And then the colonel had ordered everybody off Obong-ni Ridge when it was apparent to him that the men holding the crest were not going to be able to repel a North Korean counterattack.
Once everyone was back, reasonably safe, in the posi-tions they had left to begin the attack, the artillery was called in again, and the mortars, and the North Korean po-sitions on Obong-ni Ridge again came under fire.
Following which, the 1st Battalion attacked again, this time with what was left of Able and Baker Companies in the van, and with Charley Company following, and with Headquarters and Service Company in reserve.
By the time the 1st Marines again gained the crest of the hill, their strength had been reduced by 40 percent, and Charley Company had lost almost that many, but there was enough of them left, in the colonel's judgment, so they stood a reasonable chance of turning the North Korean counterattack when it inevitably came, and he had ordered the Charley Company commander to take command of the Marines on the crest and defend it to the best of his ability.
Thirty minutes after the North Korean counterattack be-gan, the colonel began receiving reports of the casualties suffered and of the ammunition running low. The colonel knew he didn't have the manpower to get ammunition in the quantities requested up the crest of Obong-ni Ridge.
He called Brigade and explained the situation. Brigade said the 2nd Battalion would be immediately sent to the area, and as soon as they arrived, he had permission to or-der his Marines back off the bill. And ordered him to make every effort to see they brought their dead and wounded back with them.
Once back, they would re-form. There were some re-placements, not as many as he would like, but that was all there was, and they would be sent as soon as possible.
`Trucks are coming," the exec said. "They're having a hell of a time getting through the mud, but they'll be here shortly."
The company commander did not reply.
"They're bringing the noon meal, and some replace-ments," the exec said. "And following an artillery softening-up, 2nd Battalion will attack through the 1st at 1600. Charley Company will lead."
"Major, I have, counting me, two officers and a platoon and a half of men."
"You'll have some of the people who went down with the heat back by then, and as I say, some replacements."
"Aye, aye, sir," the company commander said.
"And the softening barrage may be more effective this time. We've been promised a bunch-including some 155-mm-from the Army, and half the ammunition will be fused for airburst, which should do a better job on the far slopes. And it will be TOT." (Time On Target. All artillery pieces fire their tubes at the same predeter-mined instant. Among other things, this takes the enemy by surprise, and keeps him from seeking shelter before more shells land. It also has an of-ten terrifying psychological effect.)
"I wondered if anyone here had ever heard of airbursts, or thought about TOT," the company commander said.
"We're hurting them, too, Captain," the exec said.
"Yes, sir, but there seems to be a lot more of them than us," the company commander said.
"I'll be back before you move out. The 1st is up there. I don't think the NKs will try to come this way. Get the men as much rest as you can."
"Aye, aye, sir."
"You hurt your hand, Captain? You seem to be favoring it."
"My finger was hurt on the airplane on the way over here, sir. Little sore, nothing serious."
But if I ever see that candy-ass captain who did this to me again, I'm going to pull his arm off and shove it up his ass.
I wonder what that cocksucker's doing right now. Prob-ably playing tennis with his wife, the general's daughter.
Goddamn the U.S. Marine Corps.'
[THREE]
TOKCHOK-KUNDO ISLAND
1215 20 AUGUST 1950
"A little problem, Mr. Zimmerman?" Captain McCoy asked, surveying what was left of the small stone, thatch-roofed building that had housed the small German diesel generator and, the last time McCoy had been there, the SCR-300 radio. "I would say we have a world-class, A-Number-One fucking problem."
There was nothing left of the building but three walls, one of them on the edge of falling over, and the generator, which now lay on its side. The floor of the building-and the generator-was covered with a six-inch-thick layer of foul-smelling mud.
"When the storm really started getting bad, we moved the SCR-300 up the hill," Zimmerman said. "We didn't have the muscle to move the generator. By then, anyway, there was three feet of water in here. I mean all the time. When the waves hit, it was deeper; you had a hard time standing up."
Ernie means, "I had a hard time standing up," McCoy decided. I left him in charge, and he met that responsibility as best he could.
He had a mental picture of the barrel-chested Marine gunner standing in water up to his waist trying to salvage something, anything, in the generator building from the fury of the storm.
"I guess the diesel fuel's gone, too? Even if we can get that generator running again."
Zimmerman nodded.
"Everything that wasn't up the hill got washed away," he said. "Including most of the ammo for the Jap weapons."
"What about food?"
"We moved the rations up the hill, including the rice the Koreans had. And a couple of their boats are left. They were starting to try to get them back in the water when we saw you. Major Kim says he thinks they can catch enough fish to feed them and us."
"Anybody get hurt?"
Zimmerman shook his head, "no."
"I was thinking that maybe if we hit one of their is-lands-Taemuui-do is closest-maybe they'd have some diesel fuel," Zimmerman said.
If they had diesel fuel in the first place, what makes you think they'd still have it? Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do got hit by the storm as hard as Tokchok-kundo did. And if we hit Taemuui-do now, and didn't hit Yonghung-do immedi-ately afterward, when we finally did hit it, they'd be expect-ing an attack, and certainly would have reported that right after the storm somebody took Taemuui-do. They'd be curi-ous as hell about that.
Dumb idea, Ernie.
"Do you think that diesel's going to run after being un-der water for hours?"
"We'll have to take it apart and make sure there's no wa-ter in the cylinders. And then who knows?"
"Let's hold off on getting diesel for a diesel engine we're not sure can be fixed," McCoy said.
Zimmerman nodded.
"There are engines in the lifeboats," McCoy said. "Can we use those to power the SCR-300?"
"Wrong voltage, I'll bet," Zimmerman said. "But maybe we can rig something."
"Okay. First things first," McCoy ordered. "Put people to work helping Taylor unload the lifeboats, and then drag them on shore and get them covered. Then get the Korean fisherman's boats in the water. Send Major Kim with one of them. Maybe he will see what the storm did to Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do."
"And then what?"
"Ernie, I don't have the faintest fucking idea," McCoy said. "Right now, it looks like we're stranded on this beau-tiful tropical island."