Retreat, Hell! Part 8

Dunwood had searched his mind for a possible explanation and had come up with very little, except the possibility that Baker Company would be reequipped and brought up to authorized strength at Sasebo.

When they got to Sasebo, Dunwood quickly learned that was not to be the case. Baker Company, the lieutenant colonel in charge of a team from 1st Marine Division Headquarters told him, had been selected for a "special mission of crucial importance to the landing at Inchon."

The lieutenant colonel made it sound like an honor. Dunwood's experience as a Marine made him suspect it was a euphemistic description of a mission that would get a lot of Marines-probably including him-killed.

Baker Company was shortly thereafter a.s.sembled in the gymnasium of the U.S. Naval Base, Sasebo, where, after the windows were covered and guards posted at the doors, the colonel described their mission to them.

It seemed that to reach the landing beaches at Inchon, the invasion fleet would have to traverse the thirty-odd-mile -long Flying Fish Channel. In the channel were a number of islands, two of which, Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do, had to be invested and neutralized twenty-four hours before the invasion fleet arrived, otherwise the enemy could blow large holes in the sides of the transports with ordinary field artillery.

Baker Company had been given the mission, the honor, of investing Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do. Before they landed on the islands from Higgins boats, the islands would of course be subject to an enormous barrage of naval gunfire, which would effectively reduce to minimal the enemy's ability to resist Baker Company's invasion.

Actually, from that perspective, the colonel said, the real mission of Baker Company would be to occupy the two islands and prevent the enemy from coming back and bringing more artillery with them.

Captain Dunwood had gone ash.o.r.e at Tarawa and Iwo Jima, on each occasion having been a.s.sured that following the ma.s.sive preinvasion barrages of naval artillery to be laid on those islands, resistance would be minimal. That a.s.surance had turned out to be bulls.h.i.t, and he had therefore concluded that it was logical to presume this one was, too, and that Baker Company had just been handed the short end of the stick.

But he was a Marine, and Marines go where they are ordered to go, and he was a Marine officer, and Marine officers do whatever is humanly possible to reduce Marine losses by the only means that has ever looked like it works-training and more training.

By the time Baker Company reboarded LST-450, Captain Dunwood was sure that ninety-five percent of his Marines hated him for the regimen of training they had gone through under his command. And he was also sure that he had trained them as well and as thoroughly as he knew how, and that would probably result in fewer KIA and WIA than otherwise would have occurred.

At 0415 14 September, as the schedule called for, LST- 450 was at the mouth of the Flying Fish Channel, preparing to load the men of Baker Company aboard the Higgins boats for their a.s.sault on Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do islands.

Every ear, of course, was listening for the thunder, and every eye the flash, of the ma.s.sive naval gunfire bombardment that was going to reduce the potential of the North Koreans to repel their a.s.sault to minimal. That was scheduled to begin at 0415 and last for a half hour.

At 0445, when Baker Company's Higgins boats were scheduled to depart LST-450 for the beaches of the islands, they were still listening, in vain. There had been some kind of a f.u.c.kup, obviously, and there wasn't going to be any ma.s.sive barrage of naval gunfire.

Or, possibly, Captain Dunwood had thought privately, Captain Dunwood had thought privately, some candy-a.s.s chair-warming swabbie clerk-typist had made a little mistake typing the order-hitting the "5" instead of the "4"-and there would be a ma.s.sive barrage of naval gunfire landing on Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do starting at 0515, five minutes after the first Higgins boat touched the sh.o.r.e, and Baker Company would be up to its a.s.s in angry North Koreans some candy-a.s.s chair-warming swabbie clerk-typist had made a little mistake typing the order-hitting the "5" instead of the "4"-and there would be a ma.s.sive barrage of naval gunfire landing on Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do starting at 0515, five minutes after the first Higgins boat touched the sh.o.r.e, and Baker Company would be up to its a.s.s in angry North Koreans.

Marines go where they are ordered to go, with or without ma.s.sive barrages of naval gunfire to reduce opposition to the minimum.

At 0510, on schedule, the first Higgins boat transporting Baker Company to the Flying Fish Channel Islands touched ash.o.r.e and dropped its ramp.

Marines ran down the ramp and turned right and left, spreading out, weapons at the ready. Captain Dunwood was in the center of what ultimately was a formation in the shape of a V, holding his carbine in one hand.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" a voice shouted, an obviously American voice.

A figure appeared. He was in black cotton pajamas and had a band of the same material around his forehead. He held his hands over his head in a gesture of surrender.

