Battle for the Punchbowl: The U. S. 1st Marine Division 1951 Fall Offensive of the Korean War Page: 208
View a full description of this thesis.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
assault, overrun the enemy position and capture the machine gun, leaving the area
strewn with enemy dead and wounded."74
A North Korean soldier darted from the bunker and made a beeline for the NKPA
rear. "Hey! Shoot the bastard!" shouted one Marine fumbling with a jammed rifle. A
nineteen-year-old downy-faced Marine, called the "'chicken' of the platoon" because of
his youth and blonde hair hurled himself after the Korean soldier, screaming a battle cry
to chill the fleeing enemy's blood. He speared the North Korean in the seat of his
trousers with his bayonet-tipped M-1. The NKPA dashed on another twenty yards, the
Marine close behind still clinging to the rifle, the embedded bayonet linking the twain,
until "chicken" managed to squeeze the trigger. "As the soldier fell on his face, the
Marine stopped, casually leaned his rifle against his left arm, took a tiny KODAK camera
from his pocket and snapped a picture of the still-squirming Korean."75
At the military crest of the finger ridge, the company "gunny," Staff Sergeant
Stanley J. Wawrzyniak found an occupied enemy bunker that would decimate the "left
flank of the first assaulting squad" if it was not silenced. He did not hesitate. He leapt to
his feet and dashed through intense small arms fire and showers of grenade fragments
to personally slay all three enemy denizens of the emplacement despite wounds from
shrapnel. His personal weapon was out of ammunition, so he seized the BAR of a fallen
Marine and continued to attack enemy entrenchments. He "aggressively aided the
squad in overrunning the position, directed the pursuit of the fleeing enemy and208
74 Ibid., 44.
75 Ibid.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This thesis can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Thesis.
Montandon, Joshua W. Battle for the Punchbowl: The U. S. 1st Marine Division 1951 Fall Offensive of the Korean War, thesis, August 2007; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3938/m1/223/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .