On Desperate Ground

by Hampton Sides

  Among the veterans I interviewed: Frank Abasciano, Harrison Ager, Robert Arias, Robert Ayala, Thomas Beard, Lacy Bethea, Woody Birckhead, Rayburn Blair, Richard Bonelli, Fred Borowiec, Harry Burke, Hector Cafferata, Franklin “Jack” Chapman, Linus Chism, Watson Crumbie, Norman Deptula, Ken Dower, Larry Elwell, Robert Ezell, Patrick Finn, Sam Folsom, Robert Gaines, Raymond Garland, John Edward Gray, Max Guernesey, Bill Hall, Robert Harbula, Robert Harley, Robert Himmerich y Valencia, Tom Hudner, Dr. Ralph Jacobs, Bob Johnson, Eugene Johnson, Manert Kennedy, Richard Knoebel, John Y. Lee, James McInerney, Charles McKellar, Ralph Milton, Joseph Mordente, Bill Paganini, Kenneth Popp, General Edward Rowny, Elmer Schearf, Elliott Sortillo, Fred Sozio, William Steele, Dr. James Stewart, Duane Trowbridge, Warren Wiedhahn, and Dr. Stanley Wolf.

  I’m especially thankful to Dr. Lee Bae-suk and his wonderful wife, Mi-yong, who generously hosted me in their home in Cincinnati, treated me to an outrageously good Korean meal, and shared the extraordinary story of their war years and their flight from North Korea. I had originally met them at a Chosin reunion in Springfield, Missouri. One could not invent an algorithm that captured all the eleventh-hour twists and lucky intersections of their eventful, beautiful, and sometimes tragic family history. Let it serve as a powerful reminder to any who may have forgotten that the story of the Korean War is only secondarily an American one.

  I’m indebted to historian Dr. Xiaobing Li, at the University of Central Oklahoma, a native of Beijing, for his many insights into the Chinese perspective on the battle. Dr. Li kindly shared an early draft of his manuscript, They Came in Waves: The Chinese Attack on Chosin, the first book that’s been written on the Chinese experience of the battle. In Taiwan, I must thank my stalwart researcher Simon Lin, who helped me locate a number of Chinese veterans of the battle at the reservoir. Also helpful was Hong Kong–based historian David Chang, an authority on Chinese prisoners of war during the Korean War. My good friend Professor Y. David Chung, at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, provided many insights into Korean culture and history.

  I thank my friend Bill Broyles, a world-class screenwriter and Vietnam Marine, for convincing me to write about Chosin in the first place. I must also thank Bill Miller and the good folks at the Santa Fe Institute for an extremely generous fellowship in 2015, during which many of the ideas and research strategies for this book were conceived. Similarly, my huge thanks to the Ucross Foundation, in Wyoming, for a remote ranch-country writing retreat that proved inspiring and rejuvenating.

  In the early going, I was fortunate enough to have struck up a fruitful relationship with documentary filmmaker Randall MacLowry and associate producer Rebecca Taylor at the Film Posse, in Boston, and to have served as a historical consultant for MacLowry’s searing war documentary “The Battle of Chosin,” which first aired on the PBS program American Experience in the fall of 2016. American Experience graciously made available the transcripts of all interviews conducted in connection with the making of the film—a substantial oral history archive numbering in the thousands of pages. At WGBH in Boston, I thank Mark Samels, Susan Bellows, John Bredar, and Jim Dunford.

  I want to thank the legendary Life magazine photographer David Douglas Duncan, whose images of the Chosin battle are iconic and unforgettable. Duncan, then one hundred years young (he has since passed away), hosted me in his home in Provence, France, and shared his memories of the battle. My thanks to former Time-Life editor Richard Stolley for connecting me with Mr. Duncan. At the Union Jack Club, in London, I was fortunate enough to attend a reunion of the last surviving members of 41 Independent Commando of the British Royal Marines. In connection with that festive event, I must especially thank Chosin veterans Gordon Payne, Kenneth Williams, John Underwood, and Cyril Blackman, as well as Lin Blackman for making it all possible.

