Always Faithful

Chapter 22

The Chosin Few, Holding Toktong Pass

Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines

By Kater Miller, Curator

Artifact: Guidon, Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines

 

This is a story of U.S. Marines surviving against all odds due to their tenacity, training, and leadership. This is the story of one unit—a company cut off from the rest of its division in the dead of winter and surrounded by a numerically superior enemy. This is the story of Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, stuck on a mountain in North Korea while being repeatedly battered by an overwhelming number of Chinese soldiers during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in the first year of the Korean War. The Communist Chinese soldiers facing Fox Company were not the pushover Asian army that U.S. Army general Douglas MacArthur, commander in chief of the United Nations (UN) Command, expected. They were well-trained and had recently been victorious over the Chinese Nationalist forces in a decades-long civil war. This guidon, the unit standard of Fox Company, represent the Marines who fought to survive long enough to make it out of Toktong Pass alive.

 

The guidon of Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines.
Photo by Jose Esquilin, Marine Corps University Press.

 

North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in June 1950 caught most of the world off-guard. The U.S. military had been in a drawdown since the end of World War II five years earlier, with the Marine Corps having been reduced to two understrength divisions. During that summer, North Korean forces pushed South Korea’s army south from the 38th Parallel, the dividing line between the Soviet Union-supported North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, of DRPK) and the nominally democratic South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea, of ROK). The meager UN occupation forces in South Korea could do little to stop the surprise attack. Elements of the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry Division were rushed in from Japan to stop the attack, and a provisional Marine brigade soon followed. Things on the peninsula looked bleak. The combined U.S.-ROK forces formed a small perimeter around the town of Pusan in the southwest, which would be remembered as the Pusan Perimeter.

 

Gen Douglas MacArthur, center, and LtGen Edward Almond, right, watch the final landing preparations at Inchon.
Naval History and Heritage Command.

 

To save South Korea from collapse and to relieve pressure on the troops at the Pusan Perimeter, MacArthur formulated an audacious plan to run around the North Korean army and split the Korean Peninsula in two. From there, he believed that he could retake the South Korean capital of Seoul, annihilate the enemy forces, and reunite the peninsula into a single political unit. He did not believe that the Soviet Union or the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would invade to help their Communist allies in the north.

MacArthur directed U.S. Army lieutenant general Edward M. Almond to lead the UN landing at Inchon, just west of Seoul. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps had reservations about the plan. First, Almond was not well-versed in amphibious warfare. Further, the tidal waters at Inchon moved nearly 10 meters between high and low tides, and the bottom of the bay was covered with thick, sucking mud. Therefore, the invasion had to be undertaken in a spring tide, during which the water would be highest at high tide. The landing had to occur on 15 September, or the UN forces would have to try again the following month. Finally, the shore of the region had large seawalls, which would make getting ashore even more of a challenge than normal.

Almond had command of the U.S. Army’s X Corps, comprised of the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division. The Battle of Inchon began on 15 September with the Marines of 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, seizing the small island of Wolmido, which commanded the inlet of the bay.^[1] That same day, Marines and soldiers landed in landing craft, vehicle, personnel (LCVPs) with ladders lashed to their fronts so they could climb up over the seawalls. The invasion was successful, and X Corps pushed back North Korean resistance. The UN forces continued forward toward Seoul, taking the city on 27 September.^[2]

The surprised North Korean forces holding the Pusan Perimeter began withdrawing in earnest, pulling back behind the 38th Parallel.^[3] The 8th U.S. Army pushed north towards Seoul en route to the Yalu River, the boundary between North Korea and China, veering to the west as it approached the Chinese border.

 

Marines loaded in landing craft head toward the seawalls at Inchon. They have lashed ladders to the bows of the landing craft so that they can climb over the seawalls.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

Meanwhile, the Marines and soldiers of X Corps reembarked on their landing vessels and traveled around the Korean Peninsula to land on the east coast of North Korea, coming ashore at Wonsan. MacArthur ordered X Corps to take an eastern approach to the Yalu River simultaneously with the 8th Army. The 1st Marine Division was to drive north of a place called the Chosin Reservoir and then sweep west to make liaison with the 8th Army.

