BLOODY NOSE RIDGE
Though spring began to thaw the land, a steady drizzle left the Rangers cold and damp on the morning of April 11th. With nervous excitement, they prepared for their first combat against a ridge beyond the village of Kantongyon. Months of training at Benning, Camp Carson and several days in Korea all cumulated to these early morning hours. Truman clung to the hull of one of the heavy tanks as they trawled across the Hantan River. When their treads bit into the earth of the far shore, they lurched forward and drove until they were within striking distance of the little village. Their assignment from there was to clear a path to spearhead an attack across the 3d Division’s front. It was not what the Rangers were designed for, but they were willing.
Before fighting together as a unit, the 3d Ranger Company parted out by platoon for combat indoctrination. Beddingfield went south of the Imjin to the British sector with his 2d Platoon filled with eager young men who had no idea what to expect from battle. Some were so nervous that they overloaded on extra ammunition that only weighed them down climbing the steep hills. The platoon found the British were experienced, professional and daring. Objectives that were typically reserved for raider or ranger type soldiers were a common night time activity for the British infantry and it was excellent training. They also experienced the unusual customs of the British Army. At daily stand-t they were required to stand at attention and present pieces of their kit or weapon to the inspecting officer. The activity was a bold show that frequently drew automatic fire which the British ignored until completing their process. Tea time, of course, took priority over all else, occasionally halting an entire afternoon advance abruptly in the open. After about a week with the British brigade, the company reunited with orders for their first combat mission.
There was no resistance through the village, made sure by point blank blasts from the tanks. The company quickly reached the hill beyond Kantongyon where they ran into a barrage of mortars across the crest. The strike came with such accuracy they assumed the Chinese had the hill zeroed and had just been waiting for the Rangers to cross over the top. This discouraged the tanks from going further, but the Rangers had little interest in staying around to be bombed by the Chinese and insisted on moving forward whether their armor followed or not. With bayonets fixed, they struck off across the terraced rice field where they were quickly met with another wall of vicious mortar fire. Machine guns along the ridge swept the whole valley and the Rangers began to fall.
No amount of training nor the fearless title of Airborne Ranger could prepare those who had not seen combat for what they were about to face, but behind forced smiles and perseverance, the two platoons pushed toward the hill. The only man suffering from his fear was Beddingfield’s platoon leader. He cowered 300 yards behind his leading troops, ordering the 3d Squad under Sergeant Smyth to remain nearby for his own protection. He was already disliked throughout the company for his devious ways – some even began to suspect he was a double agent.
Truman huddled behind the long shelf of a soggy dike, occasionally peeking over to observe where machine guns were firing from on the hill and to check on 1st Platoon’s advance. Everyone was covered in mud and fertilizer which they knew was likely to be human feces. The squad fired sporadically with little results across the top of the hill.
When Master Sergeant Jenkins commandeered 2d Platoon, they left the Lieutenant cowering as they trudged toward Bloody Nose Ridge. It was the beginning of many instances of poor leadership by the officer who became known only as ‘the exception.’ After so many among the platoon witnessed his ineptitude in combat, he lost any thread of respect from those under his command and he did little to redeem himself, only continuing to pull squads or soldiers to dig in near him. Being obedient to officers’ orders, the men followed through until inspired by old soldiers like First Sergeant Cournoyer who voiced his disgust at the Lieutenant before moving onward. The terrified officer was not seen often throughout the day.
The only way to escape the machine gun and mortar fire was to run directly into it and get to the base of the hill. The Chinese mortars were highly effective in blasting many small pieces of shrapnel across an area rather than the American mortar that would throw large chunks at random with the power to kill instantly. Even though the shells buried deep into the soft mud, they still scattered thousands of shards of hot metal into the rank of the Rangers. Most did not notice the minute fragments that put pinholes into their uniforms. Even the small bits that tore out a bit of flesh could be ignored behind the adrenaline rush, but many were riddled across their bodies and some torn up badly enough that they could not move from where they fell.
The platoon ended up scattered across the wide field in front of Bloody Nose. Some made it up the ridge, others were held back with the Exception, and more were evacuated or stranded in the paddies. The tanks finally joined the infantry to blast away at the hill with a deafening effect on anyone caught near the armor. Machine gun fire was so thick that bullets were knocking off sandbags, water cans, rations and anything else strapped to the hulls of the tanks. Their support was brief but effective and the tankers abandoned them shortly after getting into the muddy rice paddies.
