It is about forty eight hours since General Dean’s briefing and I find myself commanding three very tired squads, spread across too much ground with too few machine guns. In fact, we have only one machine gun per squad and limited ammo and are lucky to have what we have. From what I can gather, after interrogating a prisoner we captured the night before, our sector is about to be the focal point of the next main North Korean assault. I have relayed this information to command without as much as a word in response. Their silence is haunting me and I fear we are being abandoned.
I have called my three sergeants together while there are still a few hours of daylight remaining.
Sergeant Toyoda has first squad which is stretched out across our left flank. He was part of the famous 442nd Nisei Division in World War II and survived the bloody and costly assault on Monte Cassini in Italy. As I recall his platoon suffered in the neighborhood of eighty percent casualties and he is my only combat-hardened sergeant. Sergeant Robert Mathias joined the Army in 1944 when he was seventeen. By the time he reached the European theatre the Battle of the Bulge had been fully rebuked. He has confided that he only had one occasion to fire his rifle in combat. Sergeant Yoon and his South Korean Squad were just called up from the reserves. They have not seen any action yet, so tonight will be their baptism. I am spreading them across the front of my command post and to the right.
I have managed one extra machine gun, along with a gunner and feeder which I have placed ahead of our command post which we have dug into the side of a hill. Corporal Kane, a couple of runners and I will be in the command post. Our advantage is we are sitting atop a hill. The North Koreans will need to charge uphill while we can fire down on them before they can even see our positions. I have their full attention as I begin my briefing.
“We can expect the North Korean assault to start around twenty two hundred hours. I want lights out at nineteen hundred and that includes no smoking. I do not want to give any indication of our positions until we open fire. Make certain your men know this.” I pause as Kane and Toyoda light cigarettes.
“Might as well smoke as much as you can, while you still can.” I pause to take a drink of water. The summer heat has been grinding us down. Relentless sun, spotty rations of hot food and seemingly endless withdrawals has been taking a toll on all of us. Cigarette smoking is the sole indulgence these days.
“Extra ammo is being passed out while I speak and it will have to be enough. Don’t count on additional replacements, reinforcements or resupply. Assume we are on our own, save for Captain Lami’s rovers and the handful of replacements who are working their way up here.
One thing we do have a surplus of are star shells and flares. Keep the sky lit up as often as you need to.” Just then we all instinctively duck at the sound of an incoming round. Fortunately, it lands well behind our position.
“Guess they are just letting us know they have not forgotten about us.” Nobody laughs at my joke. I know I am not particularly good when it comes to humor, but I do work at it.
“Captain Lami is with our reserves about two hundred yards to the rear. He can quickly disperse to either flank as needed. Any Questions?”
“Yes Sir.” Sergeant Yoon speaks very broken English. I nod for him to proceed.
“I have only one of your interpreters in my squad. Unfortunately, I am the only other person who can speak English. We are spread out in four foxholes and I placed the interpreter into the second from the edge of our right flank. Do you think that is the best location for him?”
I look over the Sergeant for a few moments. His uniform still has the pressed ridges from the factory. It is likely he never expected to find himself in active service, let alone in the desperate situation in which he now finds himself and he certainly appears to be nervous.
“Sergeant, I believe that is perfect.” He noticeably relaxes which is good as I don’t want him so wound-up he freezes once the action starts.
“I think it best you camp yourself at the innermost position.”
“Yes Sir. I will do that.” Sergeant Yoon replies.
“Any other questions?”
“Yes Sir. If they break through are we to fall back?” Sergeant Mathias put his cigarette out before rising to speak.
“Fall back to where? In any event we cannot fall back without orders. The only position we might be able to reach is the reserve dugouts, roughly two hundred yards behind us. If we are ordered to pull back that is where we will regroup and I will send runners to advise everyone.”
“Do we have any artillery support Sir?” The dour expression on Mathias’s face tells me he already knows the answer.
“We have mortar support. The artillery needed to be repositioned, what was left of them that is, after they were targeted by North Korean artillery. But cheer up! I have personally delivered a map with our coordinates to the mortar group and marked each of our positions. They can quickly react and with excellent accuracy. We can count on that and I am certain we will be having breakfast together in the morning!”
“I like your confidence and determination,” says Mathias.
“Let me tell you a short story about me to give you an idea of my determination.” As I rarely talk about myself, everyone’s ears seem to perk up.
“My father was killed when I was eight, leaving my mom to run the household and raise me and my siblings. I took it upon myself to help her in every way, but one day I did a stupid thing. I climbed a tall tree with a friend; a tree my mother had warned me never to climb as the branches were very brittle. Sure enough, I fell out of the tree, landed on my left arm and broke it. My friend wanted me to go straight home, but I was determined not to bother my mom so I walked myself to the doctor’s office. He fixed me up, but also sent one of his nurses to my home ahead of me to advise my mom of my desire to minimize her inconvenience.”
“So what did she say?” Mathias asks.
“She said she admired my will, but preferred I go to her first in the future and I should stay away from tree climbing.”
