Soldiers and Marines Saga, page 2
Damn, I only counted 82. We’ve lost half the company and all the officers. Hardly any ammo left. It’s all back there where we left it. Not as good here as where we were, but we might be able to hold it for a while if we have enough ammo. Which we don’t.
Then the newly minted officer looked around again and started to smile. Are these really his men now? It was hard to believe. And then for a moment he felt a bit sad and pensive as he watched as the men began moving and digging.
It’s funny how they started doing what I told them. Well, hell, when the Captain got hit and the Lieutenant was crying all the time somebody had to tell them what to do. Thank God Vinnie caught on and started yelling at them to do what I said. Don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t. I’d a probably run myself. Poor Vinnie. He saved our asses before his leg got blown clean off and he bled out. Yes he did. Poor bastard.
“Colonel, we only just got to that ridge yesterday and we should have stayed there,” I gestured back towards where we’d come. “I was down checking the enemy casualties and picking up their weapons when the Lieutenant lost his nerve and started shouting at everybody to run. They’re good men, they really are, but they panicked. I saw them go but couldn’t get back in time to stop them.”
And poor old Vinnie was gone by then.
After a pause, I made sort of a gesture at the distant ridge and spoke again to the colonel.
“That little ridge over there across the way would have been better terrain for us to hold, much better. But this looks like it might work.”
Then, after a pause, I added, “yeah, it’ll do. The gooks’ll be out in the open all the way if they try to come up here to get us. We can dig in just below their line of sight and cut them up real good if they don’t have tanks.”
And we are truly up shit creek if they do.
“Yeah,” I say thoughtfully, nodding slowly and looking across to the ridge line, “We can hold them for a while—but not for long unless we get more ammo.”
Probably about five minutes.
Then, after another pause, I added, “yeah, we’ve got to have ammo…. and a couple of mortars and something to kill tanks would help. Food and water wouldn’t hurt either. Particularly water.” I was thinking of water because I suddenly realized I was thirsty as hell.
“I’ll get help up to you as fast as possible,” the Colonel said. If there’s any to send. And then, after rummaging around in a bag in the back seat of his Jeep, the colonel brought out a folded map and handed it to me along with his binoculars.
“Rally your men at hill 478 if the North Koreans break through before I get back.”
It’s that one there” the colonel said, pointing to a shapeless gray blob in the distance. “I’ll drive the Jeep with the wounded and leave you mine with the machine gun and the driver and gunner as reinforcements.” For some reason I feel guilty about abandoning them, but I’ve got to get back. I’ll send them help as soon as I do.
“I’ll send you help and supplies as soon as I do. You’ll have to make do with what you’ve go until then.”
“Yes sir.” Then, after a moment of thought, I decided to tell the colonel what I was going to try to do.
“Colonel, while the rest of the company is digging in here I’m going to take a BAR team and a couple of guys back to that ridge over there and see if I can get some of the ammo and water we left when we bugged out.”
Where we will probably get waxed before we can even try to get back here.
Then I added an explanation.
“Without it we’re fucked.”
“You think you can get to it?” the colonel asked me.
“Maybe. We’ve got almost nothing now so I’ve got to try. The gooks started pulling back when I got their officer and some grunts. That was after the company bugged out so maybe they think we’re still there. We bloodied their noses real good as they came up at us so maybe, just maybe, they’re waiting until it gets dark to make another run at us.”
Christ what a fuckup. I’ve got to get that ammo and water.
Takes care of his men and he's got balls and an eye for terrain too. He’ll do, the colonel decided. As he trotted back to the Jeep he saw the little medic with the carbine slap a big sticky bandage on the back of Roberts’ head.
“All I got” the little medic mumbled through the ripped off bandage cover he was still holding in his teeth. Then he spit it out and rushed off to start digging. As goddamn deep as I can dig it in this godforsaken place. I knew I should have listened to my old man and gone back to school.
The new officer stood there deep in thought for a moment—and I even touched the bandage on the side of my head to reassure myself that it’s really me and I’m here.
Then I stood up, took in another deep breath, and began shouting orders.
“Jackson get your BAR and all the ammo and grenades you and Jonesy over there can gather up. You’re both coming with me.”
We’ve got to hurry. We’re up shit creek if they come over that crest before we get there. Where the fuck is Murphy?
“Move it. Goddamn it. Move it.”
“You too Woz. Collect as many banana clips for the carbines and BARs as you and your buddy there can find.
“You too,” I said, looking at someone wearing a pack on his back who is trying to turn away to avoid catching my eye. Christ, I can't even remember his name. “Leave your rifle here and take Big Joe's carbine and all the clips you can find. Collect up all the grenades we’ve got and bring them too. Fill your pockets and your pack—and carry it, don’t wear it.” So we can pick it up if you get hit.
“Hurry. We got to go. Hurry… Hurry goddamnit.”
“Murphy,” I yelled at gaunt string bean of a Sergeant, “I’m taking Woz and some of the guys and going back for the ammo and supplies we left behind. Have the men dig in here and wait for the ammunition and reinforcements the Colonel is going to send us. And most important, even if the stuff the Colonel’s sending hasn’t arrived, don’t you fuckin pull out until the gooks actually come over that ridge and start to attack.”
