The Four Deuces

Informationen zum Autor C.S. Crawford Klappentext These memoirs are not an attempt to answer, solve, or resolve the problems arising from or about the three-year-long Korean War or the much longer stalemate that followed. This story was written to let you know how one very young, very scared marine saw his very first war and how he reacted to the killing and the mayhem of it. The stories are my view of that war, a war gone to ground in the trench lines. Dig into the stories and you may find something you were not expecting. I am well aware that my view of the Korean War has no historical importance. Still, it is my view, and I want to share it with you. I do not have a cause to plead or an ax to grind, and that alone ought to count for something. My memoirs are selective and most certainly tainted with time. My recollections are a lot like boot mines, and ought to be approached with caution. I was a grunt, a Four Deuce forward observer, assigned to duty with a marine infantry company every time the 1st Marine Regiment went back up on line. During the time I was in Korea my boondockers were firmly planted in trench-line mud. When I came home in September 1952, I was proud that I had helped in the attempt to stop Communism in Korea. I was proud of all the men I served, and served with, and I was a little bit proud of myself, too.Prologue The Korean War began late in June 1950 and for the first fifteen months raged fiercely up and down and across the peninsula of that country. Both North Korea and South Korea were devastated. After the war machines of the United Nations command, of the Chinese communist forces, of both North Korea and South Korea had chewed up the country, spitting out only waste, much had been lost and very little had been gained by either side. The fight to gain landfor one side or the otherended almost exactly where it began along the 38th Parallel. Although great masses of land were taken and lost again by both sides during the first fifteen months of the Korean War, the beginning of peace talks saw the war stagnate following a last major engagement in 1951, an action called the Punchbowl. The war stagnated with combatants on both sides living in trenches. War was a matter of reconnaissance and combat patrols, a matter of fierce firefights with small arms, a matter of howitzers and mortars fired discriminately and indiscriminately. Many books detail the history of early Korean battles, of engagements both large and small, of men and machines of war, of the way and manner and fighting abilities of all concerned with the war, especially during the first fifteen months of the Korean War. Justifiably so; this was fierce warfare and needed to be recorded. Very few books have been written of the months that followed, from October 1951 until the end in July 1953. In those twenty-one months, many men died in the trench warfare that existedwarfare likened to that of World War I, but which was fought in a more modern manner. Although still a shooting war, a dying war, the Korean War came virtually to a standstill, degenerating in 1951 into dreary and seemingly endless battles for the same hills. Although the war came somewhat to a halt, the men fighting it did not. War is often quite unconventional, and fighting in a trench warfare situation is often bizarre. One of the last recorded instances of an engagement in the Korean War is perhaps the oddest of all. Some forty minutes before 2200 on July 27, 1953the hour the shooting stoppedmarines on a hill near Panmunjon saw Chinese digging in a trench less than a hundred yards away. They asked if they should shoot and were ordered not to. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Hill, their battalion commander, summed up the entire war when he allegedly said: Don't start anything you can't stop. The marines did not shoot; instead they spent the last few minutes of the Korean War throwing rocks at the Chinese.<...

Autorentext

C.S. Crawford

Klappentext

These memoirs are not an attempt to answer, solve, or resolve the problems arising from or about the three-year-long Korean War or the much longer stalemate that followed. This story was written to let you know how one very young, very scared marine saw his very first war and how he reacted to the killing and the mayhem of it. The stories are my view of that war, a war gone to ground in the trench lines. Dig into the stories and you may find something you were not expecting. I am well aware that my view of the Korean War has no historical importance. Still, it is my view, and I want to share it with you. I do not have a cause to plead or an ax to grind, and that alone ought to count for something. My memoirs are selective and most certainly tainted with time. My recollections are a lot like boot mines, and ought to be approached with caution. I was a grunt, a Four Deuce forward observer, assigned to duty with a marine infantry company every time the 1st Marine Regiment went back up on line. During the time I was in Korea my boondockers were firmly planted in trench-line mud. When I came home in September 1952, I was proud that I had helped in the attempt to stop Communism in Korea. I was proud of all the men I served, and served with, and I was a little bit proud of myself, too.

Leseprobe
Prologue
&#160;
The Korean War began late in June 1950 and for the first fifteen months raged fiercely up and down and across the peninsula of that country. Both North Korea and South Korea were devastated. After the war machines of the United Nations command, of the Chinese communist forces, of both North Korea and South Korea had chewed up the country, spitting out only waste, much had been lost and very little had been gained by either side. The fight to gain land—for one side or the other—ended almost exactly where it began along the 38th Parallel.
&#160;
Although great masses of land were taken and lost again by both sides during the first fifteen months of the Korean War, the beginning of peace talks saw the war stagnate following a last major engagement in 1951, an action called the Punchbowl. The war stagnated with combatants on both sides living in trenches. War was a matter of reconnaissance and combat patrols, a matter of fierce firefights with small arms, a matter of howitzers and mortars fired discriminately and indiscriminately.
&#160;
Many books detail the history of early Korean battles, of engagements both large and small, of men and machines of war, of the way and manner and fighting abilities of all concerned with the war, especially during the first fifteen months of the Korean War. Justifiably so; this was fierce warfare and needed to be recorded.
&#160;
Very few books have been written of the months that followed, from October 1951 until the end in July 1953. In those twenty-one months, many men died in the trench warfare that existed—warfare likened to that of World War I, but which was fought in a more modern manner. Although still a shooting war, a dying war, the Korean War came virtually to a standstill, degenerating in 1951 into dreary and seemingly endless battles for the same hills. Although the war came somewhat to a halt, the men fighting it did not.
&#160;
War is often quite unconventional, and fighting in a trench warfare situation is often bizarre. One of the last recorded instances of an engagement in the Korean War is perhaps the oddest of all. Some forty minutes before 2200 on July 27, 1953—the hour the shooting stopped—marines on a hill near Panmunjon saw Chinese digging in a trench less than a hundred yards away. They asked if they should shoot and were ordered not to. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Hill, their battalion commander, summed up the entire war when he allegedly said: “Don’t start anything you can’t stop.” The marines did not shoot; instead they spent the last few minutes of the Korean War throwing rocks a…