Chosin Reservoir Campaign Battle Perspectives from Marines Who Were There COURTESY OF OLIVER SMITH COLLECTION, P. MARINE CORPS ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Infantry Marines move along the flank of the column between Hagaru-ri and Koto-ri. By Irv Sternberg Hagaru-ri and Yudam-ni. It was the be- Detroit’s libraries, where he read lots of ginning of the 17­day battle and fighting books and followed the war in Europe n a bitterly cold afternoon on withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir and the Pacific. Returning home, he told Dec. 23, 1950, about 8,000 men that defined the Korean War. his parents he wanted to enlist in the O of the 1st Marine Division were Called “The Forgotten War” by many, Marines. “I needed a sense of direction,” strung out along a narrow, twisting road the Marines of 1stMarDiv, some of whom he said. He had followed the Marines’ that ran near the west side of a man-made arrived there as boys as young as 17 and exploits during World War II at Guadal­ lake in North Korea called the Chosin left as battle-hardened men, vividly re- canal, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. “They were Reservoir. Despite being halfway around member their time in Korea. Among the my heroes.” With his parents’ permission, the world from home, they enjoyed a survivors were Martin Letellier, Don he enlisted at the age of 17. traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, Johnson and Manert Kennedy. Letellier Little more than three years later, as a eating quickly before their food turned and Johnson were teenagers when they 20-year-old sergeant in 1stMarDiv, he cold in the freezing temperature. Under arrived in Korea, Kennedy a 20-year-old. found himself leading a patrol that was the command of Army General Douglas Now in their nineties, they recalled those searching for North Korean soldiers west MacArthur, the supreme commander of fateful days 70 years ago with remarkable of Wonsan, North Korea. His patrol found the United Nations forces, the Marines had clarity. a North Korean hiding under a house. fought their way almost to the Manchurian When the soldier reached for Manert’s border. MacArthur had assured them they Kennedy .45-caliber sidearm, Manert shot him. He would be home by Christmas. Manert Kennedy grew up in Wyandot, killed more Chinese in many firefights Four nights later, companies of the 1st, Wis., the son of a self­educated engineer. that followed. 5th and 7th Marine Regiments fixed bay­ Bored with school, he quit and said he onets and engaged in hand-to-hand com- “bummed around Detroit where the truant Letellier bat with hordes of Chinese soldiers near officers knew me by my first name.” Martin “Marty” Letellier grew up in remote villages with names like Koto-ri, Actually, he spent most of his time in Sioux City, Iowa, and was the son of a 46 LEATHERNECK / DECEMBER 2020 www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck “The enemy attack started with a flare that lit up the whole area ... They started sounding horns and clashing cymbals. It was eerie, like a New Year’s Eve celebration.” —Manert Kennedy livestock inspector. He recalled a happy childhood, spending long hours swimming in a neighborhood pool and lifting weights from the time he was 7 with the encourage- ment and supervision of his father. His grandfather had been a trapper and fur trader in Canada in the late 1800s, and Marty always felt he, too, would someday be an adventurer. He played football in high school where, at 5’10” and 180 himself flailing in a pool and being eyed “I’m not a fighter,” he protested. “I’m pounds, he was a punishing fullback who by an unsympathetic drill instructor. Don a lover.” dreamed about playing for Notre Dame, started to leave the pool. “Get back in The Marine Corps, with its numbers his favorite college team. He got his there!” the drill instructor barked. “He’s greatly diminished after World War II, chance to be an adventurer when he left trying to drown me!” Don thought. But was rebuilding to fight a new war in high school to enlist in the Marines at his his DI conducted late-night sessions in the Korea. Johnson was ordered to report to dad’s suggestion. pool and helped him learn how to swim. San Diego and soon boarded a troop trans- “They’re the best,” his father had said. Later, Don joined the Marines’ wrestling port headed for Inchon, Korea. So Letellier quit school in his senior team and earned a spot on the All-Navy year and enlisted in 1948. He completed wrestling team. Kennedy boot camp at San Diego Recruit Depot in Discharged in 1948, he chose to remain By October 1950, Kennedy’s company November and was assigned to a 60 mm in the Marine