 

MajGen Oliver P. Smith and BGen Edward A. Craig cut a cake celebrating the Marine Corps birthday.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

Fox Company conducts a rifle inspection in the late November snow.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

The Marines and soldiers of X Corps expected the war to be over by Christmas. They marched quickly to the north, establishing supply posts along the way. As the Marines worked their way up the winding mountain road around the Chosin Reservoir, the U.S. forces prepared and served a full Thanksgiving meal, much to the shock of other UN forces, who could not believe that the Americans were taking the time or straining the logistical resources to provide turkeys and pies to troops spread out over such a wide front. The war was proceeding so well that some U.S. units were even preparing to ship equipment back to their bases in Japan. The 7th Infantry Division and ROK I Corps reached the Yalu River with relative ease.^[4]

MacArthur and Almond were convinced that the Chinese Communist Army would not help the North Korean Army—at worst, they believed that a small, easily contained infiltration might occur.^[5] However, PRC leader Mao Zedong ordered a huge contingent of his troops, fresh from their victory against the Chinese Nationalist Army, to secretly cross the Yalu River and attack the UN troops making their way to the border. These Chinese Communist forces traveled by night and hid from UN aircraft during the day. They concealed themselves and did not use roads whenever possible.^[6] U.S. troops passed by hidden Chinese regiments while they were on the road north. While there were limited engagements between the two sides and some prisoners taken, the full gravity of the situation was not known for several more weeks. It was becoming clear that China was intervening, but no one knew to what extent.^[7]

Fox Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, had a serious disadvantage. The company had taken many casualties at Inchon, and much of the unit was composed of fresh replacements, some of whom were reservists who had not even attended boot camp. A few of these Marines had only been through a few drill sessions with their reserve units. Others were World War II veterans in the Inactive Reserve who felt irritated that they had to fight again, many believing that they had already done enough in service of their country. However, these replacements did include a Silver Star recipient from the Battle of Iwo Jima—Captain William E. Barber. Barber soon became the officer in command of Fox Company.^[8]

At first, Barber was not popular with the Marines under his command. He arrived to his new unit with a starched and ironed uniform, and he made his Marines shave and wash their uniforms. He did not believe that the war would be short, and so he ordered his Marines to begin conditioning hikes. He also made them practice their marksmanship as they made their way up to the Chosin Reservoir.^[9]

The area that the Marines operated in was a logistical nightmare. North Korea was a mountainous, rugged landscape with few passable roads. By late November, the Marines were stretched out on the single road from Toko-Ri, several kilometers south of the Chosin Reservoir, all the way to Yudam-ni, in the northwest corner. They were unaware that Chinese forces had already moved around the reservoir, and they did not know how many enemy troops were in the area.^[10] It was a disaster in the making. The commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, Major General Oliver P. Smith, was afraid that moving his division up without protection on his flank was foolish, and he wrote to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Clifton B. Cates, that he thought the exposed Marines would get hit hard from the west if they continued driving north.^[11]

The UN ground forces were heavily mechanized, with trucks, tanks, and artillery all needing to use the one road that stretched from south of the harbor at Hungnam all the way north past Yudam-ni. This put the 1st Marine Division at great peril because it had no alternative route through which to escape if it ran into trouble. Conversely, the large Chinese Communist army was very lightly armed. They brought along little artillery support or heavy weapons, and they did not have good medical support. The soldiers wore quilted cotton clothing and canvas shoes. They had a mix of weapons, from former Lend-Lease American-manufactured Thompson submachine guns to Soviet-produced aluminum PPSH-41 submachine guns (nicknamed “burp guns” due to unique sound they made due to their high rate of fire).^[12] Each Chinese soldier carried his own ammunition and was expected to capture U.S. weapons and food on the battlefield.^[13] This made the Chinese troops much more vulnerable to the region’s bitter cold than the UN forces, but it also made them less beholden to roads.

