Queen spread the company out in front of the new position. He had his platoon CP in a shallow hole about 4 × 6 feet and put his two-man command group (Alston and himself) in the hole. Queen redistributed weapons and ammunition, giving his M-1 rifle to someone whose weapon had jammed. Queen still had his .45-caliber pistol, which he would later use to lead the counterattack.
Queen passed the word that they were going to mount a counterattack to take back the hill at first light (about 0500 hours), about an hour before the official dawn (0600). He knew that the members of 2d Ranger Company couldn’t afford to fail, regardless of their small numbers present on the line. They had to dispel and kill forever the myth that had hung over “black combat soldiers” about their willingness and inability to fight. They were not going to be pushed off that hill because it would have meant that they would have to retake it the next day. The shame of losing the hill without being annihilated would be too much to bear. Queen hated the idea of prepping for another attack after the loss of so many men in the initial assault, but he called for artillery on their old positions to prevent them from being overrun by enemy forces as they moved out to retake the high ground. Adjusting the artillery fire to brush up against 2d Ranger Company’s position was a risk worth taking to hold enemy forces back.
The platoon from Company A remained in position as 2d Ranger Company rushed back up the hill in a walking firefight. A distance of forty to fifty yards separated 2d Ranger Company from Company A. During this assault Sergeant First Class Eugene Jennings was wounded and evacuated.
When 2d Ranger Company retook Hill 581, the early sunlight revealed scattered enemy corpses in their former positions on the reverse slope and crest of the hill.
Looking Back: Five Different Views from Foxhole Level
Private First Class Isaac Grasty, Jr.
Hill 581 was where I had my first big combat action or exposure. A couple of nights before the action, we had to withdraw from the same hill. We ran an all-night “strategic retreat,” as we called it. On May 20th we went to retake the hill. We received no enemy heavy fire from the side we went up, even though we expected heavy fire. Once we reached the top and got halfway down the backside, all hell broke loose. We hit the ground right where we were. Legree Aikens was to my right sitting in an upright position about three yards away, firing his BAR, resting it on his knees with the bipod folded back. The main reason I was so near Aikens was that I was his assistant, with extra magazines for the BAR. Aikens was hit in the legs during the exchange of fire. Corporal Ralph W. Sutton was to my left in a standing position behind a tree. He asked me and Aikens to cover him while he went down the hill a little farther so he could get a better firing position. After Sutton left Aikens told me that he had been hit again. He handed me his BAR. About this time, we were ordered to pull back to the top of the hill.
I got the order to go down and help bring a wounded man back up. I got down there with three men and found that Sutton was the wounded Ranger. Each of us grabbed a limb in order to carry him. I had his left arm, under which there was a hole big enough to put your fist in. He had been killed instantly! After we got him to the top and covered him with a poncho, we were told to dig in for the night. Usually Aikens, Sutton, and I would dig in together, but this night I don’t remember who was with me.
The firing started again just before daybreak. Lieutenant Queen called in artillery and told everyone to pull back. When I got out of my hole to do so, I was hit in the upper left arm and shoulder.
Because of bad weather at this little airfield somewhere in South Korea, I could not immediately be evacuated to a hospital for proper treatment. This was on May 21st. By the time I could be airlifted gangrene had set in, and it required an emergency operation. They saved my arm but left me permanently disabled, with only partial use of the limb. About ten days later I was evacuated to the USAF Hospital in Nagoya, Japan.
If there was anyone deserving an award, I would say Sutton did. Too bad he never got a chance to start the chicken farm he had planned when he got back home.
Sergeant Herman C. Jackson
We had buried some ammunition on Hill 581 before but we didn’t know that one day we would return and use it. We had been patrolling when they decided to give us rest. This was a short rest period when we pulled back from the line.
They put up these showers, like we had never seen before. They had a pile of clean clothes on the ground when you came out of the shower. You could pick out anything decent to wear that would fit. We had been in the mountains so long that our clothes were shredded. It was a relief to get some clean clothes; some of the uniforms were in good shape.
