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| In October,
1950, it appeared that the Korean Conflict
was near its end. United
Nation forces had driven the invading North Korean Army north towards
China at
the Manchurian border. General MacArthur issued a call for the
North Koreans to surrender, but China secretly decided to attack and
try to defeat
the UN forces in Korea. By late November the 1st Marine Division
advanced north to the Chosin Reservoir. Over the next 30 days, the Marines
were exposed to freezing weather, hunger, isolation, and death. The
compromises the Marines experienced resulted in freedom for
approximately 100,000 Korean
refugees. |
"Imagine
fighting a war in a place so inhospitable that the weather and
terrain are every bit as hostile as the enemy. Imagine fighting a war
amid towering, snow-clad mountains, deep in enemy territory at the end
of a narrow, winding, icy road that is the sole link to your
base of
supplies more than 70 miles distant. Imagine fighting a war where the
thermometer sinks to 35 degrees below zero and a wailing wind drives
howling blizzards straight from the polar icecap. Imagine all these
things, and you have the situation confronting the First Marine
Division in late 1950."
Allan Bevilacqua, Major
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