Larue Barnes: One of the 'Chosin Few'

[thedrifter]

Larue Barnes: One of the 'Chosin Few'

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a two-part story.

Part 2 will run next Sunday.

As I talked with Mickey Scott of Cleburne, I was reminded of a bumper sticker that read, “One of the Chosin Few.”

No, that’s not misspelled, and Scott is one of them.

Patriotism was at its peak in America in 1946. Frances Elizabeth Scott of Hamlin signed the necessary parental permission forms and watched as the youngest of her seven children, Mickey, 17, left home, hitching a ride to Abilene to join the United States Marines.

In the years ahead, the dreaded telegram came that listed him as “Missing in Action.”

He is convinced that God spared his life.

He’s never told this much before.

His first duty lasted just eight months without combat. Overseas duty was in Hawaii in security functions where he completed high school requirements through the Marine Corps Institute in his liberty time. He transferred from USMC active duty to USMC Reserves, and completed one year at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, on the G. I. Bill.

He said, “It was difficult to settle from security activity to static classroom work, so I transferred to USMC active duty again.

“On June 25, 1950, peace was taken from South Korea by North Korea,” he continued. “It seemed that every Marine worldwide volunteered for war duty. I began the odyssey aboard the USS Boxer to Pearl Harbor, then flew to Inchon, South Korea via Japan. I joined the First Marine Division in Seoul and the Seventh Marine Regiment in Uijongbu near the 38th parallel.”

The First Marine Division withdrew from South Korea and boarded LSTs at Inchon for amphibious landings on the East Coast of North Korea.

He recalled, “Fire fights on company patrols began with Chinese communist forces [CCF] from Wonsan on the coast to Yudam-ni on the Chosin Reservoir. The U. N. had been warned by China not to go beyond the 38th parallel.

“That was ignored; therefore, the Chinese communists came at us with a vengeance. They feared that we would invade their country.”

He said they approached with caution towards the Chosin Reservoir with scouts sent ahead. Scott is one of the “Chosin Few” who survived.

He explained, “The Marines lost many fine Americans in this campaign towards the Yalu River. Those who did not return from Korea were the patriotic heroes. There were many battles near Sudong-ni, Koto-ri, Hagaru-ri and Yudam-ni. The completed missions in war just can’t be won without casualties. In the corps the mission ranks ahead of individual welfare. Marines understand and accept the hazards of war.”

He said that on Nov. 27, 1950, Dog Company was settled on Hill 1240 at Yudam-ni and began the usual daily patrols to find the enemy. The bitter, frigid weather of ice, snow and winds about the mountains presented terrible conditions for the troops on both sides.

He recalled, “Dog Company included about 200 to 250 Marines, except many were lost in fire fights in combat. Marine air, naval guns, air force and marine artillery supported infantry against enemy troops by calling in artillery, aircraft and gun ships. About ten miles north from Yudam-ni, Dog received machine gun fire about noon. The company stopped in a rice paddy to check the situational environment. Orders were given and each platoon and section took its position to return fire and move out fast.

“As a fire team leader, I received orders from our platoon leader to take and hold a small, barren, rocky hill against the whole CCF. I figured that Dog Company would pass on the double to get the troops through the fire fight to base camp on Hill 1240 near Yudam-ni to alert the regiment.

“I sent a Marine to scout over the hill within view and another, to check the right flank within view. The scout dashed back, and I knew what the rush indicated.

“The hill was covered with belligerent Chinese behind him, aiming at us. The hill was swarming with literally thousands of them. The three of us were thinking, ‘Either we do or die now.’

“There were about three seconds to make a decision. The mission was scratched as three could not take, hold, or act, as there was no cover or concealment. Any other decision would have been suicidal.”

He had no idea what lay ahead for him. Scott would endure 990 days as a prisoner of war.



Scott’s story will continue

next Sunday.

Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Larue Barnes: Memoirs of a former POW

Editor’s note: This is Part II of a story about Mickey Scott.

Part I ran last Sunday.

In Part I of Mickey Scott’s story, the Marine encountered thousands of belligerent Chinese communist forces on Hill 1240 at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea on Nov. 27, 1950.