 

The 7th Marines march north along the Main Supply Route.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

While the Marines worked up the only road, known as the Main Supply Route (MSR), the Chinese forces filtered around both the east and west banks of the Chosin Reservoir and continued infiltrating areas as far as 55 kilometers south of the Marines’ positions. None of the Americans knew how many Chinese troops had made it into North Korea, but the Marines knew that they were there.

As the Marines continued their advance, Smith insisted on setting up supply posts along the route.^[14] Almond thought Smith was being overly cautious, needlessly slowing the advance of X Corps. Smith had the main road from the coast reinforced so that tanks could travel to support the Marines. He also had Marine engineers hasten to construct an airfield at Hagaru-ri as soon as the Marines arrived there. The division’s three regiments (the 1st Marines, 5th Marines, and 7th Marines) continued to leapfrog up the road, with Colonel Homer L. Litzenberg being ordered to take the 7th Marines to Yudam-ni. Smith did not want to order the 7th Marines to Yudam-ni until he could get Colonel Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller’s 1st Marines closer to Hagaru-ri. Smith felt that having his regiments spread across the only supply road could lead to disaster, but Almond ordered the 7th Marines to advance anyway.

The Marines enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal on 23 November. Every effort was made to ensure that every Marine in the division received a traditional feast. The following day, MacArthur arrived in Korea to announce the beginning of the offensive that was to win the war in two weeks.^[15]

The 7th Marines worked their way around the western road to Yudam-ni. The road on the pass was described as having a cliff on one side and a chasm on the other, a precarious position for the Marines’ route of travel. Smith personally ordered Litzenburg to leave two companies of Marines on mountains along the MSR to protect the route from enemy attack. Litzenburg left Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, on a hill close to Yudamn-ni and placed Fox Company, 2d Battalion, on a mountain overlooking Toktong Pass, a mountain pass on the MSR between Hagaru-ri and Yudam-ni. Both companies were isolated and alone, and they were about to face some of the toughest fighting of the entire Korean War.

The U.S. Army’s 3d Infantry Division was ordered to protect the southern half of the road. Smith wanted to get Puller’s 1st Marines up to Hagaru-ri before he began his attack north. However, the 3d Infantry Division did not make it up to Toki-ri in time, so Smith had to move the 5th and 7th Marines and leave the 1st Marines south of Hagaru-ri to protect the MSR. The 5th Marines briefly moved east until they were relieved by the U.S. Army’s 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT). Once relieved, the 5th Marines followed the 7th Marines to the northeast part of the reservoir.^[16]

 

Food froze as soon as Marines tried to eat it.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

Toward the end of November, horrible weather set in for the 20,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Division who were spread out over North Korea. Though the reported temperatures have become exaggerated over time to be 40–50 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, the Marines did face temperatures of 20–25 degrees below zero. Staying warm enough to stave off hypothermia and frostbite became a challenge. Farsighted thinker and Marnie Corps quartermaster major general William P. T. Hill had begun shipping cold-weather gear to Korea in October, a move that saved many Marines’ lives. The Marines wore a long, pile-lined parka and layered their clothing to boost its effectiveness. Most wore wool gloves with leather mittens and shoe-pacs, a cold weather boot that had a rubber bottom section and leather upper section. Marines were issued two wool insoles and two pairs of socks that they were supposed to switch out when necessary to keep accumulating sweat from freezing and exacerbating frostbite.^[17] There was some misery as food in C-ration cans froze solid and the Marines on the line had no way to warm it up. Many units used heating tents with a woodfire stove to heat their rations. Marines coming off the line added the contents of their daily rations to a bubbling pot of “slum” on the stove to keep a steady supply of edible food.^[18]

The 5th and 7th Marines dug in at Yudamn-ni and prepared to move further north and west. Smith’s command post and the airfield under construction were located at Hagaru-Ri. RCT 31, also known as Task Force Faith, occupied the southeastern shore of the reservoir. The 1st Marines were spread out over the northern half of the road that stretched from Hagaru-ri to the coast, and the 3d Infantry Division operated on the southern half.