It soon became apparent that the Marines Had Landed and the situation was well in hand. The first landing had occurred before-long before, weeks weeks before-Baker Company of the 5th Marines had arrived. before-Baker Company of the 5th Marines had arrived.

The character in the black pajamas was a technical sergeant named Jennings. The second character to appear in black pajamas had identified himself as Captain K. R. McCoy, USMCR, and he said he was "in charge of the operation."

At about that moment-just as Dunwood was trying to reconcile McCoy with some candy-a.s.s Marine he'd clashed with on a plane-the skies lit up and the earth trembled as a ma.s.sive barrage of naval gunfire began. It flew overhead to land on Wolmi-do Island, miles farther down the Flying Fish Channel.

Captain McCoy explained to Captain Dunwood that the real real role of Baker Company in the Inchon Invasion was to retake Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do islands in case something happened to him and his men. role of Baker Company in the Inchon Invasion was to retake Taemuui-do and Yonghung-do islands in case something happened to him and his men.

Captain McCoy and his handful of men-some of them Korean-had then gotten into Baker Company's Higgins boats and left. Dunwood never had time to ask Captain McCoy what he was supposed to do next, or even to which Marine unit he belonged, or what was the reason for the black pajamas.

Two days later, other Higgins boats appeared at the island, under a Navy chief bosun's mate who knew only that he had been ordered to the island to pick up Baker Company and transport them to Inchon.

At Inchon, which had just been taken, Baker Company was placed in Division Special Reserve and Dunwood was shown where to bivouac and told to be prepared to move out on twenty minutes' notice.

No such notice ever came, and it had not been necessary for Baker Company to fire a shot. Or, for that matter, to dodge any.

After five days in Division Special Reserve, half a company of amphibious trucks had come to their bivouac area under an old gunnery sergeant who reported that all Captain Strauley had told him was that he was to haul Baker Company to Kimpo Airfield.

By the time they reached Kimpo, the war had moved past the airfield. It was already in use.

Sergeant Preston had come to him within an hour, saying that he'd reconnoitered the field and found a hangar at the far end that was neither in use nor too badly shot up, and why didn't they take it over?

"At least, sir, until the f.u.c.king crotch gets its head out of its a.s.s and decides what the f.u.c.k to do with us."

Under the circ.u.mstances, Captain Dunwood had decided that pending orders, moving into the hangar was the prudent thing to do.

A captain from G-3, Headquarters, 1st Marine Division, had shown up the next day and announced that Baker Company was still in Division Special Reserve and further orders would be forthcoming. He didn't say when, but warned Dunwood to be prepared to move out on four hours' notice, maximum.

Captain Dunwood's plan of action remained the same. Have Baker Company prepared to move out on command, and in the meantime to make his men as comfortable as possible, at the same time making no waves that would call attention to his command.

With a little bit of luck, they might be forgotten again.

When he finished his ham chunks and baked beans, he took a bite of the chocolate bar that came with the rations, spit it out, and decided it had probably already been bad when packaged just before the Civil War.

He slipped his feet into his boondockers, then sort of slid across the concrete floor to the door and went outside the hangar. He put a cigarette in his mouth and reached for his Zippo. Then he went back inside the building and, with his back to the door, lit the cigarette.

He thought it was highly unlikely that a North Korean sniper was lying in the mud out there somewhere, waiting to take a shot at some Marine careless enough to light a cigarette in the open and make a target of himself, but it never hurt to be careful.

Besides, he had warned his men of snipers lying in the mud waiting for a chance to shoot a careless Marine so often that he felt he should practice what he preached.

Holding the cigarette with the coal in his cupped hand, he went outside again, thinking that for the evening's amus.e.m.e.nt he would watch the red glow of the artillery bounce off the clouds to the northeast of Seoul.

What he saw was the headlights-not the blackout lights-of two jeeps coming down the runway at high speed, and he wondered if no one had ever told them about North Korean snipers lying in the mud, hoping for an opportunity to shoot people foolish enough to run around at night with their headlights blazing.

Surprising him, the jeeps turned off the runway and onto the service road leading to his hangar.

A hundred yards from the hangar, they were stopped by one of Dunwood's perimeter guards. In the headlights, he could see the sentry gesturing toward him. Or, he thought, more accurately, the hangar, as there probably was not enough light to make him visible.

And then the jeeps were on him. There were two. In the first were three officers. The second was an MP jeep with a pedestal-mounted .30-caliber air-cooled Browning machine gun.