We had put up a supply tent and several Rangers were cleaning weapons. We had some extra weapons on the supply truck that had to be cleaned. We started cleaning the weapons after taking a shower and changing clothes.
The sun was out and it was very hot. Captain Allen came in the tent and he saw this Korean sitting down. I don’t think that he knew who the Korean was. Anyway, this Korean was helping us clean weapons, and that didn’t seem too strange. We had a couple of young Korean boys working in the field kitchen with Sergeant First Class Parks. Just about every outfit had a few Koreans, somewhere. This Korean person had a field jacket on and the hood over his head, in the tent, on this hot day! Captain Allen said, “It’s hot. How in the world can you sit there wearing that field jacket?” Captain Allen reached over and pulled the hood down, and all this hair fell down! It was a woman! Boy was Captain Allen surprised! He pitched a bitch! We all had a laugh, but the company commander didn’t think this was very funny. He had her kicked out of the area and we finished cleaning the weapons ourselves.
On our way back to Hill 581 we climbed the mountain and saw some Koreans below us. As we passed toward 581 our pilots were bombing in the vicinity. Fighting was going on everywhere. As soon as we got to the top we made contact with the enemy. We were leap-frogging platoons into position. After we completed one leap, we ran into heavy rifle fire.
I remember Corporal Sutton was with me during this time. He climbed a doggone tree to get a clear vision of the enemy. I was about five yards from him, as I had just moved forward. I said, “Come on. Let’s get these mother f***ers!” The next thing that I remembered is that I was hit! I was hit in the stomach, the right thigh, and right wrist. I fell forward to the ground. In just a minute or so Doc Rabbit (Thomas) came up. Rabbit said, “Damn, Jack, you are hit pretty badly!” He gave me a shot of morphine. As a matter of fact, he gave me two more shots. I guess he thought I would die in comfort. Rabbit cut my cartridge belt off me. I had two pouches of grenades and I was carrying an M-1 rifle. Rabbit cut off all the stuff that I was carrying.
I started moving back a little piece, then some medics came up and started walking me down the hill. They walked me to the aid station where I was placed in an ambulance and went to Division Evac. From there I was moved to a MASH unit. While there, I was surprised to see some Korean or Chinese being treated. They operated on me and I was moved to another MASH unit, and from there I was moved to a hospital in Japan.
I remained in Japan for some time. They were getting ready to return me to 2d Ranger Company in Korea. We went before a board of medical officers, test-fired our weapons, and were ready to leave for Korea. As we approached the time to move out, a sergeant told me and another soldier to wait. He ordered us to turn in our equipment. “You are going home!”
Samuel Payne, Jr.
On Hill 581 we took a pounding but secured the hill. Sergeant Aikens got hit, he was taken down; but we continued on the attack. Our platoon pushed through the 3d Platoon on the way to engage the enemy, who was preparing to do battle. As members of the 2d Platoon, we did not hesitate; we were committed. We fixed bayonets. One of our men did battle with an enemy using the bayonet, killing him. I cannot remember the name of the Ranger. We charged up the hill screaming, “Buffalo—Mother——!” This was our battle cry throughout our stay in Korea.
After securing the
hill, we began to dig in, expecting the Chinese to counterattack. They did counterattack, and they seemed to bring every small-arms weapon and ammunition, including the kitchen sink, toward our hasty defensive positions. We could see the Chinese marching in column, coming toward us. Lieutenant Queen called in artillery fire from division. The enemy still continued to move forward.
Sutton was hit just before dusk. When one of the enemy dead fell nearby, we knew he was Chinese by the strong smell of fish and garlic. We knew they were nearby because of that smell.
My BAR fire team’s mission was to protect the machine guns. My BAR team was dug in beneath the machine gun manned by Wells. The enemy tried many times to knock the machine gun (s) out, but we kept grenades raining down on them. A few of them got killed or wounded and pulled back. They couldn’t stop our machine guns. I know that he [Wells] killed ten to thirty. Orders were passed down not to fire until we had a target. The enemy had overrun some of the 3d Platoon positions and wounded Rangers. But all of our people walked out or were helped out. We were told by our platoon Sergeant, Dude Walker, to hold our positions, and to cover the withdrawal of the 3d Platoon.