Barber led Fox Company to dig in above the road at Toktong Pass. The road wound around the mountains on the west side of the reservoir, though it did not hug the side of the lake. The Marines had a commanding view of the road. They dug into the frozen, rocky ground with the intention of holding the pass while the remainder of the 1st Marine Division passed through on their way to the Yalu River. Their main objective was to keep the approximately 5 kilometers of the MSR in front of them open.^[19]

Though the Marines were aware of the presence of Chinese forces in the area, they knew nothing of the onslaught coming their way. The Chinese planned to isolate the 7th Marines, which they believed was the only UN regiment in Yudam–ni, to divide the MSR and defeat the Marines piecemeal. However, the 5th Marines had completed their movement from Hagaru-ri, so the Chinese soldiers faced a force nearly twice as large as was originally estimated.^[20]

On the night of 27 November and the morning of 28 November, all hell broke loose as Chinese forces attacked all along the Marines’ lines. Many of the Marine companies were pushed off the hills that they occupied at Yudam-ni, suffering hundreds of casualties through the night. The Chinese captured both the 5th and 7th Marines’ command posts. By morning, the Marines at Yudam-ni were battered and forced back from many of their positions that they had held through the night.^[21]

That same night, with his Marines dug in on the hill overlooking Toktong Pass, Barber began hearing noises in the hills. Gunfire suddenly erupted from a rocky knoll overlooking his command post. The company’s 3d Platoon was overrun almost instantly. Chinese soldiers ran past Private Hector A. Cafferata Jr., who was at a listening post in front of the platoon. Having removed himself from his sleeping bag that he was using to protect against the extreme cold, he started using his entrenching tool to bash grenades back at their throwers. Cafferata later joked that he was a terrible baseball player, but that night he did not miss. He fought back with grenades and rifle fire and was credited with killing 15 attackers. When a grenade landed in a trench with wounded Marines inside, Cafferata dived in and threw it back, but it blew up as he released it, wounding his hand. He continued this all night, and he did so in his socks, as he had not put his shoes on all night despite the cold. By morning, his feet were badly frostbitten. Eventually, Cafferata was shot by an enemy sniper and finally allowed himself to check into the battalion aid station for treatment.^[22]

 

PFC Hector A. Cafferata Jr. received the Medal of Honor for his actions on the morning of 28 November 1950.
National Archives and Records Administration.

 

It turned out that the extreme cold was a double-edged sword for the Marines. The morphine syrettes used by Navy corpsmen to help with manage pain froze solid. The corpsmen kept the tiny containers in their mouths to keep them from freezing.^[23] The cold also froze wounds, thereby saving the lives of several Marines who would have otherwise bled out. However, lifesaving plasma also froze and could not be used, dooming several of the wounded.^[24]

Though many accounts of the battle state that the Chinese attacked in human waves, in actuality they attacked in well-disciplined groups of 50–100 soldiers.^[25] Once these units attacked, they were usually not pulled back until they had become ineffective due to casualties or low ammunition. The main Chinese tactic was called a “short attack,” which played into PRC general Peng Dehuai’s belief that Americans were afraid of close combat. Small groups of Chinese soldiers attacked in quick succession, hoping to break through enemy lines.^[26]

Barber had to keep adjusting his lines to reinforce weak spots in his defensive position. Chinese soldiers made their way to the company command post, and a hand-to-hand fight ensued. By morning, Cafferata was the only Marine from 3d Platoon still fighting because everyone else was either dead or too wounded to fight. Wounded Marines piled into a Korean hut-turned-aid station. They were told that helicopters would come in the morning to evacuate them to safety, but the helicopters never came.^[27] During the night, 20 Marines were killed and 54 more were wounded. When daybreak finally came, eight Australian CAC Mustang fighters flying close air support helped drive the Chinese soldiers off the hill and gave the surviving Marines a much-needed opportunity to rest and regroup.^[28]

 

The Marine Corps had just adopted the helicopter before the outbreak of the Korean War. In Korea, Marine helicopter pilots braved the cold and enemy fire to evacuate wounded Marines, deliver messages, and supply badly needed batteries to operate radios.
National Archives and Records Administration.