The driver of the jeep got out of it quickly and walked up to Dunwood. Dunwood saw that he was an Army officer, a major, wearing a cla.s.sy fur-collar zipper jacket with the blue-and-white X Corps patch sewn to it. He was armed with a .45 in a tanker's shoulder holster.

Dunwood saluted.

The major returned the salute and inquired, not unpleasantly, "Who are you?"

"Captain Dunwood, sir. Commanding Baker Company, 5th Marines."

"When we couldn't find you, we thought you'd moved out."

"Sir?"

"You're 1st Marine Division Special Reserve, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, you've been a.s.signed to us for this mission," the major said.

"What mission is that, sir?"

The major didn't reply directly.

"We looked for you back there," the major said, indicating the main area of the airfield. "And when we couldn't find you, we thought you'd moved out. And we didn't expect to find anyone in this hangar."

"Yes, sir," Dunwood said.

"But all's well that ends well, right?" the major said, and turned to one of the officers with him, a young lieutenant. "Better get on the horn, d.i.c.k, and tell the colonel we've found the Marines, are now at the hangar, and we'll get back to them when we know more."

"Yes, sir," the young lieutenant said. He got into the backseat of the jeep, picked up a microphone, and called, "Jade Bird, this is Jade Bird Three."

"I'm the a.s.sistant Army Aviation officer for X Corps," the major said. "My name is Alex Donald." He put out his hand.

"How do you do, sir?"

"What's your strength, Captain? n.o.body seemed to know."

"Three officers and ninety-eight men, sir."

"That ought to be enough. We can always get more if needed."

"Yes, sir. May I ask, enough for what?"

"To protect the aircraft," Major Donald said.

"What aircraft, sir?"

"This is to go no further than here, you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"At first light, Captain, two aircraft are going to land here, and immediately be placed inside this hangar. . . . The doors do function, don't they?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea, sir," Dunwood said. He saw that Staff Sergeant Al Preston had come around the corner of the hangar.

"Why not?" Major Donald asked.

"Sir, I had no reason to open them."

"Jesus Christ, Captain!" Major Donald exclaimed. "What good is a hangar if you can't get the doors open?"

"Yes, sir," Dunwood said. "Sergeant Preston, do you know if the doors of the hangar work?"

"Don't have a clue, sir."

"Get a couple of men and try to open them," Dunwood ordered.

"Aye, aye, sir," Sergeant Preston said.

Major Donald gave Captain Dunwood a thumbs-up.

"That's the spirit!" Major Donald said, and then explained, "It's very important that the enemy . . . and I think it's reasonable to a.s.sume they left spies behind when we ran them out of Seoul, don't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"It's important that the enemy not see these aircraft before we're ready for them to see them, you understand?"

"I think so. What kind of aircraft are these, Major?"

"I'm afraid you don't have the need to know that, Captain, " Major Donald said. "And the problem is compounded because we think a senior officer, a very very senior officer, is probably going to want to have a look at these aircraft-you take my meaning, Captain?" senior officer, is probably going to want to have a look at these aircraft-you take my meaning, Captain?"

"I'm afraid not, sir."

"Well, then, I'd better not get into that, either. It will all become clear at first light when these aircraft arrive."

"Yes, sir."

"I can tell you this, Captain," Major Donald said. "You are going to be present to personally witness the beginning of a new era in battlefield mobility."

"I don't know what that means, I'm afraid, sir."

"You'll see in the morning, Captain. But right now, I suggest you establish a really secure perimeter around this hangar."

"Yes, sir," Captain Dunwood said, and thought, This is f.u.c.king surreal. This is f.u.c.king surreal. "With your permission, sir, I'll get dressed and see about setting up a perimeter guard." "With your permission, sir, I'll get dressed and see about setting up a perimeter guard."

Major Donald gave Captain Dunwood another thumbs-up signal and said, "That's the spirit!" Then he raised his voice. "d.i.c.k!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Get on the horn again and tell the colonel that everything's set up. And then bring in the sandwiches and coffee."

"Yes, sir," the young lieutenant replied.

"It's going to be a long night, but it's always better to be early than late."

"Yes, sir."

[TWO].

HANGAR 13 KIMPO AIRFIELD (K-14) SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 0510 29 SEPTEMBER 1950.

Major Alex Donald, USA, and Captain Howard Dunwood, USMCR, stood on the tarmac before the open doors of Hangar 13. It had grown light enough in the last few minutes for Dunwood to see the perimeter guard he had established in the dark around the hangar.