By daylight the enemy had faded away, taking what wounded or dead were left. The 2d Ranger Company would not budge! We sent out contact patrols but located no living enemy soldiers. We, as a fighting unit, had fought with regiment after regiment in the 7th Division. We had fought with all three outfits (17th, 32d, and now the 31st Regiment). What we saw was living proof that the 2d Ranger Company had held and could hold its own with any fighting machine that they threw at us.
Wheeler S. Small, Jr.
[Note: Ranger Small was wounded at Tanyang Pass and returned to the company after getting a ten-day R&R from the Osaka hospital. He said that he got a twice-daily massage with oil from the nurse because of his extremely dry skin. He went higher in “Buffalo Heaven” for ten days while on R&R from the hospital: “You should have seen me,” he said, “a black man horseback riding in Japan!”]
On 20 May, the entire 2d Ranger Company was in a firefight. Hill 581 was a tough hill to take. I think that we slept on the forward side of the hill. I dug a spot and covered up with my parachute because of the rain. We went over the hill that afternoon and dug in to defend our positions. We got attacked for about six hours. To me, this was the longest engagement with the enemy that we had. It was a rough time for me because I had diarrhea and I couldn’t leave the foxhole. Bullets were flying everywhere. I was firing my rifle and shitting at the same time. It was quite an ordeal!
They were overrunning our position. We were forced to pull back and set up on the opposite side of the hill. Lieutenant Queen called in the artillery. He kept telling them: “Drop closer! Drop closer!” until the enemy was forced back.
At daybreak we went back and cleaned up and secured the hill. We found out later that 2d Ranger Company was the only outfit that stayed on Hill 581.33
Sergeant George Rankins
[Note: Sergeants George Rankins and Curtis Courts were the two Rangers responsible for saving Kirk P. Adkins’ life, along with a medical miracle.]
All hell broke loose! Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Queen ordered us to rejoin the main group at the top of the hill. When we arrived at the top he conversed with Lieutenant Queen, who asked: “Rankins, are all your men present?” I replied, “Yes, sir, except [Kirk P.] Adkins. He is at the bottom of the hill dead!” Lieutenant Queen snapped back, “I don’t give a damn if he is chopped up into little pieces. You get him and bring him up here!” This was a little scary because Queen never used profanity. I replied, “Yes, Sir!” and hauled ass back down the hill with Curtis Courts and Iron Head Gray.
We found Kirk there, alive, though shot to pieces. His intestines were spread out on the ground. We actually pushed parts back inside and securely wrapped him, as best as possible, with my field jacket. We started to drag him up the hill, then down toward the aid station. A helicopter landed close to us. The pilot was slightly lost and looking for a certain unit. We told him that this was not the unit, but we did have a comrade who was very seriously wounded. We wanted him to take him to get medical aid. He replied, in no uncertain terms, “NO!” I insisted, and he again said, “NO!” I put my .45 to his neck and informed him that Kirk was going in that chopper, or else! We loaded him into the chopper. There was no doubt in my mind that the pilot tried to turn us down because of color.
We went back up to the company and were hit hard that night. The enemy tried to walk into and around our positions. Read military history and you will find a West Pointer received the Medal of Honor in ’Nam for the same type of action.
This Was Truly a Purple Heart Hill
Within the next twenty-four hours, Captain Allen and the large group on R&R returned for duty. They hurried to the top of the hill because the battle news had spread. Nonetheless, the number of our men present for duty in the foxholes dropped by almost twenty-five percent in just one day! In the battle of Tanyang Pass, the 2d Ranger Company had suffered more killed in action casualties, but not as many wounded in action. By the beginning of June all those seriously wounded had been transferred to station hospital, put in temporary rehab programs, or moved stateside and dropped from the rolls.
