Seventh Infantry Division - Yearbook (South Korea)

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along the way, the second squad began to screen the area. It had been five hours since the Reds had overrun Lyons, ambush squad. In a hole on the crest of Jack, they found Pvt. J. T. fDocj Burns, the aid man. With him was the bullet-riddled body of another member of the squad. Although Burns had been wounded several times he was still alive. His companion was dead. A Chinese soldier had stood over them and poured shots from his burp gun into the hole. According to Burns, who was calm and talkative, the Chinese had remained on the knob for about an hour after their sweep, then left. The screen patrol found another rifleman's body on the slope and at about 0230, the solitary screening squad pulled off Jack, carrying its grim cargo of two dead and the wounded Burns. Fifteen men were left on the listening post at Ace and the rest of the men wearily returned to the line. Actually, Lyons' squad that night had intercepted a Chinese raid on UN positions, as evidenced by the size of the force and the heavy artillery and mortar support of the Reds. Later, in a routine patrol report, Delaney noted: I feel had the Chinese not encountered a force on Jack, they would have come on into friendly ele- mentsf' This then was the daily diet. The nerve-wracking, tense game of kill and run, hide and seek, played by both sides. In reports it was noted frequently as Rou- tine patrol action.', But the routine along Line JAMES- TOWN, as along all front lines, often could be as deadly as a major assault. All was not routine, however, for the Special Services and USO bolstered our spirits regularly and for this the men were most grateful. Special Services sent two shows up the MLR during February and in the latter part of the month, Dick Contino brought his USO show up to the line, playing eight shows for various units of the Division, all of them virtually at the front door of the enemy. During the first three weeks in March our patrol and recon missions continued with accent on ambush patrols The war was temporarily forgotten.

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A., . 9 is t.: :f H--si Pig 12,1 . . a N , L ii- You don't hardly hear bands like this no more! a state of shock, Maxey repeated the question five times. Lyons told him that only the dead remained on Jack. No living men had been left behind. Maxey and Nicker- son, on instructions from the company, established a perimeter around King. Five minutes later, the enemy opened up a terrific mortar bombardment. MaXey's perimeter now started suffering casualties. Maxey was ordered to Withdraw temporarily until the shelling had ceased. Then at 2040, company headquarters told him to lead a three-squad force back to Jack in search of the dead. An extra patrol Was sent in from the company and UN artillery was promised on the hill before MaXey's screening patrol reached the knob. A count had turned up five men missing. Sergeant Acebado was dead, so were others. Since there Was still a chance that some of the missing men were alive on Jack, Maxey requested that the artillery be cancelled. Moving down over King and Queen and leaving perimeter squads Personnel of the 223rd Inf. Regt., 40th U. S. Inf. Div. stationed at Kapyong Korea are entertained by USO-Camp Show

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USO Show arriving in camp. Frances Langford steps from plane upon arrival at the 7th Inf. Div. for- ward area. designed to take Red prisoners. Engineer battalions di- rected the improvement and repair of UN bunkers along the line. Major vantage points in this rugged, hilly sector were Old Baldy and chink Baldy, Pork Chop, Snook, Dale and Westview. These were to be the subjects of a constant back-and-forth series of clashes for control which were both costly and agonizing for both sides. In peacetime a high pressure real estate agent couldn't have given these hills away. But in these times of attack and counterattack, they were priceless posses- sions for whichever side happened to hold them at the time. On 23 March, UN forces were in control of Old Baldy and Pork Chop. The 31st Regiment was occupying the west or left regimental sector with three battalions on line and one in reserve. The Colombian Company A was on the left, Company C was on the right and Company B occupied the Old Baldy company outpost position. It was the decision of I US Corps to relieve Company B on Old Baldy with another Colombian Company on the morning of the 23rd of March. It was decided that the relief would be accomplished during the early morning of the 23rd. Enemy artillery fire de- creased appreciably during the night of the 22nd and early morning of the 23rd. This was to be a difficult relief since Baldy and Pork Chop had both been subject to heavy fire for the past three days. To provide adequate security during the relief on Baldy, a rifle platoon from Company B, 1st Battalion, 31st Infantry was attached to the Colombian unit. Their mission was to occupy vacated positions and to rotate throughout the right company MLR position in such a manner as to insure all platoon positions were occupied at all times. At 2100, the Old Baldy outpost was blasted with intense enemy mortar and artillery fire. A few minutes later the artillery observation post reported that an unknown number of Reds were mass- ing for an attack on the hill. The situation on Old Baldy was not immediately clear since the intense shelling had blown out wire and radio communication. The Colom- bian Battalion commander dispatched an officer to his