Everyone has a brief laugh before returning to the business at hand.
Sergeant Toyoda has been silently puffing a cigarette, taking everything in. “Well, I guess this is apparently, as they say, ‘it.’ My squad’s about as ready as they can be.”
“Unless I see you sooner, I will see you all in the morning. Now get back to your squads and keep your ears open.” I put as much confidence in my voice as I can muster.
The few hours between my briefing and the onset of complete darkness pass very slowly. It is a moonless night, precisely what I did not want. Much like the night we buried Kamita, what seems like decades ago.
Suddenly I hear shouting in the distance quickly followed by the sound of rifles then joined by the staccato sound of machine guns. Star shells burst overhead, one to the left, another off to the right. I climb the three stairs to my observation point and bring the binoculars to my eyes. Hundreds of North Koreans are rushing up the hill screaming as they fire their weapons. I call for Corporal Kane to bring in a mortar strike.
Just as Kane hangs up the field phone, the sound of incoming artillery instinctively sends me diving into the command dugout. A series of roughly eight shells explode all around us. The explosions then proceed along our left flank, reigning down as if they had placed a spotter behind us and knew exactly where my squads were dug in.
The machine gun position a few yards outside our post opens up. I decide to take a look, but just as I get up from my previously prone position back-to-back artillery shells land. The first shell explodes alongside the machine gun sending the gunner’s headless body directly into my chest and forcing me backwards. The second shell lands behind us resulting in many screams.
I cannot imagine why there would be anyone behind us and I am immediately concerned that we have been flanked. Before I can react I see Captain Lami accompanied by nine soldiers. Simultaneously I hear the comforting sound of our own mortar rounds streaking outbound and into the approaching enemy
.
“Corporal, take over the machine gun.” Kane takes hold of the machine gun and begins firing as Captain Lami, blood smeared across his face, makes his way to me.
“Lieutenant, what’s your situation?”
Just then several flares again illuminate the night. The gunshots cease, though the mortars continue.
“Let’s take a look.” My voice is calm, while my heart is racing.
The Captain and I move to either side of the machine gun. Scores of dead bodies litter the hillside. The mortar barrage is acting as a meat grinder at this point as the assault failed.
“Corporal, get on the horn and tell the mortars to cease firing and thank them for a great job.”
“Yes Sir,” replies Kane, who slips from behind the machine gun and makes his way back into the wreckage of the command dug-out. In a few moments the mortar barrage lifts and Kane returns.
“To answer your question, we are holding. I expect my squads to report in and then we will have a better idea of how we have fared thus far. But you Sir, you are wounded.”
Captain Lami looks puzzled for when he swipes his right hand across his face he discovers he is covered in blood, except it is not his blood.
“I’m okay,” he says. “We took a couple of rounds on our way in and lost most of my command.” Lami looks over at the nine men who made it. “There were nineteen of us when we left.”
We again hit the ground at the sound of incoming artillery. I dive to the right and Lami dives left. It proves to be a bad choice for a shell bursts just ahead of Lami, literally cutting him in half and killing four more of his men. I am lucky as I have some shrapnel in my left forearm, but nothing serious. Kane is brushing himself off and resuming his position at the machine gun.
A runner from first squad arrives, excited and out of breath.
“Lieutenant, Sergeant Toyoda reports first and second squads are each down four men. Also, Sir, first squad’s machine gun is out of commission.” He breaks out his canteen and takes a long drink. I look over at the five remaining reserves and spy one corporal among them.
“Corporal!” He looks over at me in surprise, then straightens himself up and responds.
“Yes Sir?”
“Are you wounded?”
“No, Sir, not at all.”
“Excellent, take your four men and go with this private. Leave two of the replacements with second squad and send the balance, along with yourself and the private here, up to Sergeant Toyoda’s positions. Got that?”
“Yes, Sir, we’re on our way.” I watch them disappear into the night.
“I imagine we can expect another assault as soon as the North Koreans can regroup. How’s the ammo for the machine gun?”
“We have plenty Lieutenant.” Kane’s voice is calm and collected. It is amazing to me how quickly a person can become accustomed to battle conditions. Not so long ago he was in a near panic while we evacuated Seoul and now he is calmly manning a machine gun in the middle of the night in some place we never knew existed.
The silence proves temporary as a new wave of war cries penetrate the night. Gunfire erupts up and down our lines. Flares turn the night into day revealing hundreds of North Koreans packed so tightly they are fighting each other for their respective footholds as they rush up the hill. They are recklessly charging forward without regard to the bullets and grenades penetrating their massed bodies.
“Corporal, call in a mortar strike for Coordinate Bravo-one, fire for effect!” I trust he can hear me over the cacophony of screams, gunfire and artillery bursts.
In a few minutes Sergeant Toyoda’s runner returns, holding his left arm as blood oozes through his shirt sleeve. However, he is still grasping his rifle and wearing his helmet, both are good indications that panic has not set in.
“Lieutenant.” He is panting, nearly out of breath.
“Take your time private.” I use a firm, but calm voice. His breathing quickly returns to something resembling normal.
