From:

The "men dying every day, is it worth it" mantra is the fraidy cat school of
foreign policy

Unless it is you who are going to die.

Well, my grandson served in the 3rd on the charge up. We didn't hear from him
from Feb. 25 until almost the end of May. One of my strongest impressions of
the war was the brief footage of that trooper curled up asleep beside his
vehicle while a sandstorm raged. I was very concerned at the time about how
extended the drive seemed to be and the possibility of a major counter-attack
by the enemy cutting them off (groundless concerns as it turned out). I was
influenced in my thinking by my time assigned to the 3rd in Korea in 1950 with
a TACP. When we went into to the Wonsan area we were told not to worry, just
some final mopping up operations, the NKs were all done, although they still
had some fight in them. Those "mopping up" operations were inflicting hundreds
of casualties on the troops. But that was nothing compared to what happened
when the Chinese poured in and the 3rd began a fighting retreat centered on
Hungnam, which it held with the help of round-the-clock artillery, naval and
air support, and the magnificent cussed stubborness of the dogfaces, who just
refused to be defeated, allowing the largest amphibious evacuation in US
history, getting out more than 100,000 troops, 100,000 civilians, almost 20,000
vehicles and 350,000 tons of equipment and supplies--all the while under
ferocious assault from the Chicoms, amid some of the most bitter cold
imaginable. It was the most memorable and miserable six weeks of my life. I
have rarely had a nightmare about WW2 but I have frequently woken up pouring
sweat, heart pounding, mind totally lost in another reality, from a dream about
Hungnam.
My son-in-law is the battalion commander of a Guard unit that was activated not
long ago, his son--my grandson--serves under him. They are both now in Iraq
working to help establish Iraqi law-enforcement and suppress criminal activity.
We do worry about them.
How about you? Any fruit of your loins participatants in the current dust-up?


Chris Mark