The Point

At The Point of the entire UN Counter Attack, 9/15/50

The Inchon Landing

The Korean War


A section of M1917A4 Light Machine Guns and a 3.5" Bazooka Team of "I" Company, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, having helped capture Wolmi-Do island earlier that morning, secure the causeway leading to Inchon.

A rare moment in history - these few Marines were the sharp point facing the whole North Korean army.



Note the leggings worn by the Marine on the right. These leggings are the reasons the North Koreans on the Pusan Perimeter gave the nickname "Yellow Legs" to the Marine Brigade fighting there. Note that only three 3.5 rounds are on site, a possible indication that 3.5 ammo was still in short supply.



At 0633 on September 15, 1950, LtCol R. D. Taplett's 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, reinforced by tanks and engineers, some 1250 Marines in all, landed in the assault of Wolmi Do Island. This island guarded the seaward approaches to Inchon. These Marines were veterans of the vicious fighting on the Pusan Perimeter. At 1700 that afternoon these men would have had a ringside seat from which to watch the remainder of their Regiment assault the beaches just to the left (north) of the causeway, and the 1st Marines (Regiment) land on beaches to the right (south) of the causeway.

Taplett's landing had been preceded by intense fire from Navy and Marine aircraft from Sicily, Badoeng Strait, Valley Forge, Philippine Sea, and Boxer. The cruisers Toledo, Rochester, Kenya, and Jamaica added their six and eight inch shells to the carnage on the beach, as did a dozen destroyers and smaller ships. The piece de resistance were the ugly, squat shapes of three LSMRs, the 401, 403, and 404 which waddled close up to the already smoking island and ripple fired hundreds of rockets into what was already a smoking fiery mess. You may bet that the Marines, bobbing around in LCVPs waiting to go ashore, thought those "ugly, squat LSMRs" were the most beautiful ships in the U. S. Navy at that moment in time.

Some 400 North Koreans of the 2000 defenders of Inchon had been on Wolmi Do that morning. When the fight was over Taplett's battalion would count some 108 enemy dead and 136 prisoners. The 150 other defenders were thought to have been entombed in sealed emplacements and caves throughout the island. Marine casualties amounted to 17 Wounded in Action.

Naval gunfire support of Marine landings during WW II in the Pacific had always been a problem. Not surprisingly, Marines wanted as much fire on the objective as they could get, and the Navy almost always shortened or cancelled scheduled pre-D Day bombardments. With the exception of the landing on Guam on July 21, 1944, which had proceeded as flawlessly as an amphibious assault across an enemy held beach could be expected to go and with minimal casualties, the Marine Corps had never been satisfied with the time and attention devoted by the U. S. Navy to shore bombardment. Example after example could be cited where this occurred. Wolmi-Do and Inchon would be an exception to the pattern which had developed previously in that the quantity and quality of the pre-landing bombardments had fulfilled Marine requests and expectations. The result of this bombardment was that it saved Marine blood during the landing portion of the operation.

Anyone interested in the issue of pre-landing bombardment and the Navy/Marine Corps conflict regarding this issue is urged to read Holland M. Smith's Coral and Brass. This book sets forth the Marine Corps side of the argument, chapter and verse, through the Iwo Jima operation.

The above was courtesy of R. E. Sullivan, Colonel, USMC ('43/'67) (Ret.)


Search Site
KW Weapons
HOME
KW Photos
Bulletin Board

Marines
Haditha

Haditha Marines need your Help !

About Vietnam Protesters

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for

 A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vaincourt


© Kortegaard Engineering ©

Document:
Last Update: