Royal Australian Regiment and The Hook (2)
It appeared that the attack on Boulder City was intended to secure a base and firm right shoulder against the inter-divisional boundary between the 1st US Marine Division and the 1st Commonwealth Division (CW Div.). [An entire scenario was written out in this special report, knowing full well how the enemy could have taken the entire Hook area of dispute.] There were sufficient additional enemy forces to the north and west of Paris and Betty Grable to do this. But, “there is little doubt on one point, had it not been for a few stalwart infantrymen on Hill 121 and 2 tanks in the blocking positions…the speed and flexibility and weight of the 1st CW Div. artillery, the enemy would have broken through.”
“The night of 24/25 July was hectic! From about 0230 hours, incoming artillery and mortars were generally at a rate of 30 per minute… The actions by individual soldiers, NCOs was inspirational…like Sgt. Cooper’s section on Hill 111, who for most of the night were alone. The composure of young NCOs in calling in artillery fire onto their own position was courageous, as was the literally toe-to-toe personal fights around the positions on Hill 111 and the Contact Bunker. The standing patrols on Green Finger and Ronson on that same night were severely attacked and on Ronson, withdrawn after calling in defensive fire tasks.”
The night of 25 July, throughout the evening, sky turned to nearly daylight from the battalion’s flares and those dropped by an aircraft crisscrossing above the battle zone. “The accuracy and speed with which the division’s artillery performed in defensive fire task was extraordinary. It is assessed that some 25,000 mixed rounds of shells and mortars were fired against the enemy.”
Human and material damage, both extensive, could be seen when broke that morning. The Chinese communist forces attacked again that night, but with less enthusiasm as previously fought and by full morning, the attack gradually came to a halt.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Farewell Salutes –
Hector Bethart – Gainsville, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 187th RCT, medical unit, PTO
Wright M. Buckley – Connerville, IN – UA Army Air Corps, WWII, 127th Engineers, PTO
Alfred J. Carlson – Peoria, AZ; US Air Force, Korea
Albert Haddad – Toronto, Canada; Canadian Armored Corps, Captain, WWII
Kenneth Hitch – Fairfax, VA; US Army, WWII & Korea, medical
Bertram Long – Washington, DC; US Navy, WWII
Roland V. Rakow – Miami, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, North Africa, 83rd Squadron, POW – escaped
William Render – Chicago, IL; US Army, WWII
John Tillman Simpson – Green Forest, AR; US Army, WWII
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To All our troops out there protecting those of us at home – THANK YOU – I do not have any other words to express the gratitude! Take care and God Bless!
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Posted on March 1, 2014, in Korean War, Uncategorized and tagged Australia, family history, History, Korean War, Marines, Military, Military History, nostalgia, veterans, war. Bookmark the permalink. 42 Comments.
A great informative look at history.
It takes guts to actually call in Arty on your own position
This happened a few times in Vietnam and illustrates
the ferocity and closeness of the combatants.
Ian
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And it worked!!
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Wow that would be artillery and mortar every two seconds. The noise alone must have been like a mental ambush if nothing else!
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And some people wonder why some our soldiers come home rattled! These days, our soldiers are sent overseas for 3 & 4 tours because the military branches have been cut and there’s no draft. Don’t get me wrong, I do not want the draft back – I want our men brought HOME.
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Thanks for the Aussie perspective. I am planning on revisiting Kapyong and the Australian Lighthorse (WW1) for around Anzac Day (April 25th).
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Terrific! Make sure you take photos and it will make for a great post or two for your site.
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For those interested in the Australian participation in the Korean War, this site of the Australian War Memorial looks very interesting http://www.awm.gov.au/
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I could have gotten pretty lost in that link you sent, took down the address for future reference; I really appreciate the help! I took down Cpl. Baird’s name for the Salutes as well.
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There’s a huge amount of information on that site!
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Farewells to:
Ernest Ralph Carson 6835 2nd NZEF, 22 February, Oamaru, NZ
Ivan Alexander Frost, Service No. NZ4215678, RNZAF, Flt Sgt, RAF Sqdn 75, WWll, 20 February, Lower Hutt, NZ
Allan Arthur Charles Riordan Reg No. 72855, AC1 RNZAF Malaysia, WWll, 21 February, Christchurch, NZ
Albert Edward (Bert) Taylor, NZEF, 2nd Div, Reg No. 290465, 23 February, Christchurch, NZ
Alexander Albert Edward (Ted), Ex 2nd NZEF No. 111589, 26 February, Christchurch, NZ
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Thanks, Gallivanta – your continued assistance is always a huge help! I always appreciate you taking the time to do this for your vets!!
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The number of farewell salutes gets alarming some weeks 😦 .
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Terribly scary – that entire generation will be gone in a blink of an eye. One reason I get so angry with their relatives and how they write the obits over here. They act like politicians themselves and just want to see their own names in the paper and the heck with what the vet accomplished all those years. (I don’t think having all those grand & great-grand kids was HIS doing!)
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That’s sad.
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Is that camouflage the CCF is carrying GP? –Curt
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You betcha – this photo is NOT of POWs. That is the CCFF getting into position. Thanks for coming by, Curt!
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This site is a great tribute indeed to all soldiers in the world. Sending salutes from an Indian Army (ex) officer.
Regards and thanks for this inspirational post!
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My salute to you too, sir. In preparing for future posts of WWII, I have just been reading about your units in the Pacific theater. Whoa!
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Thanks dear GP and wish you best in the research and writings for your WW II posts. I was commissioned in the Indian Army in the year 1965 and am delighted to read your inspiring posts.
Best regards 🙂
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Thanks for coming by, Dilip, it will be a pleasure to hear your perspective on the history when we get there; from what I’ve gotten so far – they were one brave bunch of men put in most horrific positions.
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My birthday is July 25th, very moving to read what happened so many years before I was born.
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A sort of reverse anniversary, so to speak. See how events of the past not only affect the future, but repeat themselves?
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I still think that the biggest hero of all was the guy who came up with the expression “The first casualty of war is Truth” …
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It took a lot of guts to say that in public, eh? Thank you for for your loyalty to reading here, Argus – much appreciated.
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How interesting, moving, sad and courageous. The photos are remarkable~
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They say so much more than I can, don’t they! Thanks for stopping in, Cindy.
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Interesting as always!
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Thanks, Cindy.
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Great picture. The perfection of the salute says a lot about their pride and respect. Love our guys.
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As always, your post is compelling in so many ways, from the prose to the photographs, to the “Farewell Status” to the “Thank you”.
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I appreciate you reading, the veterans deserve to be remembered – hence the Thank you.
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They most definitely do!
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You’ve captured the chaos of the battlefield so precisely in this post. Is it any wonder individuals who have been through these battles suffer for so long after the was is supposedly over. Thanks.
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Thank you, Carol – not only for your compliment, but your expression of how the vets must feel.
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“30 per minute” Yikes!
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Can you believe it?! I was wondering who would catch that! I can’t even picture it in my mind.
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On the eve of the 100th anniversary of WWI I can’t help but reflect on how people have not yet realized that service men from whatever country they fought (or still fight) for in the world were (are) just pawns in a big chess game that will never end.
Look what is just happening now in Ukraine. Look how North Korean people are suffering. I won’t talk about the African continent.
This is why this blog is so essential.
Sometimes people can’t handle the truth, and prefer listening to propaganda from both sides, They won’t find the whole truth anywhere in history books.
I hope I am not rambling…
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You’re NOT rambling at all, Pierre – you’re speaking the truth! You of all people know just how much propaganda we have to sift thru to finally find out the truth of what happened. That’s why I keep telling the readers that I’m printing only the facts – I know I hurt some people sometimes, and destroy illusions of heroes – but the true history needs to be told and remembered. [If only the politicians would read!]
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I especially like the photo of the tank crew.
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I sure did not want to leave any one out – not if I could help it. Thanks, Swabby.
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The follow up was worth the short wait. Another fascinating and informative story.
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Thanks, Mike. With all the pictures I found, etc. I didn’t want to put it all into one post and make the chaos any more confusing than it was.
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