Reserve to earn extra money was ordered to march west to Funchilin mortar unit at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to help support his mother. During that Pass in North Korea where the altitude where he trained before sailing to Pusan, time, he met his future wife, Joan. When was about 3,500 feet, the snow deep, and Korea, on Aug. 2, 1950. He was 19 years the U.S. entered the Korean War in Sep- the night temperatures below zero. Their old and excited to fulfill his destiny as tember 1950, he was recalled to active C-rations were frozen, and their hands an adventurer. duty which was not in his plans. He wanted and feet colder than they had ever been to get married and settle down. before. Shortly after they arrived, they Johnson Don Johnson and his siblings assumed responsibilities beyond their years when their father left the family during the Great Depression. To assist their mother, the boys all became newspaper carriers and delivered papers “all over south Denver” to earn money for their needy family. “We had no time to play. We did what we had to do.” At South High School, he finally found time to enjoy himself by joining the wrestling team, a sport he took with him when he joined the Marines. About two months after graduation in 1946, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 18 because “they were a great outfit, the best.” One of his brothers was in the Navy and encouraged him to also join the Navy. “I couldn’t swim,” Don recalled, “so why join the Navy?” Then, at boot camp in San Diego, he found The men of the 5th and 7th Marines, 1stMarDiv receiving an order to with- draw from their positions near the Chosin Reservoir, Nov. 29, 1950. SGT FRANK C. KERR, USMC www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck DECEMBER 2020 / LEATHERNECK 47 confronted untold numbers of Chinese. “The enemy attack started with a flare that lit up the whole area,” Kennedy re- called. “They started sounding horns and clashing cymbals. It was eerie, like a New Year’s Eve celebration. Then the enemy soldiers came, waves of them. When one fell, it seemed like two more took his place. They broke through the perimeter and soon we were fixing bayonets, fight­ ing hand-to-hand before they finally withdrew. It was nasty. Nobody slept that night. We wondered if we would survive.” He paused in his thoughts. “One of the hardest things we had to do was picking up dead Marines in the morning. Their bodies were frozen, their limbs twisted and faces contorted. We were freezing, too. Not only physically, but also emotionally.” He got orders to fall back to Koto-ri, a base established by their Division com- mander, Major General Oliver P. Smith. There, Kennedy and his men finally found COURTESY OF OLIVER SMITH COLLECTION, P. MARINE CORPS ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS some rest inside a secure perimeter set MajGen Oliver P. Smith, CG of 1stMarDiv, attends memorial services for his fallen up by their regimental commander, Col- men at the Division’s cemetery at Hungnam, Korea, following the break-out from the onel Lewis “Chesty” Puller of the 1st Chosin Reservoir in December 1950. Marines, the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps. Kennedy and his troops—1stMarDiv, the Eighth Army and men were glad to be serving under him. “As they got close, they various United Nations forces. Soon they would be in serious trouble. Letellier screamed curses at us in On Nov. 27, Letellier recalled, “the To the northwest, Marty Letellier and English. ‘Sonofabitch! You die, night we arrived, Chinese troops wearing his mortar outfit had marched or were white, padded coats attacked with burp trucked about 20 miles from Hagaru-ri Marines!’ We were mowing guns, machine guns and grenades. They to join Baker Company, 1st Provisional filled the sky with green tracers—every Marine Brigade. them down with machine-gun fifth round—and sounded bugles and Letellier and his buddies in “King” other horns and slammed cymbals. As Battery had set up a position northwest and rifle fire, but it seemed they got close, they screamed curses at of Yudam-ni near the Yalu River, the us in English. ‘Sonofabitch! You die, Ma- border between North Korea and China. they just kept coming.” rines!’ We were mowing them down with MacArthur wanted to push the enemy all machine­gun and rifle fire, but it seemed the way up to the border, but he didn’t —Marty Letellier they just kept coming—shooting and expect huge numbers of Chinese to pour screaming. I thought it was over. I thought across the border and confront his I’m 19 and I’m going to croak in this damn place!” By morning he was astonished to see how many dead Chinese were on the hillside.