A Book by Hampton Sides

I have been on a bit of a Korean War kick, and while browsing the “free books” I can check out on LibbyApp (which is really good if you want to read and not blow tons of cash) there sadly isn’t much to chose from on the subject. I’m sure that it’s more of an indictment of how history ignores that particular conflict than any issue with my local library, but the point stands. I have basically only really come across books about The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, which is definitely “the Gettysburg” of its particular time in history, meaning most of the scholarship is there. I recently read A Christmas Far from Home: An Epic Tale of Courage and Survival During the Korean War by Stanley Weintraub and found it adequate if not somewhat meandering at times. It talked more about the public’s perception of the war than the battle itself, and I came away wanting more. Luckily, I came across On Desperate Ground – The Marines at The Reservoir the Korean War’s Greatest Battle by Hampton Sides, which filled in a LOT of the gaps.

“On October 15, 1950, the vainglorious General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of U.N. troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the communist forces would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Chinese soldiers began crossing the border. Led by the 13,000 men of the 1st Marine Division, the Americans moved far north into the trap Mao had set for the arrogant MacArthur at the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic – and harrowing – operations in American military history. Faced with annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity and nearly unimaginable courage.”

A large chunk of this book shifts from the perspectives of individual soldiers that fought in this battle taken from their personal experiences recorded after the war. There are plenty of stories told in this book, but a handful stand out as truly incredible bits of overlooked history. An example is the heroic story of U.S. Army Private Ed Reeves who survived a Chinese attack on his squad, and was able to somehow survive when literally everyone around him was not so lucky. After being discarded in a pile of dead bodies, waking up surrounded by frozen corpses and burning trucks, Reeves somehow dragged himself to safety despite being barely able to walk. He was eventually rescued during the tail-end of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir after 17 brutal days in freezing weather.

Another incredibly interesting story was the story of Major Kurt Chew-Een Lee, the first Asian American to be commissioned as a regular officer in the United States Marine Corps (who at the time was a First Lieutenant). After suffering a wound in his arm that would have sent most men home, Lee was eventually tasked with leading a mission that would make an incredible film if Hollywood came calling. Lee’s platoon was given the almost suicidal mission of marching five hundred Marines into Chinese-held territory to relieve the outnumbered Fox Company of 2nd Battalion 7th Marines that were trapped on Fox Hill. Lee was dressed in a garish costume to help visibility in a blizzard, and lead from the front of his men. This was largely in case he needed to confuse Chinese soldiers with his own Chinese language skills. As a result, it’s a miracle he made it out alive.

I could go on outlining all the stories found in these pages, but I recommend checking this out for yourself if you have a passing interest in knowing what the Korean War was like. This is easily the best book on the subject that I’ve read so far, and I plan to check out more books by the same author if they are in my wheelhouse. As we enter the Holiday Season, I am thankful that I have a safe warm home to live in versus being trapped in a cold wasteland in a foreign country fighting for those very same freedoms and luxuries. The men featured in this book suffered so much for a war that is largely forgotten today, and was made much worse by incompetent leadership, and I can’t help thinking that it’s a shame.