The Coldest War, by James Brady

The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea, by James Brady
Orion Books, 1990, 242 pages, 8 pages of b&w photos, plus index

Front Matter
America's "forgotten war" lasted just 37 months, yet 54,246 Americas died in that time-nearly as many as died in ten years in Vietnam. On the fortieth anniversary of this devastating conflict, James Brady tells the story of his life as a young marine lieutenant in Korea.

In 1947, seeking a way out of the draft, eighteen-year-old James Brady volunteered for a Marine Corps program that made him a lieutenant in the reserves on the day he graduated college. He didn't plan to find himself in command of a combat platoon three years later facing a real enemy, but that is exactly what happened after the Chinese turned a so-called police action into a war.

The Coldest War vividly describes Brady's rapid education in the realities of war and the pressures of command. Opportunities for bold offensives sink in the miasma of trench warfare, death comes in fits and starts as too-accurate artillery on both sides freezes men in their bunkers; constant alertness is crucial for survival, while brutal cold and a seductive silence conspire to lull soldiers into an often fatal stupor.

The Korean War affected the lives of all Americans, yet is little known beyond the antics of M*A*S*H. Here is the inside story that deserves to be told, and James Brady is a powerful witness to a vital chapter in our history.

Table of Contents
36 chapters, no chapter titles given.

Photos
--Two views of mountains, including one of "2,000 meter hill"
--Dog Company: Capt John Chafee, Red Philips, unidentified soldiers
--Main line of resistance, the MLR, winter of 1951-1952
--Two South Korean children, one named Chang, the other unidentified
--Soyang-gang stream
--Reverse slope of Hill 880
--Lt Maurice J. (Mack) Allen of Lynchburg, VA
--unidentified Marine, slope of Hill 880
--James Brady February 1952
--Dog Company command post on Hill 880
--Reverse slope of Hill 880, Feb 1952
--an unidentified member of the Korean Service Corps
--Reverse slope of Hill 880
--Casualty evacuated by chopper
--Dog Company: Capt Charley Logan, Mack Allen and James Brady
--5 unidentified marines of Dog Company
--James Brady with cigar
--James Brady in flak jacket
--9 unidentified Marines posing for photo

The Final Crucible: U.S. Marines in Korea, Volume 2, 1953, by Lee Ballenger

The Final Crucible: U.S. Marines in Korea, Volume 2, 1953 , by Lee Ballenger
Brassey's, 2001
270 pages, 24 pages of b&w photos, plus 2 appendices, Notes, Bibliography Acknowledgments and Index
Library: 951.9 BAL V.2

Front Matter
The Final Crucible details the 1st Marine Division's harrowing close-quarter battles during the final seven months of the Korean War, January to July 1953. While peace negotiations were under way, the Marines were asked to defend a critical sector of the front against daily attacks by Chinese forces. During this final phase of the so-called stalemate period, over five thousand Marines were killed or wounded. This volume follows The Outpost War: US Marines in Korea, Volume 1: 1952.

The Final Crucible describes how the Marines valiantly battled a numerically superior foe and defended the high ground from barren outposts in the no-man's-land in front of the main lines. These daily small-unit battles of 1953 received scant attention in the press, but the fighting was fierce as at any point during the war. The terrible five-day Battle of the Nevada Cities in March and the Marine's bloody stand at Boulder City on the last day of the shooting war, which prevented a major enemy breakthrough, are just two of the engagements detailed here.

The Final Crucible preserves the story of these Marines who risked, and in many cases lost, their lives during the final months of the Korean War. This book is based on original archival research, previously unpublished oral accounts, and the author's personal experience as a Marine veteran of the Korean War.

Table of Contents
List of Maps
Preface
Introduction
1. Preparation for War
2. Beginning of Another Year
3. A Year on the Jamestown Line
4. Raid on Ungok
5. February, a Month of Raids
6, Ambush on Gray Rock Ridge
7. Spring Thaw
8. Battle of the Cities
9. Nevada City Aftermath
10. Ther Army Way
11. Return to War
12. Boulder City
13. The Warrior's Return
Appendix 1: Marine Corps Casualties
Appendix II: Western Korea, 1952-1953 Hill, Outpost and Military Sites: Grid Numbers and Place Name Cross-Reference
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledements
Index
About the Author

List of Maps
First Marine Division Sector, Jamestown Line, 1952-1953
The Korean Peninsula
COP Carson
COP Reno
COP Vegas
25th Infantry Division Sector
COP-2
Boulder City/Hill 119, July 1953