As soon as the Rangers swarmed the trenches, they routed the Chinese from Bloody Nose and continued on to their next objectives without break. They marched miles into enemy territory, crossing a wide plateau toward their final objective: a pass where the road ran north toward tall mountains occupied by even more enemy troops. Several hours had passed since they began their mission that morning. Truman and the other survivors were exhausted, filthy and bloody. Mortars continued to drop into their positions and even after the harshest part of the morning at Bloody Nose, they continued to lose men one by one. The 10th Filipino’s relieved 3d Company at the end of the day. They were decimated, but victorious, and returned proudly back to the south side of the Imjin. The small force had been baptized and had the satisfaction of knowing they terrified the vastly larger force of Chinese defenders who fled in full retreat.
SEOUL & UIJONGBU
Beddingfield was one of few survivors remaining with 2d Platoon after Bloody Nose, but they were much stronger than 1st Platoon that nearly ceased to exist. They continued their offensive north where they were once again parted out to neighboring units by platoon or squad. It was not until April 20th that they were reunited to lead a tank recovery mission. There were five Shermans trapped six or seven miles inside Chinese lines north of Uijongbu. The task force comprised of vehicles from 3d Recon, armored vehicles with quad-.50s and twin 40mm guns from the A.A.A. unit, and two platoons of engineers with recovery vehicles. They were prepared to fix the tank traps and pull the armor out, but required infantry support on the high ground to succeed in their mission.
They mounted the recon vehicles before dawn and moved slowly until reaching the edge of no man’s land at full daylight. After traveling two miles into enemy territory, the convoy paused. The hatch of the lead tank opened and a tall sergeant emerged with his carbine and squeezed a ten-round burst ahead of them. Anxiously waiting in the silence following, the Rangers watched in astonishment as he leapt off his tank to retrieve a pheasant twenty yards off the road. He returned laughing, proudly carrying the bird by the feet. It was a reckless way to bag dinner and only humorous when reflecting years later.
The column continued for a few miles until the scout tanks rolled up on the first trap. Machinegun fire from the surrounding hills confirmed the patient Chinese had sprung from their positions. After a brief exchange of fire, the call for the Rangers came and 2d platoon leapt from their vehicles and jumped through the trap just like an obstacle in basic. It was a huge pit, about twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. Truman ran through instinctually as the enemy was watching the trap opened up with machine gun fire. Before they reached safety of a deep ditch, two rounds caught Master Sergeant Jenkins in the jaw and temple. He was still leading the platoon in place of the exception. About an hour later, the word spread throughout the company that he was hit.
Pockets of the platoon began crawling up the slopes leading away from the road. The quad-.50s behind them were firing on both them and the Chinese. The small pines across the hills in front of them were exploding as bullets ripped off limbs and split their trunks. Taking fire from both sides, they hugged the earth until word made it to the A.A.A. gunners to lift their fire. It was almost noon when the engineers finally arrived and began working on the first trap. They proceeded with difficulty, for it was another two hours before 3d Company reached the crests of the hills. Their heavy support continued to demolish the area and Chinese mortars continued to fall around them. They started to dig in, but the ground was extremely hard.
By late afternoon, the company began to pull back to where they found the first tank trap. It was filled in and the tanks idled nearby. The Recon Company vehicles that had taken pressure off the Rangers were around the mountains in front of them and the carriers they rode in on had disappeared. They mounted the tanks to return to friendly lines. The recovery team was able to save all but one tank. They called in jets to destroy the remaining armor and in moments the pilots screamed in firing rockets and napalm between the hills. The company rode back on the route they came in on, leaving their area of operation ablaze and smoldering.
*
The interim period was filled with more small-scale combat patrols and reconnaissance until the night of the Second Chinese Offensive when tremendous artillery rumbled throughout the night. The day before, the company was involved in an assault against another hill, which they all recalled later as the day that Sergeant Simpson was killed. There were a few other casualties, but Simpson’s death was most poignant for the company.