  In Baton Rouge, Barbara Broyles, daughter of the late Colonel Don Faith, kindly made available her dad’s personal papers, photographs, and relics. I’m indebted to Jamie Polk, in Santa Fe, who shared the revealing unpublished war letters of his late father, Lieutenant Colonel James Polk, a high-ranking Army intelligence officer within MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo. I must also thank the family of the late John Yancey—especially Stuart Yancey, Anne Yancey, and Laura Neve—for sharing copious stacks of family memorabilia and correspondence and for showing me a good time in Little Rock. Stephan McAteer, at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, was generous with his time in leading me through the Yancey Collection.

  I was blessed to have several dogged researchers during the early stages of this project. I especially thank Gillian Brassil and Joel LeCuyer for their smart and indefatigable efforts. Also, Allison Goodwin did invaluable research into the Chinese perspective of the battle and helped me locate some of the last living Chosin veterans in Taiwan and mainland China. Graham Sides provided great help in organizing my source material and assembling my bibliography.

  I’m grateful to Julie Precious (producer and director of the excellent Chosin documentary Task Force Faith), who generously shared her contacts and insights on the battle. Thanks also to Colonel Ashton Ormes, an expert on Chosin. Charmaine Francois-Griffith was extremely helpful in connecting me with Army veterans of the battle. Former congressman Pete McCloskey of California was kind enough to share his memories of Korea and to connect me with several Marine survivors of Chosin. Adam Makos, author of Devotion, introduced me to several intrepid Korean War aviators and graciously read and commented on portions of my manuscript.

  At the Truman Presidential Library, in Independence, Missouri, I particularly want to thank archivists Sam Rushay and Randy Sowell. Jim Zobel, at the MacArthur Memorial Library and Archives, in Norfolk, Virginia, was tremendously helpful. My research at the Marine Corps Archives, in Quantico, Virginia, was terrifically productive, thanks to the good efforts of Annette Amerman, Dr. Fred Allison, and Dr. Jim Ginther. Also at Quantico, I had the privilege of meeting the wonderful Gail Shisler, Oliver Smith’s granddaughter and the author of the definitive biography of the general. I thank her for her intelligent insights and good cheer—as well as her willingness to read over an early version of the manuscript. What a fine man she had to call “Grandpa.”

  Lots of generous people hosted me during my far-flung research travels and writing retreats. In this regard, I especially want to thank George and Cindy Getschow, in Texas; the de Bontin family, in Taos; Jessica Goldstein and Peter Breslow, in Washington; Alyssa Brandt and Jay Stowe, in Cincinnati; and Sarah and Ben Fortna, in London. Bill Banowsky supported this project in numerous ways. Nick Ragland kindly read an early draft of my manuscript. The eagle-eyed Will Palmer improved this book in ways large and small. My thanks, also, to Giovanni Orlando for his tireless efforts while I was immersed in this project. My gratitude to Gary Oakley for his keen photographic eye and to Dan Dearborn for the formidable desk. Thanks also to Jamie Wiedhahn of Military Historical Tours for a great veterans trip to South Korea.

  My association with Colorado College, where I served as journalist in residence and visiting professor while researching and writing much of this book, proved a substantial inspiration. I especially thank Dr. Steven Hayward and President Jill Tiefenthaler for their friendship and support, as well as Ian and Susan Griffis and Anne and Dave Hanson.

  My longtime friend Sloan Harris, at ICM, is my rock and tireless advocate. I can’t thank him enough for his support during this project—and through all my books. Also at ICM, my heartfelt thanks to Heather Karpas, Heather Bushong, Alexa Brahme, and Will Watkins. My editor at Doubleday, Bill Thomas, is quite simply a force of nature. This book would not have happened without his unstoppable energy and passion. Also at Doubleday, I must thank Margo Shickmanter and the effusively exclamatory Todd Doughty, who believed in this project from the start, and Lydia Buechler and John Fontana.

  My wife, Anne Goodwin Sides, is a saint for encouraging my wanderings and scribblings. Her excellent taste, sound judgment, an
d good cheer always keep me on solid ground.