Photos
--Flame tank F-22
--First Lt Richard T. Guidera, George Company 3/1, Outpost Hilda, Jan 1953
--Sgt Jess E. Meado, George Company 3/1
-Sgt Tom McGuire Item Company 3/7; Lt O'Connell, Company A, 1st Battery, Black Watch Regiment, British Commonwealth Division
--1st Reconnaissance Company: Capt Arnold E. Allen; Pfc Jack Biehl, Sgt Allen E. Brown, Cpl Edward E. Easton, Pfc Frank J. Benenati
--Cpl Richard L Champagne, George Company 3/1, Feb 1953
--Second Lt Joe H. Fox and 2nd Lt Vince Walsh, Item Company 3/7, Feb 1953
--Officers of Able Company, 1st Tank Battalion, April 1953: 1st Lt Robert March, --Capt Ed Critchett, Lt Dick Smith, Capt Clyde Hunter, Lt "Herk" Harris.
--Pfc Bev Bruce, 1st Reconnaissance Company
--2nd Lt James L. Day, 1st Reconnaissance Company
--Pfc Chuck Burrill
--Sgt John J. O'Hagan, Able Company 1/7
--Maj D. H. MacDonald presenting Sgt Arthur Lipper III, 1st Reconnaissance Company, with a Purple Heart, March 1953
--Pfc Luther R. Hudson, Fox Company 2/5, March 1953
--"The Sons of Italy": Pfc Patrick Luminello, Pfc Davey Armatrudo, and Pfc Carmine Schiapano, BAR men from Dog Company, 2/5. March 1953
--Cpl Tom Kennedy, Fox Company 2/5
--HM3 Paul N. Polley, Navy corpsman with Charlie Company 1/5, March 26, 1953
--TSgt Jack Little, Charlie Company, 1/5
--2nd lt Theodore Chenoweth, Fox Company 2/7
--1st lt Robert March, Able Company, 1st Tank Battalion
--Sgt William Janzen
--Sgt John Camara Recon Section, Headquarters Company, 1dt Tank Battalion, May 1953 with two Turkish soldiers
--Pfc Madison Crosby, Baker Companny, 1.5 on Danish hospital ship Jutlandia, May 1953
--Dog Company, 2/7, June 1953. Sgt Dennis Pryzgoda, Sgt Robert Kreid, Sgt Jerry Roose
--Cpt Robert Hall, Weapons Company 2/5
--How Company 3/1 July 1953 on Hill 111: "Ski", George Broadhead, and Don "Doc" Davies
--Sgt Robert R. Guertin, Charlie Company 1/1, 3 unidentified soldiers
--Pfc Alvin R. Smith, 3r platoon, Dog Company 2/7
--Ssgt Ken Miller, Cpl Lee Ballenger [the author], Cpl John Moofy, Pfc William Abel [none of whom are recognizable]
--Sgt James J. Everson, Jr, 3rd Marine Gun Section, George Company, 3/1, with dog, "Headspace"
--Sgt James R. Champlin, Charlie Company, 1st Tank Battalion
----Sgt Robert A. Gannon, 1st Marine Division
--SSgt Kenneth Miller, Able Company, 1st Tank Bttalion
--First Lt Robert Montgomery, 1st tank Battalion
--2nd lt Stanley Rauh, Able Company 1/7SSgt Timothy Tobin, George Company 3/1
--Ssgt Timothy Tobin, Pfc Claude Wirt (black), Butker, Pfc Edward Howze (black), Machine Gun section, George Company, 3/1
--2nd lt Robert Werckle, George Company 3/1, recieving a Bronze Star
--Pfc Howard C. Davenport, 1st Reconnaissance Company

The Outpost War, by Lee Ballenger

The Outpost War: US Marines in Korea Volume 1, 1952, by Lee Ballenger
Foreword by Allan R. Millett
Brassey's, 2000
Library: 951.9 Bal

Backmatter:
The U.S. Marine Corps' traditional role is to attack an entrenched enemy, seize his ground for mop-up and occupation forces, and move on to the next unlucky target. Midway through the Korean War, however, the Mariners were forced to abandon their usual tactics to fight a limited war. Lee Ballenger's The Outpost War is the first book-length study to focus on USMC combat operations during the stalemate phase of the Korean War.

