Friday, November 23, 2012

Fullbore Friday

It was a little chilly this AM ... and when I think of cold, just a few things come to mind. This is one of them.

The simplicity of the impossible.  Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Chosin.
The 1st Marine Division—which included the 1st, 5th and 7th Regiments– more than 20,000 strong—was ordered by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, NATO’s supreme commander in Korea, to march to the Yalu River and back. The distance from Hugnam, along the Sea of Japan, to Chosin was 76 miles. The general’s idea:  Run the Communist troops out of Korea and unify the entire country as a democracy.

Before the march was over, the 1st Marine Division would be confronted by 21 enemy divisions, more than 200,000 soldiers. They would kill and wound 37,000 of the enemy. An additional 30,000 Chinese soldiers suffered frostbite. The Marines would lose 6,000 killed and wounded, and 6,000 more sustained frostbite.
...
It must have been around 1:30 a.m. I was zipped up in my sleeping bag lying out on the frozen ground behind some rocks and pine trees we’d cut and put up as a wind break. My buddy, Kenny Benson, was next to me in his sleeping bag. We heard some rifle fire and a machine gun open up. I realized this was for real,” said Cafferata, who now lives in Venice, Fla.

“I unzipped my bag and grabbed my M-1 rifle. There were Chinese all around us. I shot five or six right in front of me immediately.

“I said to Benson, ‘What are you doing?”

“’Putting on my boots,’ he replied.

“’Forget the boots. Start shooting,’ I said.”

When Fox Company occupied Toktong Pass on November 27, Captain Barber decided to “circle the wagons,” keeping the company together as a single unit by placing all platoons in a perimeter defense on Fox Hill. He positioned 2d Platoon on the west side of Fox Hill, 3d Platoon on the north, and 1st Platoon on the east. Barber placed Weapons Platoon in the center of the hill to provide all-around mortar fire support and put Headquarters and Service Platoon near the road on the perimeter’s south side. Machine guns anchored positions where the platoons’ boundaries met.

At 2:07 a.m. on November 28, in bitterly cold, 20 degrees below zero weather, waves of Chinese troops, supported by mortars and heavy machine guns, attacked Fox Company’s entire perimeter, beginning an ordeal that lasted until midday on December 1. During daylight hours, Barber directed U.S. Marine and Australian airstrikes on PVA positions. At night, when most Chinese attacks occurred, 11th Marines at Hagaru-ri provided artillery fire support that helped Barber’s company kill perhaps 1,000 enemy troops.
By the time a relief force from 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, arrived on December 1, only 82 of Barber’s original 220 Marines were fit to walk off Fox Hill – 26 were killed, three were missing in action, and the remainder, including Barber, were wounded. Fox Company’s survivors joined 1st Marine Division’s epic “attack in another direction” along highway NK72, arriving at Hungnam on December 11 for evacuation by sea. One awestruck observer, watching the battered Marines march past, called them those “magnificent bastards.”
There is a fairly well-received book out on the topic if you are interested in it in detail: The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there. I'm sorry to hassle you but I happened to run across your blog website and noticed you are using the exact same theme as me. The only problem is on my site, I'm battling to
get the theme looking like yours. Would you mind emailing
me at: lynda.farr@gmail.com so I can get this figured out.
By the way I've bookmarked your web site: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7704146&postID=6223777592267911371 and will be visiting frequently. Thanks alot :)!

Also visit my webpage: gymnastics clothes for girls
Also see my page > women's gymnastics clothes

Anonymous said...

Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I'd figured I'd
ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog article or vice-versa?
My blog covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from
each other. If you might be interested feel free to send me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by
the way!

Feel free to surf to my homepage - nand flash memory circuit diagram

Anonymous said...

Today, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to
my 4 year old daughter and said "You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear."
She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside
and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this
is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!



my weblog - analogy definition in literature

Anonymous said...

Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.

Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I'm not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I'm thinking about setting up my own but I'm not sure where to start. Do you have any tips or suggestions? Appreciate it

Feel free to visit my weblog: furnished house rentals scottsdale

Anonymous said...

Woah! I'm really enjoying the template/theme of this site. It's simple, yet effective.
A lot of times it's tough to get that "perfect balance" between user friendliness and visual appearance. I must say that you've done a excellent job with this.
Also, the blog loads very fast for me on Opera.
Excellent Blog!

Also visit my site :: oakwood corporate housing tucson

Anonymous said...

I've loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this website loads a lot quicker then most. Would you mind emailing me the name of your website hosting company? My personal email is: solomonrobey@gmail.com. I will even sign up through your own affiliate link if you'd like.
Thanks

Feel free to surf to my page; newsvine.com

Anonymous said...

Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine
Optimization? I'm trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm not seeing very good gains.
If you know of any please share. Kudos!

Feel free to surf to my web blog; largest corporate housing providers

Anonymous said...

Here Are Some Great Mother/daughter Matching Tattoo Ideas Are you a mother or daughter saying in the
wings in a different language. And as long as you can see from the rather large gallery below, and left us
with a break in modern mathematics, but I received lots of.


My blog post - sexcams

Anonymous said...

Hey! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to
give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your posts.
Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with
the same subjects? Thanks!

Check out my homepage ... remortgage loans

Anonymous said...

Excellent blog here! Also your website quite a bit
up fast! What web host are you the use of?
Can I am getting your associate hyperlink for your host?

I want my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol

My site :: home remodeling software ratings

Anonymous said...

Hi there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an
established blog. Is it difficult to set up your own blog?
I'm not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I'm thinking about creating my own but I'm not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips or suggestions? With thanks

Here is my blog - andover hotels

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I could have sworn I've been to this website before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it's new to me.
Anyhow, I'm definitely glad I found it and I'll be bookmarking and
checking back often!

Here is my blog post :: kitchen remodel checklist pdf

Anonymous said...

Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your blog
and in accession capital to assert that I acquire
in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Anyway I will be subscribing to
your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.


Look into my web page ... modern kitchen design ideas 2012

Anonymous said...

Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic however I'd figured I'd ask.
Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa?
My blog goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we
could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested
feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!
Awesome blog by the way!

Look at my blog post :: donate large appliances to charity

Anonymous said...

Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to take
a look. I'm definitely enjoying the information. I'm bookmarking and will be tweeting this
to my followers! Superb blog and terrific design.


my blog post: interior design magazine hall of fame 2012

Anonymous said...

Hi there! My name is Valeria and I personally just
wanted to say your web site is awesome! It truly is hilarious due to the fact I use to have a blog that almost had an identical website url:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7704146&postID=6223777592267911371 mine was only a few characters different.
In any case, I'm a big fan of your site and if you at any time want a guest write-up make sure you email me at: valeriaclegg@arcor.de. I love writing!

my weblog :: refrigerator service

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm genuinely enjoying the style and design of your website. Are you using a custom template or is this readily available to all users? If you really don't want to say the name of it out
in the public, please email me at: ann.mckeon@gmail.com.
I'd really like to get my hands on this theme! Kudos.

Check out my homepage: appliance repair service

Anonymous said...

tramadol online buy tramadol online cheap - tramadol overdose much does take