Military Medical Reminiscences of Three Wars: X Platoon, Charley Company

Saturday, October 16, 2010

X Platoon, Charley Company

In early April, 1945, the 2d Infantry Division encountered one of Europe’s heaviest concentrations of antiaircraft guns. These had defended the factory at Merseburg that had made much of the Reich’s artificial rubber, and the factory at Leuna that had made much of its artificial gasoline. The factories had been destroyed by allied bombing but these guns remained. They were used now to defend the city of Leipzig, which was a Second Division objective. The guns, with very fast muzzle velocities, were depressed and fired directly at the advancing tanks and infantrymen, who the Germans could see easily since the terrain was flat.

Such a flak position was located directly ahead of the first battalion of the 9^th infantry regiment. It was decided to attack and take it at night. The X Platoon of Charley Company volunteered to carry out this operation.

This platoon had arrived in the regiment only recently. Its members were African-Americans who had been assigned to service units in Italy. They had volunteered for the Infantry and combat service. One of the regiment’s lieutenants was assigned as their platoon leader.

It seemed to me that what they had done and were doing seemed worthwhile for a number of reasons. I volunteered to accompany them on this mission, as did a couple of the enlisted medical personnel. We and a litter-jeep brought up the rear of the column as the platoon started out on the road towards the flak position after nightfall.

We were doing our best to keep quiet, of course. If the enemy heard us he would know immediately where we were and what we were doing. This almost happened, several minutes after we started. A drunken US soldier approached us. He had left his unit, found some liquor, and was drunk. Seeing us, he opened his mouth to yell a greeting. The nearest medical soldier grabbed him and covered his mouth. I asked the nearest rifleman for his bayonet, and put it at the man’s throat. I told the medical soldier to take it and drive it home if the man started to open his mouth. That seemed to impress the drunken soldier. He was placed in the jeep, still with the bayonet at his throat, and soon fell asleep. We heard no more from him.

The next sound we heard was that of small-arms fire as the Platoon attacked the gun positions. We followed and discovered that the flak guns had all been taken, as had the gunners. We also discovered that every member of the X Platoon, including its leader, had been wounded sufficiently to require evacuation to a hospital for treatment.

While we treated their wounds I requested the necessary ambulances. Upon their arrival the entire X Platoon was placed in them and evacuated to the rear for further treatment. I offered the leader a ride to the rear in my jeep, but he declined, saying that wanted to remain with the others.

The drunken soldier also was given a ride to the rear, in the company of some MPs.

Six years later in January of 1951, I returned to the 2d Division, in Korea. The third battalion of the 9^th Infantry Regiment was composed of African-Americans. Its Regimental Surgeon was an outstanding officer, Lt. Colonel John F. Harris, who occupied a Major’s position. In my opinion, he should have been the Division Surgeon. However, that position was held by another Lt. Colonel who was, in my opinion, ineffective. He had the job because he was white.

Later, of course, the division was integrated, as was the entire Army.

1 comment:

JMOctober 22, 2010 at 4:25 PM
Thank you, Dr. Hall, for sharing your stories. I was particularly interested in this post concerning the 2nd Infantry Division in WWII. My uncle was one of the Indian Head Division, 23rd Infantry Regiment, a "ubiquitous linemen" until KIA, 1 August 1944. He is buried at Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy. I appreciate your having cared for his fellow brothers-in-arms in WWII and beyond.
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Why I Started This Blog

This blog was started in order to place on the record the truth about the treatment of the wounded casualties at the battle of Chipyong-ni, during the KoreanWar.

The first post, “Treatment of the UN Wounded at Chipiyong-ni” tells how and by whom the US, French, Korean and some Chinese wounded casualties were treated during this battle.

The 23d Regimental Combat Team of the 2d Infantry Division, with its attached French UN Battalion was surrounded and under attack by a much larger Chinese Force for three days and two nights at Chipyong-ni, many miles in advance of the main UN Forces.

An Armor-Infantry Task Force eventually broke through the enemy lines from the south, and the Chinese withdrew. The battle has been called the “turning point” of the Korean War. The US and French units at Chipyong-ni were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, and the battle was chosen to represent the Korean War in the “US Army In Action” series of paintings.

This battle was a medical milestone also, for as best as it has been possible to determine, this was the first time that transfusions of whole blood were given to the wounded this far forward in the combat zone. As is noted later, these transfusions apparently were effective in saving lives.

The wounded at Chipyong-ni were cared for by eight US and French Medical Corps officers, five Medical Service Corps officers, and more than 160 other medical personnel of both armies. These were the medical aid men who first treated the wounded, and the litter-bearers and litter-jeep drivers who carried the wounded to the five battalion aid stations and the regimental collecting station. They were the battalion surgeons and other medical personnel in the battalion aid stations, and the medical officers and other medical personnel in the regimental collecting station.

These medical installations had no overhead cover or other protection from the enemy’s fire. They were located, of necessity, near such obvious enemy targets as command posts, and the artillery and mortars. These medical personnel carried out their duties, whatever their role and wherever they were located, in the open, without defilade in what were artillery impact areas while the 23d RCT was hit by some of the heaviest artillery and mortar fire that was received by a UN unit during the entire Korean War.

Another physician, Captain Herman R. Hansen, and I gave the transfusions of whole blood to the most seriously wounded of the casualties who had been evacuated to the regimental collecting station. Two of the wounded casualties died in the collecting station during the first night of the battle. There were no more deaths among the more than 300 casualties who were cared for in the collecting station until they could be evacuated to hospitals. This was on the fourth day, after the enemy had withdrawn. As was borne out later, in Vietnam, that there was an apparent causal association between this provision of whole blood and the fact that there were no more deaths.

The medical personnel at Chipyong-ni had every right to be proud of what they had accomplished. The United States Army’s Center of Military History published a book, however, that states that one Master Sergeant had cared for all of the casualties at Chipyong-ni as a result of a “deficiency in the number of doctors and in the quality of their training.”

The Center of Military History has refused to honor repeated requests by individuals and organizations that it acknowledge that these statements in this book, The Medics’ War are untrue.

This blog was started, therefore to present the true story of how the wounded were treated at Chipyong-ni.

Now that it has been started, I will add other reminiscences to the blog.

My son, Mike and daughter, Sue are making this possible. Mike edits the items; Sue places them on the blog.