Louisville Medicine Volume 62, Issue 8 | Página 16

ANOTHER DAY (NIGHT) IN HARM’S
WAY
Photo from History of the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea 1951-1952

Roger Salot, MD

Old Baldy

W

e were a Forward Observer Team of
three: 23-year-old 2nd Lt. Jim Hillas, 19-year-old Radio Operator,
Tom Thompson, and I, a 21-year-old Recon.
Sgt. We were members of “C” Battery, 38th
Field Artillery Battalion 2nd Infantry Division.
We had been serving during late April, May and
through June of 1952 with the South Korean
infantry while the infantry regiments of the 2nd
Infantry were in reserve. This was in the really
big mountains south of Wonson in northeast North Korea. We were
opposing North Korean troops and their main lines of resistance
were very close to one another. We had some very harrowing times
with the South Koreans, but that’s another story.
In early July, the Division went back on line in an area near Chorwon, North Korea known as the Iron Triangle, for a series of hilly
outposts. One of these outposts was known as “Old Baldy” as not
a growing thing was left standing due to the shelling it had taken.
Our last observation post had been on a very high steep mountain
where the lines again were very close and we could see one another.
Sniper fire made you keep your head down. We also had had little
food and water for the previous few days. When we were called down
off our mountain, our jeep driver picked us up, and we rejoined
our outfit in a long convoy traveling to the division’s new positions.
This was early monsoon season. Unknown to us, a fight was
brewing on Old Baldy. The 179th Regiment of the 45th Infantry
Division had been keeping a platoon on the outpost in the daytime
and reinforcing it with another Platoon at night. The 23rd Infantry
Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division was to take over the area. A
platoon of Fox Company of the 23rd made a successful relief on the
night of July 16th despite a goodly number of incoming rounds. On
the 17th, the shelling steadily increased and during the night the
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE

Chinese assaulted the outposts, coming through their own artillery
fire. They took the crest of the hill. Over the next few days, elements
of three battalions were committed to the fight. Even companies of
the 2nd Engineer and 2nd Recon Co. were thrown into the fight. All
of that action was, at the time, unknown to us although we could
hear the artillery firing night and day.
On the 19th of July, our Battery Commander, Capt. Risdon, called
our team to his bunker. We were told to join a company of the 187
Airborne Regt. for an assault on Baldy. We found the company a
few miles away. They were gearing up for the action but after an
hour or two the assault was called off and we rejoined our battery.
The next morning Capt. Risdon again called Hillas, Thompson
and me to his bunker. We were told that the 37th Field Artillery
(which supported the 23rd Infantry) had lost all their Forward
Observe teams as casualties. We were to join the remnants of the
23rd Regiment’s 3rd Battalion (Bn.). Hillas, myself, Thompson and
our jeep driver spent a good part of the afternoon trying to find the
outfit. That night in a driving thunderstorm, we finally found 3rd
Bn. Headquarters. The battle over Baldy was still going on and it
was difficult to tell lightning from artillery explosions.
We got some c-rations and two to three hours sleep. In the morning the cooks brought up some hot food, which was certainly welcomed. About noon, a small helicopter came in to pick up a badly
wounded man but crashed and an ambulance came to pick up
both men.
About mid-afternoon, the Regimental Exec. Lt. Col. Burns called
G. Company, Hillas, Thompson and myself together. It turned out
that George Company’s Capt. had shot himself in the leg, supposedly while cleaning his pistol. Of course, no one believed that
story. At any rate, Burns appointed a 1st Lt. from one of the beaten
up companies as company commander. He looked pretty bad. He
was unshaven, covered with mud and seemed to be a little shaky.