28. BATTLE OF THE NEVADA CITIES A POEM

Before the attack on outpost hills

On the MLR the watch was still

Watching closely enemy positions

Seeing little Chinese transitions

An evening moon lit the night

Almost full and very bright

The weather wasn’t really cold

But some mud to hamper holds

26 March ’53, a Thursday eve

Began so calm it might deceive

At 1900 they came in force

Enemy attacks without remorse

Artillery and mortars split the air

Rang the bell that they were there

West to east the hills had names

From the cities of Nevada’s fame

Carson, Reno, and Vegas high

Nothing pleasing to the eye

Torn, cratered, and dirty brown

Circling trenches made their crown

Carson held, was never taken

Outpost Reno was forsaken

Those remaining sought a cave

Fate was sealed for these brave

Some were captured to later die

Those that lived had to vie

For the truth of that night

When there were none left to fight

Relief columns to reinforce

Almost stopped from going forth

At Reno Block and near the “ladder”

Many relief squads were shattered

Chinese artillery and mortar fire

Cut the ranks with fragments dire

On Reno slopes bodies un-recovered

In morning light they were discovered

Artillery barrages fired on the dead

Buried this way in the stead

Vegas changed hands many times

Marines attacked, struggled, climbed

Until the Chinese were forced away

And the marines again held sway

The battle subsided on 30 March

As the sun quit its arch

These were all men of the 5th Marines

A few corpsmen and many Gyrenes

Who fought and died on these hills

The memory of whom is with us still

(Dedicated to the men of the 5th Marines who fought, died or were captured, 26 to 30 March 1953, in the battles of the Nevada Cities, on the western front, during the Korean War)