Korean War (36)

From: Charmaine Francois-Griffith ,I wanted to clarify on the Hq 31st Inf photo. This photo was taken at Camp Crawford in early summer of 1950. Most of these men were with Task Force MacLean/Faith at the Chosin Reservoir. They were under the command of Col. William Reilly, 3rd Battalion commander. Of these men 2 were POW released in 1953 and 7 are still at the Chosin waiting to come home. Pro Patria.

1953

8 January 1953, the Marine 7th Regiment took Hill 67, a mile and a half from Panmunjom.

24 January, two platoons from the Ethiopian Battalion attached to the 7th Div. seized a hill south of Old Baldy.

During the period 12-20 January 1953, the 57th Field Artillery Battalion, alone in direct support of the 31st Regiment, poured close to 110,000 rounds of 105mm fire into the T-Bone complex.  They were seeking to destroy enemy bunkers and weapons in preparation for Operation Smack as the D-day, 25 January approached.

Pershing & Sherman tanks of the 73rd Heavy Tank Battalion, Korea

On 24 January, the Air Force dropped 136,000 lbs of bombs  and 14 napalm tanks on the target complex.  The next morning, as the infantry and tankers gathered in the assembly areas, the Air Force began the first of 18 strikes.  Carrying two 1,000 lb bombs each, 8 F-84 Thunderjets swept over the cross of T-Bone and unloaded their cargo.  By mid-morning, 24 more Thunderjets, in flights of 8, had bombed the enemy positions.  Then came a mass strike by 24 Thunderjets, with 48,000 lbs. of bombs; this completed experiments A and B.  Twenty additional  planes in 2 flights hit the objective before the tanks and infantry began to move out.

Diversionary tank movements and fire to confuse the enemy began as the assault troops made their final preparations.  Then the 15 supporting tanks from the 73rd Tank Battalion crossed the line of departure.  Experiment C was attempted by two flights of 4 F-84 each.  The first flight missed Spud Hill and the second flight only put one napalm tank on the target.  Shortly after the last strike by the Air Force, 8 F4U Marine Corsairs attempted to lay a smoke screen in front of the tanks and infantry to conceal their approach, but some released their bombs too.

Once the air phase was complete, the supporting artillery, mortars, AAA and automatic weapons along the MLR opened fire.  As the supporting tanks reached their firing positions close to Spud Hill, they joined in the bombardment of the enemy strongpoints and trenches.   Major Phillips, commander of the 2nd Battalion, directed the operation from his command post.

F-84

For the assault of the hill, Major Phillips had ordered E Company to furnish the platoon and the company commander had chosen his 2nd Platoon, under 2nd Lt. John Arbogast, Jr., for the task.  Two flamethrower teams had been added to the platoon for the operation.  As they moved forward to the base of Spud Hill in personnel carriers, the supporting tanks and artillery continued to pound the objective.

Arbogast’s platoon dismounted quickly when it reached the foot of the hill and divided into 2 groups.  It was not until the squads neared the point where the two fingers met, reuniting the attacking troops, that the Chinese started to react strongly.  The machine-gun fire became intense, driving the men of the 2nd Platoon into a  hollow between two fingers.  This left them easy prey to the grenades lobbed from the crest of the hill.  The litter bearers found it difficult to keep up with the growing number of wounded.

T-Bone Hill sector

In an attempt to break up the grenade attack, the two flame thrower teams were called forward; one man was killed and the other machine malfunctioned.  Seeing that the assault platoon was pinned down, Major Phillips ordered the 1st Platoon to reinforce Arbogast’s remaining troops.  Every half hour, 4 Thunderjets dropped bombs on the T-Bone complex, but they too, had little influence on Spud Hill.

Lt. Arbogast was already wounded and his platoon sergeant and several of the squad leaders had been put out of action.  Phillips decided to commit the 3rd Platoon to the attack, but the end result proved to be the same.  When regimental commander, Col. William Kern, learned of the fate of the 3rd Platoon, he called off the attack and ordered the men remaining on Spud Hill to withdraw.  By this time, all three platoon leaders had been wounded.

All this ended up costing the Chinese fewer than 65 men and while using but a fraction of the ordnance, had inflicted great losses upon the 7th Division.  All in all, Operation Smack was a fiasco.

Gen. J. Van Fleet (left) inspects 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment w/ MGen. John O’Daniel

Toward the end of the month, Gen. Clark warned Van Fleet that the enemy might try to take advantage of the ground thaw to launch an offensive toward Seoul.  Van Fleet was not worried; he was sure that the Eighth Army could handle anything that the enemy could throw at it.  Despite the frustrations of fighting a limited war, the energetic and aggressive old warrior had lost none of his drive or desire to deal the enemy a crippling military blow.  The general left for retirement and home in February 1953.

[information taken and condensed from the U.S. Army history archives.]

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WWII Update – 

Military photos help archaeologists of today in the search for the past…

Click images to enlarge.

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Farewell Salutes – 

Stephen Anastasion – No. Carolina; US Navy, Captain (Ret.), WWII, USS Champlin (DD601), ETO, Bronze Star

Frank Arado, Jr. –  Chicago, IL; US Army, Korea

Bronze Star

Gearld Beamish-White – Rotorua, New Zealand; WWII, Force No. 204182

John Del-Zio – Astoria, NY; US Navy SeaBees, WWII, PTO

Gearld Goldstein – Milwaukee, WI & No. Miami Beach, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Harold Jones, Jr. – Georgetown, TX; US Army Air Corps, 2nd Lt. , WWII, flew P-38s and B-25s

Howard Krueger – Bolingbrook, IL;  US Navy Chief Petty Officer (Ret.)

Marshall Treado – Gaithersburg, MD; USMC, Lt.Colonel (Ret.)

Preston Wilburn, Jr. – Issaquah, WA; US Navy, Korea

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