There may have been Purple Hearts for Rangers who were treated on the spot and remained in position until 2d Ranger Company was relieved. In any case, on 19–20 May 1951, the following Rangers of 2d Ranger Company received the Purple Heart:
Private First Class Legree Aikens—Seriously Wounded in Action
Sergeant Kirk P. Adkins—Seriously Wounded in Action
Sergeant Eugene V. Arnold—Lightly Wounded in Action
Sergeant Clinton Cleveland—Lightly Wounded in Action
Private First Class James K. Conway—Lightly Wounded in Action
Corporal Donald L. Felder—Lightly Wounded in Action
Sergeant John E. Ford, Jr.—Lightly Wounded in Action
Corporal John W. Gould—Seriously Wounded in Action
Private First Class Isaac Grasty, Jr.—Lightly Wounded in Action
Corporal Walter S. Gray—Lightly Wounded in Action
Private First Class James Hardy—Lightly Wounded in Action
Private First Class James E. Harvey—Seriously Wounded in Action
Sergeant Herman C. Jackson—Seriously Wounded in Action
Corporal Emmett L. Johnson—Seriously Wounded in Action
Private First Class Ralph Leggs, Jr.—Seriously Wounded in Action
Corporal William G. Rhodes—Lightly Wounded in Action
Corporal Jude P. St. Martin—Seriously Wounded in Action
Corporal Ralph W. Sutton—Killed in Action
Corporal William Tucker—Seriously Wounded in Action
Private First Class Joseph Whitmore—Lightly Wounded in Action
Sergeant Henry Wilson—Lightly Wounded in Action
The subject of criteria for awards was totally neglected in Ranger orientation. The company executive officers performed both administrative and combat duties while on the line. The fact that Rangers could recommend others for awards was never broached. Almost all of the awards in the company were recommended by the 2d’s officers. At no time did battalion, regiment, or division turn down an award that was recommended; however, no utilization was made of the Bronze Star for meritorious service or the Commendation Medal for outstanding service. There were too many Rangers who didn’t receive awards, but should have. BAR men, such as Sergeant Culver Gibson, were the firepower backbone of the unit on Hill 581.
Many times Rangers—such as Sergeant First Class Orrie Tucker, Supply Sergeant; Sergeant First Class Nathan Parks, Mess Sergeant; Sergeant George Jackson, Jr., Personnel Clerk; and Corporal Glen Jenkins, Jr., Motor Corporal/ Mechanic—operated without close supervision. Their successes at keeping the unit supplied, fed, and rolling, regardless of the mode (including moonlighting without being apprehended), were miracles because of the many frequent attachments and moves.
Many Ran
gers were cited for bravery for their actions on Hill 581. General Ferenbaugh came down to the company area and bestowed the awards personally. The following Rangers were recognized for bravery:
First Lieutenant James C. Queen—Silver Star
Master Sergeant George Rankins—Silver Star
Sergeant Curtis Courts—Silver Star
Corporal Anthony Andrade—Bronze Star with “V” Device
First Lieutenant Albert D. Cliette—Bronze Star with “V” Device
Sergeant Culver V. Gibson—Bronze Star with “V” Device
Corporal Joseph J. Wells—Bronze Star with “V” Device
Wells’ Bronze Star states that he distinguished himself by heroic achievement near Sang-Kwiryang, Korea, on 21 May 1951:
On this date, when the left flank of the 2d Ranger Company was overrun by a numerically superior enemy force, Corporal Wells, light machine gunner in the company, and his assistant were directed by the platoon leader to cover the withdrawal of the 3d Platoon to high ground within the 1st Platoon’s positions. The machine gun had been damaged in a previous firefight and was low on ammunition. In spite of these obstacles Corporal Wells effectively covered the withdrawal of his unit. While in his exposed position, he was subjected to fire from three enemy machine guns, but he remained in position, constantly applying immediate action to his gun to keep it in operation until all ammunition was expended. Corporal Wells then threw hand grenades at the enemy until told to withdraw by the commanding officer. The heroic actions displayed by Corporal Wells reflect great credit on him and the military service.
Edward L. Posey Page 14