 

Charlie Company, severely battered that same night, lost-one third of its Marines and had to be rescued on 28 November by Able and Baker Companies of Lieutenant Colonel Raymond G. Davis’s 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. Litzenburg ordered Barber to move his Marines to Charlie Company position, but Fox Company had too many casualties to move. Davis attempted to reach Toktong Pass to rescue Fox Company as well but ran out of daylight, forcing his battalion to return to the more secure—though not safe by any means—perimeter at Yudam-ni.^[29]

Though the 1st Marine Division had been hit hard that night, Almond did not seem to understand the gravity of the situation. To the east, the soldiers of RCT 31 were barely hanging on as well. At Hagaru-ri, Smith’s command post was vulnerable to being overrun. The 1st Marine Division headquarters was cut off from all three of its regiments, and the road connecting it to the 5th and 7th Marines at Yudamn-ni in the northwest and the 1st Marines at Toko-ri to the south had become cut off from traffic. Whether or not Almond and MacArthur comprehended the gravity of the situation, the 1st Marine Division was in real trouble.

 

Airdrops, like the one pictured here, became the Marines’ lifeline since the MSR was no longer passable after the first night’s attacks.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

The Marines at Yudam-Ni prepare to evacuate south to Hagaru-ri to combine forces behind MajGen Smith’s perimeter.
National Archives and Records Administration.

 

The Marines of Fox Company had no choice but to stay put, but now they were more isolated than ever. Barber reasoned that the company could hold on and defend “Fox Hill” if they were resupplied by air. Fox Company received airdropped supplies to replenish their stocks of ammunition, food, and medical supplies.^[30] The Marines erected heated aid stations to care for the wounded Marines who could not be evacuated and spent the day improving their positions. Barber sent out patrols, which determined that the company was surrounded. The only external help the Marines would receive was the 11th Marine Regiment’s howitzer fire coming from Hagaru-ri.

On the second night of battle, Fox Company was attacked again. Barber was shot in the leg, but he continued to lead his Marines. After being wounded, he maintained his composure. Even though he was unable to walk under his own power, he moved throughout his company’s positions, first with the help of a makeshift crutch and later being carried by stretcher, to direct and reassure the defenders. This night, the casualties were much lighter, with 5 Marines killed and 29 more wounded.^[31]

On the third night of battle, the Marines remained surrounded on Fox Hill. A voice shouting from the hills told the Marines to surrender and that they would be treated well. The Marines responded by firing a volley of illumination rounds from their 81-millimeter mortars and opened fire. No Marines died as a result of fighting on the third night.^[32] But Barber’s wound was worsening, as the bullet had lodged into his hip and his leg was becoming infected. He finally relented and allowed himself to be injected with morphine, but he told his subordinates to examine his orders to make sure that they were coherent.^[33]

Almond was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation for X Corps. The 3d Infantry Division covering the port at Hungnam was split, the 7th Infantry Division was under attack at the Yalu River, and RCT 31 was facing annihilation. On 29 November, Almond ordered Smith to take command of all of the troops around the Chosin Reservoir. He also ordered that the troops around the reservoir pull back and get behind the lines at Hagaru-ri. RCT 31 did not have much luck pulling back to the perimeter. They were surrounded and severely bloodied. Only a remnant of the unit was able to pull back. Many of the survivors had to walk across the frozen reservoir to escape.

By 1 December, the airstrip that the Marine engineers had been building under fire was complete enough for transport planes to use. Now supplies could be airlifted in and casualties airlifted out. The chances of survival for wounded Marines and soldiers shot up drastically.^[34]

 

After the airstrip at Hagaru-ri was long enough to handle cargo aircraft, large airplanes delivered supplies and evacuated the wounded, increasing their chances for survival.
National Archives and Records Administration.

 

Planning for a full UN evacuation of North Korea began in earnest. Almond approved the destruction of excess materiel. The U.S. Navy prepared to take on troops at Hungnam, and Smith prepared his division to leave Yudam-ni and return to Hagaru-ri. He also ordered troops from Toko-ri to form a task force and drive to Hagaru-ri to help bolster the defenses there. RCT 31 began trying to break out of their encirclement to the relative safety of Smith’s perimeter.

