U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 2 (of 5): The Inchon-Seoul OperationMontross, Lynn
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 2 (of 5): The Inchon-Seoul Operation
Montross, Lynn
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
Second Lieutenant Wiley J. Grigsby, the machine gun platoon leader,
was killed in the day’s final Fox Company attack. Anderson’s composite
platoon had three men killed and three wounded. Among the casualties
was Corporal Harris, who received a mortal wound after twice refusing
evacuation. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.[393]
[393] _Ibid._
The attack of Easy Company on Hill 105-N was delayed until after the
other two companies took their objectives. At 1500, after moving up
from battalion reserve, Jaskilka’s men ran into heavy enemy mortar
and automatic fire soon after passing Hill 56. Two tanks of the 1st
Platoon, Company B, 1st Tank Battalion were knocked out, one by an AT
mine and the other by a direct hit of a mortar shell. The remaining
three tanks could not have continued in action except for the efforts
of Staff Sergeant Stanley B. McPherson of Company A, 1st Engineer
Battalion, who went ahead and cleared a path through the enemy mine
field. By some miracle he survived the hail of NKPA fire unhurt, and
the tanks went on to destroy two enemy AT guns and several machine gun
emplacements.
The main enemy stronghold appeared to be Hill 72, a conical height
located between Hills 105-N and 105-C and enfilading both of them. Not
enough daylight remained on 24 September to mount an assault on this
position, and the effort was put off until the following morning.[394]
[394] 1st MarDiv _SAR_, Annex Queen Queen:Oboe; Deptula
interv, 18 Jan 55.
Marine air had a busy day. Lieutenant Colonel Lischeid’s VMF-214,
repeating the pattern of the day before, launched strikes of five
aircraft every two hours in support of 2/5 attacks northwest of
Seoul--a total of six missions. Not only was the city a flak-trap, but
Marine pilots were flying Corsairs from which the armor around the
air-cooler system had been removed by order of BuAer as a peacetime
economy measure and never restored. As a consequence, NKPA small-arms
fire was likely to hit the oil lines and send a machine down in
flames.[395]
[395] Cushman interv, 26 Jul 54.
A 1st MAW record for combat sorties flown in a day by a single squadron
was set on the 24th by VMF-212 with 12 flights and 46 sorties. Close
support missions were about equally represented along with search and
attack.[396]
[396] 1st MAW _SAR_, Annex Item:Roger.
Nightfall of this eventful day found 2/5 in possession of ground
containing the most enemy dead in a small area ever seen in the
Inchon-Seoul operation. Lieutenant Colonel Roise estimated that 1,500
NKPA bodies were left on Hill 56 and Smith’s Ridge, and the command of
the 1st Marine Division put the figure at 1,750 enemy killed in the
Hill 296 defenses.[397]
[397] Roise interv, 9 Nov 54; and O. P. Smith, _Notes_, 286.
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