Then I added
“And when they do, you man the machine gun on the Jeep yourself… so you can hold up the gooks if the company has to run for it.” Again.
“Do that and the Colonel will probably let you keep your stripes despite the company’s bugging out.”
Murphy hadn’t thought of that had he? Not his fault the lieutenant lost it this morning but, Goddamn it, he should have stopped them from bugging out.
“And pick a dependable driver who won’t bug out with the Jeep and leave you with your finger up your ass.”
Wonder if it’s true Murphy lost part of his ear in a bar fight. Sure does look like tooth marks to me. Hope it means he’ll fight. Haven’t seen much of it yet but he and Ortiz are the only sergeants we’ve got left. Damn, this is exciting.
Chapter Two
Colonel Talley drove the Jeep himself with the six wounded still in it and the guy with the arm wound sitting on the hood and holding tightly to the folded down windshield with his good hand. He left its unhappy driver and his own machine-gun equipped Jeep and its gunner to “reinforce” the Charlie Company survivors.
He passed several small groups of leaderless men as they barreled along the dirt track at all of ten to fifteen bone-wrenching miles per hour. The colonel pumped his arm as he went by—the ageless military signal to step it up.
I’ve got to get back to headquarters and send them some help.
Thirty minutes later the colonel staggered and almost fell as he wearily jumped out of the Jeep at the ramshackle tent camp serving as the brigade’s headquarters. The Jeep with a newly commandeered driver and the now-unconscious and dying captain, and the other wounded, rushed on to the nearby aid station.
My brigade now is the colonel’s last thought as he sat down and promptly leaned over and fell asleep for the first time in more than seventy two hours.
Dusk is just starting to fall when he woke with a start. An officer, a major, was shaking him.
“Sir, Sir, please wake up.”…
“Oh God. What time is it?” Talley lurched to his feet using the back of the folding chair for support.
“How long did I sleep?” … “God damn it. Why didn’t you wake me?”
The major looked worried.
“Nothing has changed since you left this morning, Sir. “Colonel Donski told us to let you sleep unless there was an emergency.”
Goddamn it Ben, that’s a hell of a way to impress your first brigade. Wonder if my promotion came through. Oh my God, Roberts and his men.
******
The news spread quickly that the Colonel was awake. Almost a dozen officers and sergeants crowded into the tent. A sandwich which consisted of two pieces of white bread with a slice of cheese in the middle and desperately needed was literally shoved into his hands along with a mess kit cup full of black coffee. The cup promptly burned his hands before he could find a place to put it down on the folding table where his head had rested all afternoon.
“Shit” he said as he spilled some of the coffee on his pants.
In the background a field telephone shrilled and was answered. He could hear thunder rising and falling in the distance.
Jeez this place smells… I’m hungry.
“What’s happening? What’s the situation?” He half-shouted with his mouth full as he alternately munched his sandwich and sipped at his coffee. God I needed that.
“Where’s Murchison?” I need a briefing and fast.
“He’s out looking for the Second Battalion. But nothing much has changed since you went forward, Sir” said a captain in dirty fatigues as he pointed to a map tacked onto a piece of wood leaning against the side of the tent.
“The Division Commander is still missing and what’s left of our guys are digging in along the line you ordered before you went forward to check things out.”
The briefer, a captain, what’s his name. Seems steady summarized the situation.
“We expected to get hit by now but so far nothing. And that’s good because we were able to bring up ammo and dig in a little bit more. The men got a little rest—if you can call it restful to dig for your life instead of getting shot at.
“Also we got a platoon of medium tanks, old Shermans from the War but better than a kick in the ass. Them and about half a battery of 105s was coming in on the old Seoul road. We set them up, uh, just beyond hill 309. You know, next to where that old warehouse is.”
Then the captain continued.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is that we’re still not able to raise the Third battalion and it looks like no more reinforcements and supplies are gonna be available for at least a week. Maybe longer. According to Division, just about everything we’ve got is on the line and the ROKs are falling apart.”
Then the captain added, “there was a lot of firing to the northeast a couple of hours ago. Sounded like small arms. About five miles off. Don’t know what that means.”
“I do.” Shit, well we won’t see Roberts again and it’s all my fault.
The Colonel picked up the cup and promptly spilled more on his leg Damn that’s hot as moved towards the map and pointed.
“I found what was left of Charlie of the 3rd digging in along this little ridge. At least that’s where they were this morning,” he said, pointing a finger at a place on the wall map.”
“I took their jeep and wounded and left them mine with the radio and machine gun. Any word from them?” Not likely.
“Yessuh” said a white-haired sergeant running the words together with a deep southern drawl. “little aftuh one this afternoon. Said they was totally out of water and almost out of ammunition and had retook some ridge. Said they was using captured Russian weapons and ammunition and they work real good.”
Then the captain chimed in.
“The 105s were gonna give them a few rounds in support when they reported gooks about to hit them. But then they went off the air. They may be gone.”