“Sir, First Squad was overrun and Sergeant Toyoda is dead. Just three of us made it out and are with Second Squad, but they’ve been hit pretty bad themselves and are following right behind me.”
I hand the private my canteen. “Take a sit-down private.” Kane is standing by at the field phone as he knows I am going to need him.
“Kane, call the mortars again and give them the reference points for first and second squads. Tell them to commence firing now.” I point to Sergeant Mathias, who is leading the five surviving soldiers of the two squads and motion him to join me. I notice Kane is in contact with the mortar crews.
“Hold on a minute Corporal. Tell them to start walking their fire right down onto our position in five minutes. Let them know we will re-establish contact with them once we have reached the reserve command area and I will have further orders at that time.”
“Roger.” Kane calmly conveys the additional information.
I look around at the soldiers who just came in with Mathias and spot a lone corporal. I point to him. “Corporal, you have a mission.” He quickly walks up to me. He is young, maybe nineteen years old and he looks a little scared, but still in control of himself.
“Corporal, go out to Sergeant Yoon and tell him to fall back immediately to the reserve command area. Understood?” I am looking him straight in the eyes and feel pretty confident the young man is understanding me. “Take this note with you.” I quickly scratch out my orders in Korean as it occurs to me Sergeant Yoon and his lone interpreter might be dead and I know better than to make assumptions.
“A mortar barrage is going to be coming down on us soon, so it is imperative you get to Yoon and have him withdraw. Any questions?”
“No Sir. I’m outta here!” He immediately disappears in the direction of Sergeant Yoon’s position.
“Sergeant Mathias, take over the machine gun position and keep an eye out for any stragglers.” “Got it!’ Mathias taps one of his men on the shoulder and they immediately man the machine gun.
Finally, the field phone rings. I am hoping for good news as Corporal Kane answers. “Lieutenant, I have Colonel Wolf on the line and he’s asking for Captain Lami.” Kane offers me the phone.
“Lieutenant Kida here.”
“Colonel Wolf here, Lieutenant. I was under the impression Captain Lami brought the reserves up to your position. Where is he?”
“Dead Sir and barely a handful of the reserves made it here.”
“What’s your situation?”
“Not very good. First and Second Squads are overrun. Sergeant Toyoda is dead and what is left of them are with me. The mortars are firing on their old positions right now and in about four minutes they are going to start walking onto my own position. I have Sergeant Yoon pulling back to the reserve command area, which is where we are going now. We plan to hold that position with the two remaining machine guns.”
There is a pause on the other end of the line. Finally, Colonel Wolf responds.
“Lieutenant, get the hell out of there as you plan. I promise I will have a platoon to support you within the hour. Just hold on ‘til then. Now get moving Lieutenant. I expect to see you in the morning!”
“Yes Sir, I would like that myself.” I crouch and firmly press my helmet to my head with both of my hands as an artillery shell bursts only a few yards away. As soon as the dust settles I quickly stand and call out:
“Grab your guns and as much ammo as you can and get the hell out of here!”
The men require no further encouragement and we fall back just in time. The explosions of mortar rounds are drawing near, precisely as I requested.
Our withdrawal a couple hundred yards to the rear command post proves successful and we lose no additional men. The mortars apparently caused the North Koreans to stop advancing, perhaps to regroup in the face of the mortar assault. We have been reinforced and the eastern sky is finally turning light. I am jarred from my semi-conscious state by the clattering sound of a field phone, soon answered by Kane, who had been using it
to prop his head while napping.
“Lieutenant, its Colonel Wolf.” He holds the phone out for me.
“Kida here.”
“Good to hear you’re still alive, Captain Kida.” The Colonel’s voice conveys his sense of relief.
“Sir?”
“Field promotion Kida, we’re running out of officers. Congratulations.”
I am a bit surprised and don’t know what to say, so I keep it simple. “Thank you Sir.”
“Listen up Captain, we’re pulling back to Pusan immediately. The fly boys will keep our North Korean friends out there busy during the withdrawal. We’ve managed to get hold of a few 105’s and even a 155 howitzer to provide additional cover for our re-positioning to Pusan.”
“That’s good news Sir. I trust it is a harbinger of better things to come.”
I glance at the sky as four carrier based F9F Panthers, their wings fully laden with rockets scream past. In a few moments I hear the reassuring sounds of rockets exploding, followed by a very large secondary explosion and smile as it sounds to me as if they hit an ammo dump.
“Let’s hope so, Captain. Now get your men and equipment together! A column of transports should be pulling up as we speak. I’ll see you in Pusan. Out.” The Colonel cuts off before I can respond. The sound of trucks is now clearly audible as it is time to get packing.
It only takes less than an hour to load the trucks with everything we can take with us. We burn or blow up anything we can’t bring along and I make certain to be the final person to get aboard the last of the trucks. I disdain sitting up front in the cab and make it a habit to sit in the rear with my men. Today is no different. But today, my habit saves my life.
Chameleons, a Novel Based Upon Actual Events Page 26