24 h.
Roger D. Salot, MD
Twilight
18 September 1952
It had been another of several beautiful fall
days. We had been getting a slight increase in
harassing mortar and artillery fire from the
Chinese. But with such fine weather, I had
decided to write a letter outside on the edge
of a trench near our Observation Post bunker.
Suddenly, the ground heaved beneath the explosion of hundreds
of shells as a rolling barrage of artillery and mortar fire swept over
the outpost about 400 yards in front of our position. This was Hill
266, also known as “Old Baldy,” the hill where I had been wounded
in the July battle. Old Baldy disappeared in a cloud of dust and
smoke. As the fire rolled toward our position I ran into the OP
bunker and grabbed the binoculars. The bombardment continued
with no letup and dusk settled in. As I continued to observe the
left slope of Baldy it came alive with green flares and hundreds of
Chinese troops. The human wave was almost unbelievable. I took
the field phone from Allan Lolie, our radio operator who had called
“C” Battery Five Direction Center. I told the lieutenant in Five Direction what I was seeing and ordered what we called the Circle of
Five. This was a prearranged gun setting for the Battalion’s 105’s to
pour a continuous barrage in a semi-circle on the forward slopes
of Baldy using mostly proximity fuses.
The Chinese fire had let up almost not at all and as our artillery
fire began striking the same area, it slowed the Chinese soldiers
very little. They seemed oblivious to their own artillery fire and our
artillery fire. Whole groups of men would drop among the explosions. Some would get up and continue the attack, as fresh lines of
men started up the steep slope.
By this time, night had descended, and I and other OP’s ordered
flares fired to keep the hill lit up. As the Chinese overran Baldy, I
could see them climbing on to bunkers, throwing grenades and
satchel charges. They entered one bunker in my area of observation
and dragged out several bodies. We ordered continuous fire in order
to discourage this bunker busting.
Later Five Direction Center patched me to a plane which
circled and dropped flares regularly. A long sharp ridge
ran from Baldy to our higher hill. As the Chinese troops
Dr. Salot during the war
swarmed toward us I told the lieutenant at FDC that I could not
stay on the phone, as we would probably be overrun. “Well, good
luck,” said he as we clicked off. Fortunately, the platoon from Love
Company that was blocking to our OP’s immediate front was able
to stop the Chinese, and their attack on our position quickly petered
out. The Chinese objective was Old Baldy and those who made it
to our position probably did so in error.
By 2 or 3 a.m. things had gotten pretty quiet on Old Baldy as the
assault troops mopped up. I couldn’t tell how many, if any, of K Company’s people had escaped, including our FO Team who had been
on the outpost with them. This team included Recon. Sgt. Edwin
Kleisbscheidell and Radioman Ervin Timothy. (They did escape in
the early morning fog – Timothy was wounded but able to travel.)
As the sun came up on a beautiful fall morning, an infantry
platoon from Love Company moved out along the ridge and made
it to the first fighting bunker on the left side of the outpost. They
engaged the Chinese at this point and from our OP I could follow
the action at about 400 yards’ distance. The L. Company troops
were behind the first trench bunker and were being held up by a
lone Chinese soldier. He would sprint down the trench from the
second bunker and fire away at the first bunker. A black soldier
from L. Company had gotten into a trench off to the right of the
first bunker and would jump up and blast away at the invader, who
would then run back and duck into the second bunker. At one point
one of our men made his way to a position below and opposite this
trench and prepared to