Now the children were silent — too shocked to really comprehend what they had just seen. Dickson shushed the children to get their attention, then said in a low voice “American.”
The second soldier began rapidly speaking to them in Korean and the kids quietly followed them out of the room and down the stairs. He was about to go down the hall when Ricks caught up. “Second floor secured. Looks like the third is empty. All the guns and soldiers are on the fourth,” he said. “There are some children in another classroom down this hall. We’re bringing them out.”
A line of very young children began making their way down the hall. They were half way when a soldier came down the central stairs. He saw the children and one of the American soldiers and gave a shout of alarm. “Cover us!” shouted Dickson and he grabbed some children and began running toward the far stairwell.
Soldiers began firing down the central stairs and rushing down to stop the men and children. Discarding their pistols, Ricks and his men began firing their M-16s into the packed soldiers as they came down the landing, then tossed a grenade up one flight. Explosions shook the building as grenades cleared the initial assault. But the North Koreans now abandoned their big guns and took up their small arms. Ricks tossed another grenade and dashed up the stairs after it went off. He was followed by a squad of his men. They took cover on the third floor and watched as a squad of North Koreans bounded down the stairs going for the second. They were mowed down before they made it past the door. Ricks called his men to move down the hall toward the end stairwell where more shooting and loud explosions were heard.
They entered the landing to see several North Koreans descending the stairs toward the screams of the children. Ricks immediately opened up on the men while squad members tossed grenades up to the fourth floor landing. They ducked back inside the third floor hall before the grenades went off.
The explosion was horrendous. It peeled the roof off the school building and sent a fireball 100 feet in the air. The grenades landed near a soldier who used his rifle to knock them away. Unwittingly he knocked them into the ready service ammunition for the 78mm gun. The gun was blown out the front of the building onto the street below and parts of the fourth floor collapsed down onto the third. Seeing the explosion, Lt. Colonel Peterson figured correctly that things were not going well, loaded up the Bradleys, and headed in.
The carnage was nearly complete. As they approached the school they saw fires burning on one side of the building. Peterson’s men rounded to the back of the building just in time to see Dickson’s men crouching behind the retaining wall with some of the children. Quickly exiting the Bradley, Peterson was told there were more children and where they would be, then he got as many children inside the transport as he could and sent it off to meet up with the rest down the road.
The second Bradley entered the school from the area of the gym. Hufham quickly had his men spread out and begin making their way through the halls and up the stairs. Three children were found huddled in the hall on the first floor and were taken to safety.
Peterson entered the same way Dickson’s group had and met up with Hufham at the end of the hall. They were stopped on the first landing at the sound of muffled sobs coming from what looked like a body at the base of the stairs.
Hufham shined a light at the sounds. Lieutenant Dickson’s body lay huddled over a young boy, no more than 8 years old. In his last act, he had thrown himself over the boy to protect him from a grenade that dropped almost right beside them. His arms were still wrapped around the young boy. Gently, Hufham eased the Lieutenant’s body off the child and laid it back. He picked up the frightened boy and carried him back down the hall.
Peterson looked down at the face of the Lieutenant. His eyes were closed and there was a serene look on his face — as if he knew he had done a wonderful thing. Even his lips appeared to turn up slightly in a smile. Peterson knelt beside the young man and removed the Lieutenant’s helmet, brushing back his hair, then laying his hand on the young man’s cheek. “God bless you, Lieutenant,” he said softly, removing his helmet and saying a short prayer.
Another soldier came up to Peterson. “Sir, we have some wounded guys up on third.”
Peterson put his helmet back on. “Lead the way, Corporal.”
The two men made their way to the center stairwell, through the wreckage and up to the third floor. The devastation on the third floor was not so bad at first, but as they made their way farther Peterson could see parts of the fourth floor had caved in. Two men were being treated by medics and a small group had gathered toward the worst of the wreckage. Peterson walked up and looked down into the beam of the flashlights. “Oh no,” he sighed.
Ricks lay unconscious on the floor. His flack vest was peppered with holes and he was cut in several places on his face and arms.
“We can’t get him out, Colonel,” said one man. He pointed to Ricks’ legs trapped from just below the knees by a huge section of concrete and rebar from the fourth floor. One of the Medics was placing a tourniquet on a leg to stem the blood flow as the legs bled under the slab.
“Get Hufham. Then call in and get as many men as it will take to get that slab off him. I want this man alive,” he ordered.
Hufham arrived two minutes later. “The kids are in the trucks and on their way,” he said as he walked down the hall. “Who got hurt?” he asked. Peterson walked up and took his arm. He looked at Hufham in the semi-darkness.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Hufham said as he pushed past to see his friend lying on the floor. He knelt beside Ricks and took his hand. “Dale? Dale, are you with me?” he asked.
“I gave him morphine, but he was already unconscious,” said the Medic. “I got tourniquets on his legs, but we’ve got to get him out from here,” he said.
Hufham nodded through his tears and looked around at Rick’s legs. “Well he ain’t gonna get away that easy,” he said. Turning to two soldiers, “You two find some crow bars or some long pieces of steel or pipe. Let’s see if we can pry him out of this,” he shouted. The men dashed down the hall and down the stairs.
“Watch after him,” Hufham ordered as he got up and sprinted to the fourth floor. That was where he found what he was looking for, two long steel rods used to position guns for aiming. Grabbing them, he dragged them down the stairs to the third floor. Calling up the rest of the squad, the men lined up and positioned the thin tip of the rods under the concrete on either side of Ricks. Using another piece of concrete for leverage, six men put their weight on the ends of the bars and the concrete slab lifted slightly. The medic and Peterson pulled Ricks from the rubble before the concrete fell back into place.
Ricks’ legs and feet were mashed flat. There was no substance to them and blood was everywhere. The Medic tightened the tourniquets once more and the men placed Ricks gently on a stretcher. Once done, they quickly took him to an awaiting Bradley and secured him inside. Peterson yelled up to the driver. “Floor this thing and get that man to a hospital now!”
The Bradley lurched forward and rapidly accelerated down the highway. Peterson and Hufham looked at each other. “Sorry, Paul. Damn!” Peterson exclaimed as he too felt the sorrow wash over him for a second.