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thedrifter
10-25-06, 09:35 AM
10/24/2006
Preserving the memory of Company B

Memorial to Korean War Marines set for Nov. 11

By Al Sullivan
Reporter senior staff writer

When the U.S. Marine Reserve unit was set up at the Military Ocean Terminal in 1947, few thought those who served in it would be going back to war soon. The United States Marine Corps had done its part in making the world safe and had distinguished itself on every front in World War II.

The 21st Infantry Battalion had four companies in New Jersey, three in Dover, and Baker Company (Company B) in Bayonne. This was the only military unit ever established in Bayonne and 60 percent of its members were residents of Bayonne. They were sometimes called "Bayonne's Own."

Then, on June 25, 1950, communist North Korean launched a surprise attack on U.S. supported South Korean, pushing the South Korean and U.S. military forces to a small corner near the port city of Pusan.

Then President Harry S. Truman activated Company B of the 21 St Infantry Battalion, who were part of the Bayonne contingent. In this conflict as in prior conflicts, the U.S. Marine Corps was to play a significant role in reversing the bleak fortunes that seemed to face the American war effort.

History shows that a Marines led amphibious invasion at Inchon from the Yellow Sea allowed American and South Korean forces to mount an offensive that eventually led them to the Chinese border in November 1950.

Many presumed this advance led by General Douglas Macarthur would break the back of the enemy. Instead, hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers flowed out of China and across the Yalu River, trapping many Marines at the Chosin Reservoir for one of the most incredible chapters in the history of the Marine Corps.

Many of the 253 members of Company B from Bayonne who boarded the train at the 34th Street train station on Sept. 7, 1950 were involved in these campaigns as well as other war-related activities. Some were veterans of the previous war, who when arriving at Camp Pendleton in California, were sent immediately into the Korean conflict. Other younger members of the reserve with no military experience were sent to boot camp - although most of them also made their way to the Korean warfront.

McArthur still glowing from the Marines' victory at Inchon and the rapid advance north predicted the troops would be home by Christmas.

Of the original contingent from Bayonne, about 90 were on hand when the screaming waves of Red Chinese soldiers washed over the Yalu River, and many of these were among those who fought against entrapment at the Chosin Reservoir. More than 55,000 soldiers on both sides died during the battle that lasted from November into December in 1950. Chosin is a mountainous region with extremely cold winters. Everything froze from food to machinery. Marines often encountered temperatures as low as 30 degrees below zero. Many Marines suffered frostbite. Al Czarnecki, a member of Company B, said he kept warm by eating Tootsie Roll candy and stamping his feet.

"My feet felt like two pieces of ice," he recalled. Suffering frostbite, he was later evacuated to Japan.

For 14 days - outnumbered and surrounded, the Marines fought back human waves attackers, eventually managing to fight their way their way through enemy lines, dragging their dead, wounded and equipment to the sea. They also managed to help more than 100,000 North Korean refugees escape.

Bolstered by massive reserves of manpower from China, North Korea pushed the Allies back, although the forces of the United Nations - supported heavily by the American Military held the line at the 38th Parallel, fighting a back and forth conflict for the next three years - in many other members of Company B played a role. Eight of the continent from Bayonne died in Korea: Nicholas Arcuri Charles Brandner, Edward Joachinson, John Lawton, Robert Matusowski, Robert Sharpe, Daniel Stiller, and Phillip F. Wisneski.

To acknowledge the service and sacrifice of all 253 of Company B in the Korean War effort, the members of Company B will dedicate a monument at the former Military Ocean Terminal (The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor) on Nov. 11, at 1 p.m. The site is adjacent to the walkway near the BLRA headquarters.

Ellie