Early the next morning of April 23, 3d Company received orders to move west and relieve any units about to be overrun: either reach one of the Commonwealth regiments or open up the road for the British Brigade to move back. The mission directions were unclear, but they took off to the west ready to take on whatever came their way. It was a beautiful spring day under a fresh sun that made the air mild and clear. Even the birds were cheerful. They consumed the morning hours with a strenuous hike across difficult moutain terrain. Once their path levelled and they found a road to follow, the Rangers formed column of twos with 2d Platoon leading. By midday, they had just crossed into a long field approaching a mound of earth in the center of the field when sheets of bullets snapped in from every direction and they dove into the shallow ditch along the road.
It was a fine ambush by the Chinese. Truman quickly returned fire, burning through clips while keeping his head below ground level. He relayed the request down the column for the ROK Raider commander who was part of the rear guard. The little Korean came sneaking up the ditch behind a shrub he cut down and was drawing a massive amount of fire from the Chinese. The bespectacled officer felt he was invisible and that he managed to not get hit only reinforced his illusioned confidence. He was actually concealed by the edge of the ditch and would have been well hidden had he not been toting foliage above it.
Juxtaposed against the sneaky ROK officer, Lieutenant Eaton calmly strolled up the road about that time, calling out to move back down the road. He, too, remained unscathed despite his lack of effort to avoid getting shot. As bullets kicked up dust at his heels, he boldly set an example of how inaccurate the Chinese fire was. After his order passed down the line, Auby Copeland led his squad across the field first followed by Truman’s 3d Squad under Sergeant Smyth.
Amidst the onslaught of bullets, it became an unusual day for 3d Company. Elmer Rost took a round to his BAR belt and ran in a circle smoldering before orienting himself and tumbling over to play dead; Chester Powell lost a fingernail to a bullet that streaked across his rifle stock – another round took the heel of his boot; Sergeants Ballou and Trojchack had parts of their boots blown off as well; one 2d Platoon member dropped his weapon and another Ranger dared to bend over and pause amidst the fire to retrieve it; and a radioman had two bullets pass through his handheld between his head and hand.
Incredibly, there were no casualties and the platoon managed to make it to the small knoll in the middle of the flat valley. It became clear they could not stay long as enemy fire increased on three sides and machine guns zeroed on them and their only escape route. As he made his way over, Truman was knocked over when bullets bit into his combat pack. Warm liquid oozed down his face and neck and he screamed he was hit. He was almost scared to death – surely if he did not die from this, he could be hit in the spine and left paralyzed. A multitude of other ways to be maimed and suffer consumed his thoughts as he lay in the road. The machine gunner did not let up and bullets cracked over his head. Enough time passed and he eventually focused and returned to reality to realize he could move. He felt around the torn canvas where the bullets struck him, pulling his hand away wet and sticky, but it was not covered in blood as he expected. When he determined it was the juice from a can of fruit he was carrying, he scrambled off the road, leaving the tattered pack and field jacket (with $400 in the front pocket). He was somewhat embarrassed by the episode, but happy to be alive.
After Lieutenant Eaton’s word to withdraw made it to the platoon huddling on the knoll they began to dart back the way they came. They all ran past the field jacket on the ground. Everyone knew about the sum of money in it, but not one Ranger paused to grab it. They would brave the fire to recover a weapon, but no one cared about money at that point. They continued for about a mile before stopping to regroup. Auby Copeland asked Truman if he wanted to go back for his jacket, which Truman did not find humorous at the time and only returned the jab with a dirty look.
Once back to relative safety, the Lieutenant (the exception) ordered Auby to take his 1st Squad up and around one of the hills to kill or rout the Chinese. Everyone had expended most of their ammunition, most with only the magazine in their weapon or less. Auby explained this and indicated he had only nine rounds left.
“What’s the matter, Sergeant, getting yellow?” the lieutenant taunted.
“I’ll show you who’s yellow, you son of a bitch!” Auby sneered, racking the bolt of his carbine back ready to shove the barrel into the lieutenant’s stomach. The round that jumped from the chamber snapped him back to reality and he left to organize his squad wondering when he would be court martialed, but the lieutenant never approached the situation again realizing that the entire 3d Squad would have countered with recollections of his cowardice at Bloody Nose Ridge.
They walked all the way from the Hill 113 area back to the Command Post along the Hantan and immediately received orders to outpost on a tall hill nearby that was the dominant feature in the direction of the British sector where the Glosters were desperately holding on just over a mile to their left. The 3d Platoon went up first and watched all night as tracers streaked from one side to the other.