  A NOTE ON SOURCES

  This narrative springs largely from documents found in the Marine and Army archives, from various repositories of oral history, and from my own interviews with dozens of Chosin veterans. But the existing literature of the Chosin Reservoir battle is vast, vivid, and varied, and I was fortunate enough to build on the solid and expansive foundation provided by many excellent published works. Chosin is probably the most richly documented battle in the Korean conflict, if not in all of post–World War II American arms. And for good reason: It is one of the most highly decorated clashes in our country’s history. Few battles can boast so many notable instances of individual courage, carried out on such inhospitable terrain, in such impossible weather, in conditions of such intimate combat, against such overwhelming numerical odds. The extremity of the predicament brought to the fore a naked survival instinct, a ferocious camaraderie, and a rare improvisational spirit.

  It would be a lengthy and impractical exercise for me to cite all the fine books that informed my narrative, but I’d like to single out a few. Without question, Martin Russ’s Breakout remains the definitive account of the battle for anyone interested in a deeper level of detail on the engagement as a whole, on individual unit movements, and on the day-to-day experience in the field. A decorated Marine, Russ was a sharp observer, a pungent writer, and an exhaustive researcher, and his account holds up exceptionally well after twenty years. Robert Leckie’s March to Glory may seem a bit purple to modern sensibilities, but there is no better way to get an immediate and visceral feel for the battle than to read this vigorous and spirited little volume. Eric Hammel’s Chosin: Heroic Ordeal of the Korean War is a rewarding document, chock-full of interesting original detail and first-class reporting. Historian and Korean War veteran Stanley Weintraub has dealt with aspects of the battle in two excellent books, A Christmas Far from Home and MacArthur’s War. For the Chinese perspective, I found three books especially helpful: Enter the Dragon, by Russell Spurr; Uncertain Partners, by Sergei N. Goncharov, John W. Lewis, and Xue Litai; and They Came in Waves, a groundbreaking but (as of this writing) unpublished manuscript by Chinese American historian Xiaobing Li.

  Those interested in understanding the larger Cold War geopolitics, as well as the colliding egos and ideologies that set the stage for Chosin and related battles, must rely on David Halberstam’s quintessential The Coldest Winter, a sweeping and minutely detailed narrative by the late, great journalist and historian, whom I had the privilege of meeting a few years before his death. For the grunt’s-eye view, probably the best account is Joseph Owen’s Colder Than Hell, a raw and honest memoir of a single rifle company’s experience on the battlefield. One of the other insightful, if little-known, veteran accounts, I found, was William Hopkins’s One Bugle, No Drums. Two other indispensable works dealing with the Marine point of view of the overall battle situation are Frozen Chosin: U.S. Marines at the Changjin Reservoir, by Edwin Simmons, and U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950–53, volume III: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, by Lynn Montross and Nicholas Canzona.

  Anyone seeking to understand what happened at Fox Hill should look no further than The Last Stand of Fox Company, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. This is an excellent and deeply reported narrative of what took place on that charged piece of real estate. The story of Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner is beautifully captured in Adam Makos’s Devotion, the definitive account of the serendipitous friendship of these two remarkable aviators. Those wanting to know more may wish to consult The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown, by Theodore Taylor, and also Such Men As These, by David Sears. The tragic ordeal suffered by the Army units east of the reservoir is exhaustively depicted in Roy Appleman’s meticulous East of Chosin. For a more personalized account of the Army’s travails there, I recommend John Edward Gray’s candid autobiography, Called to Honor. Survivor Ed Reeves described his brutal experience east of the reservoir in a heartfelt and excruciating narrative, Beautiful Feet & Real Peace.

  The impeccable character of General Oliver Prince Smith has been explored in several books, but the best source, by far, is Gail Shisler’s For Country and Corps: The Life of General Oliver P. Smith. Shisler is Smith’s granddaughter, but in her meticulous biography she succeeds in treating her subject with discipline and objectivity, letting Smith’s humanity show through. An excellent analysis of Smith’s battlefield performance can be found in Thomas Ricks’s The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today.

