Seventh Infantry Division - Yearbook (South Korea)

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Page 91 text:

Wounded are evacuated by means of a tramway. interpreter, quizzed a North Korean farmer and found that Marine jeeps had been seen on a road nearby earlier in the day. Risking the information rather than cross the reservoir, they walked two miles to the road and there a Marine tank outpost called a truck and trans- ported the seventeen wounded men to a Held hospital at Hagaru-ri. Lieutenant Smith and Captain Bigger both hobbled into Hagaru-ri. The fight for survival was far from over. In the six days since the Chinese offensive had been launched, the three battalions of the 7th had suffered shocking losses, most of their officers had been wiped out and only a handful of men remained. Later they learned that the Chinese had thrown 10,000 men behind the main body of the First Marine Division and the infantry outfits attached to it. By the time the Chosin Reservoir battle h.ad begun, nearly 80,000 Chinese were swarming down over the outnumbered American and UN forces, many Making every round count . . . Cpl. .lack Walker and Pte. AI Sternlieb test the effectiveness of parkas and mittens designed for use in the Korean winter climate. x