The next day, 2d Platoon took up positions beside them. Only a shallow trench littered with sharp shards of stone and stripped branches twisting out of the peaks split the bare peak of Hill 587. Fuller foliage and trees that grew below the crest provided great concealment up the slope. Through field glasses and sniper scopes, they watched the low hills in front of them come alive as enemy Chinese swarmed over them with a low hum that grew into a tremendous roar over the course of an hour. Beddingfield waited anxiously as he watched the massive army swarm nearer. A few black spots among the Chinese turned out to be the berets of British soldiers who had been overrun and were now fleeing among the Chinese.
Sergeant Smyth took volunteers from his squad to rescue British stragglers evading capture. They came back with a few survivors who turned out to be a decent portion of the 39 total Glosters who made it back from the Imjin. They stayed with the Rangers during the day and withdrew alongside them in the late afternoon. Their only casualty came when one of the British took a large projectile for a direct fire weapon right to the chest. It was another tragic incident in war which the British troops handled with stunning professionalism.
Had they stayed even a half hour longer on that peak, it would have been the end of 3d Ranger Company. The Chinese must have already made it around the base of the hill, for on the descent they discovered a new box of Chi-Com grenades that could only have been left there in the past couple hours while the 2d Platoon was on the hilltop. They were low on ammunition, some men having less than a clip of ammunition, and they were ready to fight with bayonets fixed. Fortunately, they did not have to face the entire Chinese wave and made it back to the Command Post to continue covering the withdrawal of 3d Division down the Seoul-Uijongbu highway.
In the first leg of the withdrawal, the company – now down to only about fifty strong – piled comically onto the company jeep with its trailer and the 2 ½ ton kitchen truck. The jeep and trailer had about thirteen men stuffed inside and the truck was covered on the fenders, hood, running boards and anywhere else a man could hold on to. Battling against the massive Chinese drive was over for the Rangers who had done so frequently during the hard month of April. Once Division command post established safely south of Uijongbu, 3d Company resumed patrolling and contact missions with friendly flank forces until the Division went into reserve.
IRON TRIANGLE
While the company still patrolled for guerrillas, the reprieve from constant fire and shelling allowed them to observe the natural beauty of a mild Korean spring that encouraged budding trees and blossoms across the countryside. They stumbled on a remote, walled city nestled in the mountains. It was so serene that it was almost eerie and uneasy for the men like Truman who had lived high on adrenaline for the past few weeks. Beneath the warm sun they stumbled upon other ancient villages, most of their patrols void of gunfire and incredibly peaceful.
In the middle of May, the Division pulled out of reserve to move across the peninsula to the east coast, travelling all night and day on trucks to reach the Inje area. From then until June the company searched across mountainous terrain to find any evidence of Chinese breaking through the line during their Second Offensive. They found the area extremely mountainous – the steep ridges they encountered in the Seoul area were mere hills compared to the peaks in the east. It was not barren and brown, either, but lush, green and thick with foliage.
While the 2d Division and 187th Airborne faced the main body of Chinese from the north, 3d company probed the lines trying to determine the location of the enemy’s main line and estimate their strength in those areas. Because the 2d Division was swarmed taking the most of the massive assault, 3d Company did not run into any Chinese and it put them all on edge.
The most thrilling portion of the east coast stint was when they prepared for a combat jump into Chinese Army headquarters – as Master Sergeant Davis presented it, they were going to get a star on their wings for the operation. For a couple days they prepared with presentations, drawing and packing parachutes, and rehearsing. Lieutenant Eaton and his headquarters group left for the airfield and it seemed that the drop was imminent. Truman spent the next day sitting on his pack and gear ready to go until about dark when Eaton returned with bad news – the mission was cancelled. It was a huge disappointment, but the line had stabilized and soon they were off back to the west to their stomping ground in the Uijongbu Corridor.
Heavy rains washed out bridges and mired roads leading back to the west, forcing them to cross the Han on the way. When they reached their destination on the southwest tip of the Iron Triangle, it was wet and miserable. Ponchos did little to keep out the steady drizzle and C rations were even more depressing. They continued marching forward each day, slowly acquiring mules and oxen to assist in moving equipment until reaching the Filipino positions. By the time they settled to protect the crossing site along the Hantan, they had twenty mules and four oxen. Their pack animal training from Camp Carson was useful after all. Truman’s platoon promptly visited the Filipinos and traded anything they could for their decent San Miguel beer.