He was taken as a prisoner of war by the Chinese and spent 990 days in their captivity in Korea.

Scott quickly decided that because the Chinese did not fire, there was a small chance to save the fire team. He told his men to lay down their weapons, to stand still, and to not make a sound.

“We did that. There were thousands of them within view from ten feet away to the horizon. If our team had been in their position we would have fired because you don’t charge an objective and take prisoners before the objective is secured. The Lord was with us. The Chinese gestured for two of us to run, as one of us was farther away. I didn’t think that was a wise or safe thing for us to do. They opened fire as I yelled to jump from the hillside cliff. We landed about 20-30 feet below without broken bones, within clear view of the Chinese above us.

“One of my men was bleeding. I asked him if he could walk and reach Dog Company. He said he could, and I told him that I still had two grenades and would try to take the machine gun out if Dog assaulted the hill. I told him to go and use the first aid kit to curb his bleeding. The attacking aircraft took the enemy’s attention away from us.

“Chaos is a very noisy word. The Chinese on the hill began firing at me. Dog Company was firing at them above me. Marine aircraft F4U Corsairs were firing rockets and cannons.

“For some reason I felt stress and worry but not fear. I prayed for forgiveness for whoever killed me. I lay still without cover or concealment for several hours in the snow. I had shrapnel in my back but wasn’t aware of it at the time.

“As the firing ceased and darkness spread, I heard a Thompson submachine bolt snap. I turned over and raised my hands. The enemy was so frightened, but he didn’t fire. He just stood frozen, aiming at me and yelling until he had an audience. They took me away.

“The hill was running with blood. My other Marine, wounded, had been forcibly carried away by the Chinese. They took me to a hut where several CCF officers were holding a meeting. They wanted to communicate, but there were no interpreters. The guard took me outside to a nearby farm house and put me in an 8 by 6 foot covered storage hole used to store produce.”

Eight other Marines and two Naval Hospital corpsmen spent several days of confinement with Scott there. At least four of them were badly wounded. He believes only four Marines of the 11 POWs survived the war and came home.

Scott said, “We POWs learned quickly that we were all invited to die by pure deliberate negligence. It is estimated that 40 to 60 percent of all POWs didn’t survive the ordeals caused by gross malnutrition, frostbite, diseases, combat wounds and pneumonia. POWs had no decent food, no medical care, no hygiene, no sanitation, no stimulation from our captors to live.”

He noted that most POW deaths occurred during the first six months of their captivity because no facilities such as camps, clothing, shelter or medicine were available for prisoners.

The 11 POWs were marched and mixed with hundreds of U.N. POWs to Kanggye and stayed about a month. Then they were marched each night about 30 miles and spent each day in undercover huts and railroad tunnels to avoid U.S. aircraft. For three months they were marched from the Kanggye areas to Pyongyang areas, back and forth, up and down, north and south.

“You had to march the 30 miles. If you fell out, you simply disappeared. The North Koreans were hiding everywhere. There were apparently no accommodations for us in Korea’s coldest winter within memory. The handicapped, the wounded, the disabled, the starved, the helpless could not possibly survive without miracles, mercies and strong wills to live.”

Scott said that eventually, in April 1951, Changsong, a medium-sized town within 10 miles of the Yalu River, was partially evacuated of North Korean civilians as the CCF took areas for POW Camp I. It was one of 10.

He had plenty of time to observe how Korean homes were built — made of clay and corn stalks, a foot or more above the ground — with heat from the oven inside traveling underneath the floor and out a flue at the opposite end. Japanese-like doors were covered with paper. The ceiling inside was covered with newspapers on wires, draped across and glued together. Thatched roofs were used in the country; with decorated, immensely heavy tile roofs topping homes in town. If a tile roof collapsed, it often meant death for those inside.

The food was deplorable. POWs ate twice daily from one small side dish bowl with a cup of hot water because all water in Korea was contaminated. Their menu consisted of rotten vegetables, with rocks and bugs, that changed every three months to boiled potatoes, corn, carrots, seaweed, barley, cabbage and millet. There were rare intervals of bad fish, beef and pork.

