Hill 117<\/p>\n
On August 8, 1952, Company L gathered at twilight. Massey, our armorer, distributed bandoleers for the M1 rifles and cartridges for my carbine. The chaplain was waiting under a grove of trees. He launched us off to our jon boats with the 23 Psalm. Hill 117 was waiting.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Hill One-One-Seven was only a wart of a hill<\/p>\n
Artillery would level it before we go in for the kill<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll cross the Imjin it\u2019ll be a walk in the park<\/p>\n
My vest and my helmet won\u2019t be seen in the dark.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two cartridges, two grenades are enough for this mission<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be off to the chaplain before we head to perdition<\/p>\n
“The Lord is my shepherd…” was his solemn prayer<\/p>\n
Will these words shield me while I\u2019m a target out there?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What will Ma do if she gets the sad news?<\/p>\n
Your son was a hero but we have some bad news<\/p>\n
Dusk over the Imjin helped our jon boats get through<\/p>\n
We assembled at The Bubble for another review.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With Charley at the point and Sid leading the raid<\/p>\n
I unlatched my safety and secured each grenade<\/p>\n
A trail matted with wire led us along a steep cliff<\/p>\n
It was here Charley whispered come close have a whiff<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s kim-chi<\/em>, it\u2019s garlic, it reeks in the air<\/p>\n \u201cInto that ditch, shouted Sid, artillery will blast \u2018em.<\/p>\n A round plunged into the Imjin<\/p>\n Another flew past them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So much for the shells, we moved up the Hill<\/p>\n I hurled my grenades whose blood did I spill?<\/p>\n Bullets from burp gins buzzed overhead<\/p>\n Some buddies lay wounded how many were dead?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Down the cliff yelled Sid our ammo is low<\/p>\n The men skidded and slid to the Imjin below<\/p>\n When I began to descend Poodles ran up and said<\/p>\n Massengale\u2019s out there I think that he\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Follow me Poodles and keep your head down<\/p>\n I crawled under fire but Poodles was gone.<\/p>\n Massengale\u2019s collar in hand, I dragged him away<\/p>\n My heart beat like thunder, will I see another day?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I buckled his ankles with my web GI belt<\/p>\n We tumbled to the Imjin, what a hand I was dealt<\/p>\n His helmet was gone his vest was in shreds<\/p>\n My O.D. fatigues was a palette of reds<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bullets pockmarked the Imjin, will we ever reach a boat<\/p>\n I edged closer to the cliff with Massengale afloat<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t see us, they missed us amid the slaughter<\/p>\n He was a hero on the cliff, but cold dead in the water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ah there\u2019s a jon boat I towed him across<\/p>\n Graves Registration was waiting to record Love Company\u2019s loss<\/p>\n Swaddled in a body bag its zipper tolled the knell<\/p>\n Massengale was at rest after his visit to Hell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wet in my bunker I zipped up my sack<\/p>\n The zip of the zipper zipped I was back<\/p>\n I survived through the night I\u2019ll never know why<\/p>\n Maybe the old adage held true, I was too mean to die<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dear Ma Dear Pa nothing\u2019s going on here<\/p>\n I\u2019m far south of Seoul way back in the rear<\/p>\n I\u2019ll send a few photos, show the guys my great tan<\/p>\n Tell them it\u2019s a picnic for your rear-echelon Dan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daniel Wolfe<\/p>\n danielwolfebooks@aol.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hill 117 On August 8, 1952, Company L gathered at twilight. Massey, our armorer, distributed bandoleers for the M1 rifles and cartridges for my carbine. The chaplain was waiting under a grove of trees. He launched us off to our jon boats with the 23 Psalm. Hill 117 was waiting. \u00a0Hill One-One-Seven was only a… Continue reading Hill 117<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[119,139,38,121,137,37,138],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-21st-psalm","tag-bunker","tag-burp-guns","tag-graves-registration","tag-imjin-rver","tag-kim-chi","tag-point-man","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3376,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions\/3376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}