. H, "Air Evacuation Statistics," p. 399; 7th Inf. Div., Command Report, Chosin Reservoir, Nov. 27-Dec. 12, 1950; Stamford, MS, p. 16; Col. Wesley J. Curtis, letters to author.
4. Geer, The New Breed, p. 343, discusses Hering s evacuation problems and procedures.
5. Maj. William R. Lynch's count of 31st RCT troops at Hagaru-ri, Dec. 3, 1950, reported to X Corps, night of Dec. 3, 1950, copy in author's possession, courtesy of Gen. Lynch. See Appendix C for unit breakdown of Lynch's count. There is one error in unit identification in his handwritten tabulation-the 15th AAA AW is mistakenly listed as the 5oth AAA AW.
6. Lynch, letter to author, Dec. 19, 1976.
7. The comments about the CCF 8oth Div. are based on GHQ FEC, USAF, G-2, "Histories of CCF Army Groups Active in Korea, Part II, Ninth Army Group," Intelligence Digest 1, no. 3 (Jan. 16-31, 1953), esp. pp. 36-37, National Archives, Federal Records Center, Record Group 407, Box 225; GHQ FEC, Daily Intelligence Summary, "Third CCF Field Army, OB z-6," No. 3233, July 17, 1951, Record Group 407, Box 491; GHQ FEC, "Initial Commitment CCF into Korea," Intelligence Digest, no. 6 (Aug. 16-31, 1951), Record Group 407, Box 513; Montross and Canzona, The Chosin Campaign, pp. 397-98, app. G, "Enemy Order of Battle"; X Corps, War Diary, Nov. 1-30, 1950, PP. 23, 25.
Chapter az
i. Brig. Gen. William Lynch, Jr., USA, Ret., letter to author, July 30, 1980, PP. 3-4; Lynch, letter to author, Mar. 14, 1978; Lynch, interview with author, June 12, 1978.
1 11 2. Lynch, letter to author, July 30, ig8o.
3. Maj. Edward P. Stamford, interviews with author; Stamford, Anglico Report, pp. 93-97; Stamford, letter to author, Apr. 7, 1981.
4. Col. Wesley J. Cu
rtis, letter to author, Feb. 16, 1979, p. 4.
S. Col. Ray O. Embree, USA, Ret., letter to author, Mar. 31, 1981-
6. Capt. Hugh R. May, letter to author, Sept. 5, 1981, p. 4.
7. Maj. James R. McClymont, letter to author, Aug. 12, 1980.
8. Capt. Erwin B. Bigger, letter to author, July 6, 1980, p. 9.
9. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 2.187, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1943).
10. May, letter to author, Sept. 5, 1981, p. 6.
11. Lt. Col. James O. Mortrude, interview with author, May 30, 1983.
12. Curtis, MS, p. 19, states that Faith decided to break out of the perimeter and "reach Hagaru-ri in a single dash rather than risk another night in the perimeter." Most of Faith's staff agreed with that decision.
13. 1st Marine Div., G-3 Journal, Dec. 1, 1950, Message No. 19 at 12:05 P.M. and No. 21 at 12:50 P.m. Earlier, at 10:30 A.M., Message No. 9 indicates that the Marine air officer reported that the "31st and 32nd Inf Units east side of Reservoir requesting air drop." It is not known whether such an airdrop was delivered at the inlet perimeter before the breakout began, but I have seen no evidence that it was.
14. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 2.73, 305.
i5. Curtis, letters to author, Jan. 1, 1977, Sept. 10, 1978, and Feb. 20, 1978.
16. Lt. Col. Erwin B. Bigger, USA, Ret., letter to author, July 6, 1980, p. 8.
17. Capt. Earle H. Jordan, Jr., letter to author, Feb. 1, 1980.
18. May, letter to author, n.d., received July 24, 1981, pp. 1, 4.
19. Mortrude, MS, pp. 14-15, enclosed with letter to author, Oct. 23, 1980.
io. Stamford, MS, pp. 16-i9, and Anglico Report, pp. 89-91.
21. M. Sgt. Chester L. Bair, Ret., letter to author, Sept. 3, 1981.
22. Col. Robert E. Jones, USA, Ret., review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, Mar. 2, 1981, pp. 9-10.
23. Lynch, review comments on "East of Chosin" MS, May 16, 1981.
24. Curtis, letter to author, Mar. 1, 1981, pp. 4-5.
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