“Our leisure was meeting strict quotas on dead flies we killed,” he said. “The first six months we were kept busy picking body lice. Sometimes I still itch at the thought. We had one bath per year for a total of three.”

His description of the attempted brain washing was intriguing.

“We went to ‘school’ or ‘communist reeducation’ — known to us as brain washing,” he said. “We had political books by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung and others. We attended lectures, and we learned political songs. The results of brain washing were very poor and very ridiculous to most POWs. I can still sing ‘East Turns Red,’ in Chinese and the ‘International’ in English. We even sang some Chinese operatic folk songs to pass time.”

Finally, it ended.

“We didn’t know the peace treaty had been signed for two weeks. Representatives of neutral countries came and told us and brought us all sorts of wonderful goodies to eat and drink. In mid-August 1953, we saw Old Glory miles away when we approached the DMZ and Panmunjon at Freedom Village. Gen. Pate, C.G. of the First Marine Division, met each marine returning to the corps as we debarked. Oh, what a happy reunion with the chief! He had officers running around satisfying our petty wants.”

All ex-POWs spent two weeks shipboard coming home as Army medical personnel examined and Naval intelligence debriefed. All those deemed physically and mentally fit were allowed thirty days leave, while others reported to military hospitals throughout the United States close to home.

Mickey Scott weighed less than 100 pounds. His active military career was ended, and he was granted VA disability for several kinds of physical defects.

One of his sisters met him at San Francisco as he got off the ship. She was fearful of flying, so they had to ride the bus all the way home.

When Scott returned to Hamlin, he was so disoriented he had difficulty in operating new coin-operated machines. Well-meaning and excited citizens planned a parade, and the mayor and people from neighboring areas were grateful for his safe return. He was given gift certificates for “everything in town.”

He was absolutely miserable with all the attention, the laughter, the trust, the mention of his Purple Heart and other medals.

“I didn’t want all that attention. I had been captured. I was not a hero. The heroes didn’t come home,” he said.

He will admit that he was a survivor, that he never once gave up on living. Those who did, and who refused to eat the terrible food, died. He said he stood up for himself but remained cooperative in order to live.

That hot August day, a Christmas tree greeted him. Underneath were presents for the three birthdays and Christmases he had missed. His mother showed him the telegram she received, telling her that he was missing in action. She said she always knew he was alive. Later, she learned he had been taken prisoner by the Chinese communists. Then he saw the treasured letter that announced his release and that he was coming home.

When he returned to Hardin-Simmons to earn his B.B.A. and M.A. degrees on the Korean War GI Bill, his life took a different direction.

He smiled and recalled, “During business law class a real cute redhead was tardy quite often. We dated a few times, and seemed to click. I am very sure that Barbara [Holcombe] is the only girl I ever really loved, and still do after all these years of marriage. I left the Marines after a year of wedded bliss.”

Scott went to work with Joske’s in San Antonio, then with Monnigs in Fort Worth. Retailing was not the challenge he wanted, so he restarted by joining Texas Instruments in Dallas, in Houston and in Austin, then retired to Cleburne in 1997. He and Barbara are members of Field Street Baptist Church in Cleburne.

They have two children, Beverly Scott of Cleburne, and Michael Scott of Plano. There are four grandchildren.

Scott said he was thankful he was captured by the Chinese soldiers, who were humane, rather than by the North Koreans, who executed many prisoners. but the Communist commissars — English-speaking college students who were instructed to convert the POWs to communism — the tower guards and POW company captains proved to be mentally ruthless when disgruntled by their captives’ behavior.

Psalm 31:24 says, “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” Scott is thoroughly convinced that God’s mercy spared himm and he gives God full credit for his stamina for survival.

He recalled in poignant detail one place he was kept prisoner. The POWs were confined to the adjacent part of a hut, a pig’s sty. There was no heat; straw was on the floor, filled with lice. Two inches of ice covered the walls. There were 40 POWs in the space with each man sharing a blanket.

The temperature was 40 degrees below zero.

His eyes brightened as he said, “There was a wonderful grandfather’s clock that we could hear on the other side of the wall. We all loved hearing it bong.”

Time was passing. Freedom was coming for there was hope.

Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.

Ellie