  A number of first-rate journalists and photojournalists were on hand to cover the Chosin campaign in person. Two that bear mentioning are New York Herald Tribune reporter Marguerite Higgins, who collected her observations in an engaging memoir called War in Korea: The Report of a Woman Combat Correspondent, and Time-Life photographer David Douglas Duncan, whose haunting photos and essays were published in an evocative, if somewhat idiosyncratic, volume entitled This Is War! One of the very best journalistic accounts of the Korean conflict, and one on which I particularly relied for the story of Inchon-Seoul, is Cry Korea, by the gifted British journalist Reginald Thompson.

  In terms of what might be called “revisionist” scholarship of the Korean War, probably no one in recent years has done more to place the conflict in the larger context of Korean history and culture than the University of Chicago’s Bruce Cumings, and no one has been more frank in describing the brutal and, at times, gratuitous excesses of the American air campaigns unleashed upon North Korea. Cumings’s The Korean War: A History remains an essential work. Also in the revisionist school is I. F. Stone’s The Hidden History of the Korean War, 1950–51, a strange, disturbing, and at times brilliant book by the legendary investigative contrarian that questions much of the conventional wisdom about the war.

  The Chosin Reservoir battle has also been broadly explored in the pages of fiction. At least five novels dealing with the Chosin campaign bear mentioning: The Marines of Autumn, by James Brady; The Frozen Hours, by Jeff Shaara; Retreat, Hell!, by W. E. B. Griffin; The Savior, by Nick Ragland and Tom Schwettman; and The Coldest Night, an elegiac work of literary fiction by Robert Olmstead.

  NOTES

  PROLOGUE: MORNING CALM

  urine and rotten fish heads: Heinl, Victory at High Tide, 104.

  slime of the mudflats: See Fehrenbach, This Kind of War, 165.

  damaging tanks of butane: Heinl, Victory at High Tide, 98.

  targets towed from the fantails: Davis, Story of Ray Davis, 98.

  a full-scale typhoon: For a good account of the typhoon, see Manchester, American Caesar, 578.

  First came the destroyers: For a full account of the ships involved, see Heinl, Victory at High Tide, 89.

  The bullets whined and smacked: See Higgins, War in Korea, 45.

  BOOK ONE: SEOUL

  1 THE PROFESSOR

  “load jeeps with their decorations”: Leckie, March to Glory, 34.

  “strongest division in the world”: Russ, Breakout, 6.

  “a public relations war”: Smith to Esther Smith, September 20, 1950, Box 2, General Oliver Smith Collection.

  “born actor”: Smith to Esther Smith, August 23, 1950, Box 3, General Oliver Smith Collection.

  “pomposity of his pronouncements”: La Bree, Gentle Warrior, 114.

  “ascetic thinker and a teacher”: Heinl, Victory at High Tide, 36.

  the death of his only sibling: For more on this family tragedy, see Shisler’s account in For Country and Corps, 74.

  “a professional killer”: Brady, Marines of Autumn, 81.

  “school man and a staff man”: Heinl, Victory at High Tide, 36.

  “one of those rare men”: Leckie, March to Glory, 41.

  “If you think of a forceful person”: Shisler, For Country and Corps, 128.

  “He is a very kindly man”: Lowe to Truman, September 15, 1950, President’s Secretary’
s Files, Truman Presidential Library.

  “I can handle it”: Ibid., 64.

  “the Oriental mind”: Stanton, America’s Tenth Legion, 62.

  “We must strike hard”: Manchester, American Caesar, 575.

  “seal off the entire southern peninsula”: Ibid.

  “I can almost hear”: MacArthur, Reminiscences, 350.

  “a 5,000-to-1 gamble”: Langley, Inchon Landing, 39.

  “regard for his own divinity”: Brady, Marines of Autumn, 6.

  “He pulls no punches”: Smith to Esther Smith, September 14, 1950, Box 21, General Oliver Smith Collection.

  “MacArthur was God”: Smith, “Oral Reminiscences of Gen. O. P. Smith,” Marine Corps History Division, 9.

  “more than confidence”: James, Years of MacArthur, 467.

  “I shall always be grateful”: Edward Almond to Margaret Cook Almond, September 18, 1950, Box 77, General Edward Almond Collection, Army Military History Institute.

  repeatedly called him “son”: La Bree, Gentle Warrior, 107.