The Best Christmas Present Ever

Seventy years ago, US Navy demolition teams, Army engineers, and hundreds of other American servicemen, all part of a UN force that weeks earlier had numbered over 100,000, watched as a massive explosion – the largest since World War II – erupted over a small port in North Korea. With docks, warehouses, and wharfs bursting…

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They Stood Proud and Strong

Marines begin the long, cold trek to Hungnam, many would not survive.

“We grunts never knew, one day from the next, where we were or what we were accomplishing. The mountains, valleys, stinking rice paddies, and frozen mountains all seemed the same to us. We were living and dying in our own violent little world.” – Marine serving during the Korean War with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines The…

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Fighting and Dying in a Frozen Hell

Marines at Chosin Reservoir

It’s a pivotal event of the 20th century. The Battle of Chosin, or “Changjin” as it’s called in Korea, a two-week-long bloodbath pitting 30,000 US, ROK, and British troops against 120,000 Chinese soldiers, was a defining moment of the Korean War. Fighting in the winter of 1950 in bitter cold and brutal terrain, men endured…

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Hungnam Evacuation – A Christmas Miracle

In December 1950, dramatic events unfolding in the rugged mountains of North Korea captivated the world’s attention. The Battle of Chosin, one of the fiercest engagements in U.S. history, was taking place in sub-zero temperatures and knee-deep snow. After days of horrific fighting, U.N. troops, surrounded by overwhelming Chinese forces and suffering heavy casualties, began an…

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