The area they occupied was littered with mines and booby traps. Patrols and hikes to observation posts had to proceed with the greatest caution. Even so, the accident prone managed to trigger traps frequently. Others made it a game to see who could find the most traps and blow them without getting killed.
There were numerous caves in the area the Chinese had occupied and fled. A couple were crude field hospitals left abandoned by the Chinese. Truman’s platoon stumbled on one such cave occupied by several macabre corpses with fresh surgical cuts and half sewn wounds. Bodies from the Puerto Rican regiment frequently floated downstream, bloated and waterlogged beyond recognition and excessive use of DDT was the only way to keep the flies away.
Soon, the 3d Rangers were lazing on air mattresses on these same rivers after Captain Tidwell admitted he would be happy to sit out the rest of the war in the stagnant positions. Not all the Rangers were satisfied by this and if they didn’t escape AWOL, they were pleased in July when they moved to new peaks for platoon sized combat patrols again.
The weather was sweltering and the steep slopes made working through the days difficult. The first night of the month was one of the last major battles for the platoon. They were assigned to outpost on a hill and protect the main attack of the 7th Infantry, but to withdraw if attacked. It was late afternoon when they reached the peak. The crest was covered in foliage and trees, unusual for many of the peaks in Korea that had been wrecked by artillery. It was a rocky crest that they could only scrape away enough dirt to provide meager cover. By the way it was laid out, a night withdrawal would not be easy. Lieutenant Eaton instead decided if they were attacked, they would fight.
The bugles began as soon as it was darkn and shooting followed. Luckily, their shots were consistently overhead and mortars did not seem to touch their position. Lieutenant Eaton called in artillery that decimated the Chinese ranks and illumination rounds he requested brought light to their perimeter. Their resistance dissolved the Chinese first attack and they withdrew to organize a second. They did not change their tactics and neither did the platoon – they waited for artillery to demolish the incoming waves. The platoon spent the rest of the night waiting for another assault, but it never came and they were called back down in the morning.
The only casualty came with Ken Niemi was hit by a booby trap that morning, a grenade fragment wounding him badly enough that he needed to be carried down the hill. It was the fifth time Al Moody tripped such a trap and though everyone was used to ducking for cover at the yell of ‘grenade,’ Ken was not fast enough that morning. A fragment hit him near the spine, and not knowing how near his spinal cord it was, the medic immobilized him and the rest of the walk down the hill was a slow struggle. Division never questioned why the platoon held their ground instead of withdrawing as ordered and it became a proud engagement for 2d Platoon.
The last patrol for 3d Ranger Company took Truman through a valley of a very dark night on a mission to make contact and return with prisoners. The valley was dark enough that the silhouette of the man in front of you melted into the darkness. While crossing a wide ditch, small arms erupted from a nearby house. Flashes filled the night for only a few minutes before it was quiet again. Racine was wounded, and the medic Charles Smith came forward to dress his wounds. Beddingfield joined him with several others to carry Racine back on a stretcher, assuming the patrol behind them would take over. Not wanting to abandon the platoon, Charles returned with Beddingfield to the house but found the Rangers were gone already.
They searched for a while before deciding to waiting in a ditch until daylight. It was quiet except for the passing of a large group of soldiers speaking loudly in ‘gook talk’. At daybreak, they followed the river back until spotting some oriental troops on a nearby hill. Not knowing if they were Chinese or ROK, Beddingfield and Smith waded into the river and floated down stream until reaching a cement dam. The two climbed out, spotted a thin winding road and followed it until reaching an American patrol. They met a lieutenant who, wanting information for his own patrol, asked where they had been all night. Unfortunately, he could not supply transportation back, but did give them the password for the day. They made it back alive from their unplanned excursion, and so ended Beddingfield’s tour in Korea with the Airborne Rangers.
Between the increasing peace talks and dilemma of how obvious western faces would be infiltrating in an oriental land, the decision came to deactivate the Ranger companies. They were given a choice of staying within their parent division or joining the 187th Airborne in Japan. Truman chose to stay on as a paratrooper and enjoy the benefits Japan offered. The 187th had suffered at Inje and needed to rebuild if they were to uphold their mission in strategic reserve. Should their mission ever come to extract United Nations representatives twelve miles behind enemy lines at Kaesong, what better to rebuild the regiment than with a selection of Rangers?