In 1952, overriding political objectives dictated that the tactics of UN forces in Korea shift from those of maneuver to those of holding on to territory recently gained, often at great human cost. For the duration of the Korean War, UN field officers were prohibited from attacking the enemy with anything more than a battalion of men without approval from high command. Both sides dug trenches across the breadth of the Korean Peninsula and built outposts in no-man's-land between "the main lines of resistance." These combat outposts were strong points that commanded high ground from which the enemy could be observed, controlled and engaged. Thus began the "outpost war", a forgotten period of the "forgotten war", but one during which 7,800 Marines became casualties.

The Outpost War tells the story of the 1st Mariner Division's move to the Jamestown Line in Western Korea where the Marines were ordered to dig in and learn to fight a defensive war. The book describes their steep, deadly learning curve and reports on major battles of the period, including Bunker Hill and the Hook.

Table of Contents
1. The Move West
2. Outpost Defense
3. Jamestown Line
4. Raid on Ungok
5. Blind Mn and Elephants
6. Bunker Hill
7. Elmer and Irene
8. Patrols and Raids
9. Outposts Lost
10. Retaking the Hook
11. Biding Time
12. Year's End
Hard Lessons
Appendix 1: Casualty Table
Appendix II: Hills and Outpost Sites
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index

Photos (the numbers divided by slashes are the Battalion/Regiment
--2nd Lieutenant Howard Matthias, Dog Company, 2/5, on the MLR after a night patrol in July 1952
--1dt Lieutenant Stan Rauh, Able Company, 1/7, aboard hospital ship USS Repose, wounded retaking the Hook, October 1952
--Staff Sergeant, Dave Evans, George Company, 3/1, about June 1952
--Captain Bernard Peterson and Major Bill Biehl, controlling an air strike from the MLR
--Sergeant John "J.J." O'Hagan, Able Company, 1/7, Outpost Dagmar, June 1952
--Private 1st Class Don McClure, wireman with How Company, 3/7, Hill 229, June 1952
--2nd Lt. Lee Cook, platoon leader, Reconnaissance Company, September 1952
--Staff Sergeant John R. Alexander, platoon sergeant in Able Company, First Tank Battalion, 1951
--Tank A-41 disembarking LST 1068. Inchon, 16 April 1952. Private 1st class Durk, Sgt Chris Sarno, 2nd lt Wilson
--2nd Lt Jim Vanairsdale, platoon leader, Easy Company, 2/7, Hill 67, May 1952
--First Platoon, Easy Company, 2/7, after raid on Hill 67. (Ten recognizable faces of men gathered in a jeep)
--2ns lt William Watson, George Company, 3/7; Corporal Mickey Williamson, 3/7; Bill Conners, Eleventh Marines (three Kentuckians)
--Private 1st class Gus Mendez, Item Company, 3/1, July 1952. Holding a BAR.
--2nd lt Hunt S. Kerrigan, Platoon Leader, Able Company, 1/5. 1953 after being awarded Silver Star
--Private 1st class Tom Lavin and Private First Class Miller of Fox Company 2/5 (Miller will be kia 24 June 1952)
--Private 1st Class Tom Lavin with BAR
--Sergeant Glen Dye, Dog Company, 2/1 receiving Gold Star, Yokosuka, Japan
--Corporal Peter Beauchamp and Private First Class William Freyer, George Company 3/1, spring 1952
--Private 1st Class Chuck Burrill, Reconnaissance Company, October 1952
--Sergeant Robert J. Thornton and Private 1st class "Red" Garden, How Company, 2/7, June 1952, on the line at Hill 229.
--2nd Lt Henry Conway, George Company, 3/7, captured 6 October 1952, Outpost Detroit
--Private 1st Class Howard Davenport, Reconnaissance Company, near Munsa-ni in August 1954
--Private 1st class Andy Frey and unidentified Marine, George Company, 3/1, September 1952
--Captain Fred McLaughlin, Able Company, 1/7, CP bunker, retaking the Hook, October 1952
--Sergeant Arthur Lipper III, First Platoon Guide, Reconnaissance Company, 1952
--Private 1st class, Gene Thomas, George Company, 3/1, outside his bunker, December 1952

Maps
--1st Marine Division Sector, Jamestown Line, 1952-1953
--The Korean Peninsula
--The Eighth Army Front Line, 30 April 1952
--Objectives for 1/5 Attack, 9 May 1952
--2/1 Sector, 9-11 August 1952 (Battle for Bunker Hill)
--Hook Penetrations, 26-27 October 1952