“Christ,” said a stocky major under his breath. “No wonder we haven’t been hit.”
Then the major paused and looked pensive as he looked at the map.
“That ridge controls the open land the gooks will have to use to get their tanks through the mountains. Do you think we still hold it?”
“Not likely,” the colonel said, “but we sure as hell need to get some people up there and find out.”
Then he added after a thoughtful pause.
“The company up there is Charlie of the Third. It’s commanded by a guy named Roberts, at least it was when I left. Good man. If he’s still around, which I doubt, I want him kept in command as a captain with an instant DSC and Purple Heart for his actions yesterday and a Silver Star for his actions today.”
That’s the least I can do for the poor sonofabitch I abandoned. He saved the company and maybe bought us enough time to save the whole damn division.
“Write them up as immediate awards. I want them awarded today.”
Then the colonel added, “but first get the Reserve Company headed up there with a couple of those old Shermans for weight. I want them moving in fifteen minutes. Real fast. He thought.
“Tell them to go without the tanks if necessary. And tell them to keep going until they make contact with the North Koreans or reach what ever is left of Charlie.”
“Give them whatever deuceand a halfs and three quarter ton weapons carriers you can grab, and tell them to sit the troops on top of whatever heavy weapons you can find and as much ammunition and food they can load. Water too. Charlie’s all out; so especially include water. And anything they can use against tanks. Christ, they’re totally out of everything.”
“And tell the CO of the reserve company he’s to do whatever Roberts tells him to do when he gets up there.”
“Yes Sir. Easy Company is the reserve company sir, Captain Symonds. I’ll tell him to hurry. ”
“By the way, sir,” an officer said, “a message came down a couple of hours ago about you—General. Congratulations.”
Sonofabitch. I made it. All those years. Angie will be over the moon. Christ, I should have sent Roberts help before I fell asleep.
Chapter Three
Seconds after the colonel pulled out driving the Jeep full of wounded himself and leaving his unhappy driver and machine gunner as “reinforcements,” the newly minted company commander, that’s me, and five men including Gomez, the company’s only remaining BAR gunner, a squat Indian-looking Hispanic PFC from Los Angeles, began moving as fast as possible back towards the ridge we’d just abandoned.
As fast as possible isn’t really all that fast because we are carrying Charlie Company’s only remaining BAR and all the BAR clips and grenades we could gather up on short notice. But we’re moving as fast as we can move.
We were sweating profusely and gasping for air as the ridge line got closer and closer. The guys had all heard me explain to the colonel why we were going back and the word spread fast. No one held back. We all knew what would happen if the North Koreans reached the top of the ridge before we did and caught us out in the open on the upward slope.
Fucking yellow lieutenant. We never should have left.
“Faster goddamn it, faster,” I gasped.
We gotta get there first. We gotta. They know it but I have to say it.
Just after we crossed the road I traded with Gomez and started carrying the BAR. He was obviously getting winded so I took over carrying the BAR in addition to wearing the partially filled clip vest and carrying my carbine. I was really getting a bit winded myself by the time we angled up a sort of mini gully that runs up the slope towards the rock pile that stands at the top of the ridge. It’s the highest point around.
Gomez, the gunner turned BAR loader who was carrying another belt partially full of BAR clips, and I, got to the top first—and came around the corner of the rocks just in time to see a big group of North Koreans fifty yards away and trudging up towards us. They were going for the rocks too.
Holy Shit.
The North Koreans were heavily laden and struggling. They were carrying weapons but almost every one of them was also carrying a wooden crate on his back. There was at least a company of them, maybe two or three.
Probably coming up to relieve or resupply the guys we ran off.
Without even thinking, I instinctively dropped down and began firing as I flipped open the BAR’s bi-pod front legs for stability. My sudden appearance, and the roar and destruction as I ran straight through the entire first clip, stunned the Koreans.
They were so close I could see the surprise register on their faces. Some of them tried to drop their crates and use their weapons but they had no cover and for the first few seconds most of them didn’t even know where I was shooting from.
I got the fuckers. This is exciting.
I kept firing until I’d run through five clips and the BAR suddenly stopped.
Fuck. Jammed. Damn there’s a lot of the bastards.
I grabbed the carbines slung over my back and began again until I’d exhausted its entire banana clip and then the second and third clips that I instantly slapped in when the one I was using ran dry. I was shouting and talking as I fired but I can’t clearly remember what I said; I think I may have just screamed at them to go away.
The Korean wounded and some of the survivors were on the ground in front of me desperately seeking cover behind dead bodies and the crates they quickly dropped. Others were running and crawling towards a slight depression that began about thirty yards out.
It was a screaming and smoky pandemonium as some of the retreating Koreans were turning and shooting as they ran. Others were attempting to hide behind their packs and the dead and wounded.
Almost immediately there were two or three dozen, or maybe even more, dead and dying North Koreans and a shit pot full of wooden crates and weapons littering the slope in front of me.
“Grenades. I need grenades” I screamed over my shoulder to my stunned followers as I ran through my last carbine clip. My men had stopped dead in their tracks and crouched when they saw me go to ground and open up with the BAR.
