As the month closed on the Vegas chapter, Marines on line and in the reserve companies who had just sweated through the bloodiest exchange of the war on the I Corps front to date added their own epitaph. With a touch of ungallantry that can be understood, they called the disputed crest of Vegas “the highest damn beachhead in Korea.” CHAPTER VIII Marking Time (April-June 1953) _The Peace Talks Resume--Operation_ LITTLE SWITCH_--Interval Before the Marines Go Off the Line--The May Relief--Training While in Reserve and Division Change of Command--Heavy May-June Fighting--Developments in Marine Air--Other Marine Defense Activities--The Division Is Ordered Back to the Front_ _The Peace Talks Resume_[392] [392] Unless otherwise noted, the material in this section is derived from: _PacFlt EvalRpt_ No. 6, Chap. 9; 1stMarDiv, 1st EngrBn ComdDs, Apr 53; Berger, _Korea Knot_; Clark, _Danube to Yalu_; Hermes, _Truce Tent_; Leckie, _Conflict_; M/Sgt Robert T. Fugate, “Freedom Village,” _Leatherneck_, v. 36, no. 7 (Jul 53), hereafter Fugate, “Freedom Village.” It was April 1953, but it wasn’t an April Fool’s mirage. On 6 April, representatives of the United Nations Command and the Communist delegation sat down at the Panmunjom truce tents to resume the peace talks that had been stalemated six months--since October 1952. If there was a word that could be said to reflect the attitude of American officials and private citizens alike--for that matter, the atmosphere at Panmunjom itself--it was one of caution--not real optimism, not an unbridled hopefulness, but a wearied caution born of the mountains of words, gulfs of free-flowing dialogue and diatribe, and then ultimate plateaus of intransigence that had marked negotiations with Communist leaders since the original truce discussions had begun in July 1951. Diplomatic maneuverings had been underway since the end of 1952 for the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners of both sides. This was considered a first step towards ending the prisoner of war dispute and achieving an ultimate truce. A resolution introduced in mid-November by India at the United Nations session dealing with settlement of nonrepatriate prisoners had been adopted in early December. Later that month the Red Cross international conference had officially gone on record favoring the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners in advance of a truce. A letter written on 22 February by the UNC commander, General Clark, calling for the immediate exchange of ailing prisoners had been delivered to the NKPA and CCF leaders.