Pork Chop Hill

Pork Chop Hill

Officially this area was designated Hill 255, but its contour lines and a 1959 film made it famous as Pork Chop Hill and as a two-day battle in April 1953.  In reality, that hill claimed the lives of soldiers from the United States, Thailand, Columbia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and China in a series of battles that went on for more than a year and did not end until the armistice.

Much of the focus on Pork Chop was a result of Communist political structure; whenever negotiations reached critical stages, the Chinese military was used to test the UN’s will and stamina on the battlefield.  On the night of 23 March, elements of the CCF 67th Division and the 47th Army’s 141st Division launched simultaneous ground assaults on Old Baldy, Pork Chop and Hill 191.

Pork Chop/Hill 255

In April 1953, two platoons of E Company/31st Regiment/7th Division, under 1st Lt. Thomas Harrold, garrisoned Pork Chop.  The total strength within the perimeter came to 96 men, including attached artillery, engineer and medical personnel.  The 1st and 3rd platoons mustered only 76 riflemen, and 20 of them were stationed at listening points outside the perimeter.

At 2000 hours on 16 April, a patrol from the 31st Infantry, consisting of 10 GIs from Fox Company and 5 from Easy, advanced to withing 100 yards of the shallow stream at the valley bottom and set up an ambush.  About 2300 hours, about 50 CCF approached and Sgt. Henry Pidgeon threw grenades at them – and the battle was on.  He ordered the patrol back, but they were cut off.  The advance patrol’s encounter failed to raise alarm among Pork Chop’s defenders and 2 full companies of CCF infantry reached the ramparts before anyone knew they were there.  Sgt. Carl Pratt and his 1st Platoon troops could hear the enemy, but remained in their bunkers because of the heavy Chinese shelling.  The 3rd Platoon, separated from it by terrain, was unaware of the 1st Platoon’s situation and increasing peril.

a sight of war as artillery falls

The 3rd Platoon was pinned in the bunkers, while only 6 wounded soldiers remained of the 1st Platoon.  By systematically killing the occupants and capturing the bunkers, the CCF , aided by reinforcements, secured most of the hill by 0200 hours.   Returning to Love’s command post with only 12 men, 2nd Lt. Denton reported to the company commander, 1st Lt. Forrest Crittendon, that the 3rd Platoon’s attack had failed.  The battalion commander, Lt. Col. John Davis, ordered King and Love companies to counterattack at dawn.  Love would launch its second assault with only 2 platoons and incredibly, never knew it was in a joint operation with King Co.

With the 2nd Platoon deployed on the right, the 1st on the left and the 3rd in reserve, King Co. reached the assault line.  At 0430 hours, the artillery barrage lifted and King stepped off.  Although they were not fired on, it too King’s men 29 minutes to travel 170 yards to the nearest bunker.

engagement

As the battle entered its second round, Love Company had launched its second attack about the same time as King, but met a Chinese barrage more intense that the earlier one.  Both of its platoons were crushed and sent tumbling back to Hill 200, leaving King Company on its own.  Sgt. Maxwell stated, “Pork Chop was a maze, a rat’s nest of bunkers, line and commo trenches, shell holes and rock clumps.  The Chinese kept feeding fresh troops into their counterattacks.  We fought with the men we had and every hour, we numbered less.”

At 1640, Clemons reported to the regiment, “We have about 20 men left, if we can’t be relieved, we should be withdrawn.”  Gen. Trudeau decided to hold the hill.  Col. Kern ordered Capt. King of Fox Company to move onto Pork Chop and relieve Clemons’ force as soon as possible.  Fox’s troops arrived at 2130 just as the CCF attack.  Fox Co. lost 19 men.  This battling went on throughout the night.

Pvt. Angelo Palermo, 21, Able Co./17th Infantry, said, “The Chinese were on their loud speakers telling us to surrender.  If we did not, they said, we were all going to die.  On the night of 6 July, as it started to get dark, the Chinese attacked in force.  I was on a .50-caliber machine-gun when they started to swarm up the hill.  I could have sworn that all of China was on that slope.  We fired till we ran out of ammo and by that time the Chinese were in our trenchline, so we fought them with rifle butts, bayonets and even fists and helmets.”

11 July, General Taylor ordered the hill abandoned, Col. Harry Summers was critical of this decision, calling it a political move and Marshall Peng praised the outcome as an example of Chinese effectiveness.

With the signing of the armistice, Pork Chop Hill became part of the demilitarized zone.

Much of this article was written by James Marino and published in the April 2003 issue of “Military History” magazine. [The remainder was gpcox from research notes.]

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Farewell Salutes – 

Alan Brunt, Sr. – Lithia, FL; US Army, Vietnam, Purple Heart & Bronze Star

Bronze Star

Charles Buckenberger – Port Richie, FL; US Army, WWII

Stephen Farris, Jr. – Alexandria, VA; US Army Air Corps, Colonel (Ret. 30 yrs.) WWII, fighter pilot

Victor Frankenberger – Rochester, NY & Homosassa,FL; USMC, Korea

Stanley Gould – Waihi, NZ; Serv. No. NZ 15438

Winifred Knott – Falls Church, VA; 60 years Dept. of Defense service, Exec. Secretary, Fort Belvoir, VA

Frank Noel – Albany, NZ; WWII, RAF # 572283 & RNZAF # 76731

Edward Repicky – Cleveland, OH & Tampa, FL; US Navy, WWII

Bennie Stave – Fremont, NE; US Army Air Corps, 511th A/B, WWII, PTO

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