Seventh Infantry Division - Yearbook (South Korea)

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The harassing chatter of a machine gun was heard in the distance. A large Searchlight played along the slopes of old Baldy. One hour to cease fire. Chisholm called his platoons at 2145 and told them they would fire no more as of that moment. Now it's up to them,,' he said. All we can do is wait. The only sounds at five minutes to cease fire were those of muffled voices, of men talking in nervous, hope- ful whispers to each other. Ten minutes later the light on Old Baldy blinked out. The final report from out- guards was that they could hear movements and voices to the front. But the sounds of war had faded. The war in Korea was over. The war was over. To some che sudden jump from facing Red guns every day to the routine, often dull, duties that followed the cease fire was a tremendous anti-climax. To most of us, cease fire was one big life insurance policy. Our record in the Korean War stood up with the best of them. In addition to playing major roles in some of the Korean War,s toughest and deadliest campaigns, we had added a glorious new page to the history of the 7th Infantry Division. During the course of the War eleven Bayonet Division men had won the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor. Ninety-two had earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the country's second highest battle honor. In addition to these, four won the Distin- guished Service Medal, 1,359 the Silver Star, seventy-one the Legion of Merit. There were 60 Distinguished Flying Crosses, seventy-three Soldier,s Medals, 3,121 Bronze Stars for valor and 3,859 Bronze Stars for meritorious achievement, 992 Air Medals and 3,575 Commendation Ribbons awarded to the unit. In all, the Division won 13,214 decorations. All its units won campaign stream- ers for the UN Defense, UN Offensive, CCF Interven- tion, First UN Counterofensive, UN Summer-Fall Of- fensive, Second Korean Winter, Korean-Summer-Fall 1952, Third Korean Winter 'and Korean Summer-Fall, 1953, and the CCF Spring Offensive. The Division twice won the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. And all units within the Division were cited at least once during the conflict. This was a record every man could well be proud of. ' The horrors of war were temporarily forgotten when Horace Heidt brought his American Way stage and radio show up to the line and the new outdoor entertain- ment arena was dedicated. We called it Bayonet Bowl? The Heidt show was probably the most widely ap- preciated USO Show we saw during the entire time we were in Korea. In all, 14,000 men crowded into the new bowl to see the show. Wolf-whistles and cheers echoed and re-echoed along the line as the men loosed their war tensions and sat back to enjoy themselves. Miss Charlene Lance of Long Beach, California, won a rousing ovation as she was selected Sweetheart of the Bayonet Divi- sion. The most impressive moment of the evening came when the Division Commander, Major General Arthur G. Trudeau, requested' a moment of silence for Major General William H. Dean and for men of the 'Division who had given their lives in the defense of freedom. A

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met to discuss the relative merits of continuing counter- attacks and occupation of the outpost. It was obvious from the size of the enemy forces already committed to the battle that the Chinese were determined to take and occupy Pork Chop outpost. It was also quiet possible that the enemy either intended or had intended to at- tempt a MBP penetration. By this time Pork Chop had lost any possible tactical value it had and since casual- ties were expected to be high, it was considered fruitless to continue reinforcing and counterattacking the posi- tion. Elements of two regiments and possibly a third had been thrown into the fight by the Chinese despite an estimated 4,000 casualties. The ground around Pork Chop was literally sown with steel from mortar and artillery fire. The decision was to withdraw from Pork Chop in a deliberate daylight evacuation. The plan was to pull back the remaining effective troops and dead after the wounded had been evacuated. UN units in the right sector, meanwhile, would cover for the withdraw- ing men and an officer in each sector was ordered to remain in the battle zone until the last man departed from that particular outpost. The plan was followed. By 1100, 11 July all UN casualties had been evacuated from the hot spot. As the evacuees struggled down the road from the outpost, tanks from the regimental tank company groaned along its shoulders smashing enemy snipers with heavy fire. The operation was thus com- pleted without a single casualty, despite the fact that the withdrawing troops had to cross an exposed section of road 1,000 yards long. In this manner, Pork Chop, one of the deadly hills along the MLR was lost to the Reds for the last time. Sixteen days later on the morning of 27 July at 0100 hours, the truce was signed, heralding the end of three years and one month of bitter fighting in Korea. To the men on the front lines, however, the truce meant twelve more hours of fighting, ducking incoming rounds, watching, waiting and sweating. At 1325, after the official word of the truce was is- sued to the men of the 31st Infantry Polar Bear Regi- ment, company commanders began the task of briefing their men on cease fire procedures, the meaning of the truce to military personnel and other important items that had to be covered to insure full compliance with the terms of the truce. The men were also cautioned against being over con- fident and jubilant. This, they were told, was a time for prayer, for watchful and careful conduct. At 1400 hours there were still eight hours to go. We busied ourselves cleaning weapons, checking gear in preparation for the hours of darkness. Outguards were briefed and told to be especially careful during the hours between darkness and 2200 hours-the moment of war's end. In a blocking position at 1 530 hours, religious services for men of K Company were being held. At 1900 hours, outpost Westview, an ominous patch of earth jutting out into No Man's Land, was quiet. Hours before it had been the scene of bitter fighting. Lt. Robert E. Chisholm, Dallas, Texas, L Company Commander, called his platoon leaders and sergeants into the command post for a final briefing. At 2100 hours, six mortar rounds were fired into Chisholm's position.

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H E I. I I. I F T lot of memories were revived in that moment. Ralph Sigwald, a baritone from Charleston, S. C., sang the Lord's Prayerv and then, in typical American fashion, the unit chose a band from the Colombian Battalion to compete in a contest during the Heidt show. They beat three other local acts and won a chance on a radio show. But even in these days after the War, there were con- stant reminders of war days. On 13 August, the same day Horace Heidt entertained us, Corporal James C. Taylor, 21 years of age, from Mt. Pleasant, Texas, en- tered Freedom Village. He was the first 7th Division member freed in the Big Switch. Taylor had been cap- tured 30 November, 1950, While serving as assistant gunner with a 60 millimeter mortar crew in B Com- pany of the 3 1st Infantry Regiment. Those who saw him there recalled, grimly, the battle at Chosin Reservoir, Colonel Faith and Colonel MacLean and the rest of the men who had died there. Taylor was one of the first to describe the terrifying existence of prisoners at the hand of the Reds. He told of being forced to attend lectures and propaganda talks and how the Chinks had tried to make the men salute the Progressives, turncoats who traded information on their own companions for extra privileges, rations and cigarettes. On 30 August, Corporal Enrique G. Diaz, 23, of Los Angeles, who had been an ambulance driver at the time of his capture, entered Freedom Village and told a tale of sheer brutality--the murder of American prisoners who had been wounded during the 1950 battle of the Chosin Reservoir. Tagged as a reactionary from the very start, Diaz had been sen- tenced to five months at hard labor for organizing a group which kept the Progressives in linef' Most of the men, now, were thinking in terms of going home but there Was still a lot of work to do and home was still a long Way off for most of them. For the first weeks after the armistice, the Division had re- mained on the line in readiness for a possible outbreak of hostilities. Peace or no peace, the chance of things starting all over again was always there. An extensive salvage program was underway and men from several units were assigned to screen the entire combat area and its reserve sector for all salvageable material. Planning and construction of the MBP was initiated and two regi-