 

The MSR was a single-lane unpaved road that winds through the mountains. The Marines sent patrols to the tops of the mountains to clear them of Chinese troops so vehicles could pass underneath.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

The Marines had to fight for three days to reach Hagaru-ri. Crucially, the troops at Yudam-ni would rescue Fox Company off Fox Hill along the way. Now, the 1st Marine Division would need to consolidate its forces and breakout to the coast. The 5th Marines used the MSR, while the 7th Marines hiked along the hills flanking the road to push any Chinese defenders from the area. Chinese troops set up roadblocks and blew up a bridge to slow the column’s progress, but Marine aviators strafed and bombed enemy positions and Marine engineers patched up the bridge to reopen it for vehicle traffic. Davis’s 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, reached the beleaguered Fox Company at midday on 2 December. The battalion joined the company’s defense perimeter, and now there were enough Marines on Fox Hill to command the MSR from above.^[35]

 

Elements of LtCol Raymond G. Davis’s 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, enter the Fox Company line.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

The next day, the 1st and 7th Marines entered the defensive line at Hagaru-ri. They were greeted with welcome mess tents that provided pancakes, syrup, and coffee around the clock. The entire division rested for a few more days before beginning their final push to the port of Hungnam for evacuation. Air evacuations continued, and during the first five days of December, 4,312 UN troops were evacuated from the Chosin Reservoir by aircraft.^[36]

The surviving U.S. Marines, soldiers, sailors and British Royal Marines in the Chosin Reservoir began their final drive south on 6 December, fighting most of the way. They had two major obstacles to overcome, apart from the cold and Chinese divisions. The first was that the Chinese had blown out two bridges, which threatened to halt vehicle traffic. The second was that thousands of Korean refugees fleeing the Chinese were following close behind the column of UN troops marching south, representing a burgeoning humanitarian crisis.^[37]

Marine engineers repaired the bridges. The bridge that spanned the dam gatehouse at Funchilin Pass required the airdrop of a metal span by parachute out of the back of a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar transport aircraft. Once the UN troops were across the bridges, engineers blew them up to keep the Chinese forces from using them and to create space between the rear of the UN forces and the refugees.^[38]

Though surrounded, outnumbered, and fighting bitter cold far from the safety of the harbor, the Marines finally arrived in Hungnam to embark on vessels to take them out of North Korea. The 1st Marine Division had faced a very real possibility of annihilation, and it was a miracle that it survived. Fox Company was a microcosm of the division as a whole. Outnumbered and without hope of rescue, the Marines dug in and fought a determined enemy. They took so many casualties that they could not extricate themselves from a seemingly hopeless situation. Instead of leaving their wounded behind, the rest of Fox Company remained on Fox Hill at Toktong Pass and repulsed the Chinese for five days until rescue came. It was a very near thing too, as Barber had been wounded on the second day of battle, six out of seven company officers were also wounded, and a Chinese attack nearly wiped out the company command post. Nevertheless, Fox Company continued to hold until relieved. Nearly half of the company became casualties, with 26 killed, 89 wounded, and 3 missing in action.^[39]

 

Capt William E. Barber received the Medal of Honor for his leadership and bravery as he led Fox Company at Toktong Pass.
Marine Corps History Division.

 

LtCol Raymon G. Davis received the Medal of Honor for actions on 1 December 1950 at Hagaru-ri.
Official U.S. Marine Corps photo.

 

In all, Marines received 14 Medals of Honor at the Chosin Reservoir, three of which were to Marines on Fox Hill. The first was to Private Cafferata, who hit back enemy grenades with an entrenching tool like a baseball bat and continued to fight despite being seriously wounded. The second went to Captain Barber for leading his Marines for five days against the Chinese onslaught, despite having a serious wound.^[40] The third went to Lieutenant Colonel Davis for his efforts in leading his battalion over rugged hilltop terrain to relieve the Marines of Fox Company and get them off of Fox Hill.^[41]