Give Me Tomorrow

AS DAWN BROKE on the morning of September 26, the faint sound of “Dixie” could be heard over the crackle of machine-gun fire and the thud of mortar rounds. Barely eighteen, Jimmy Harrison played a small silver harmonica as the men milled around the tanks and prepared to jump off. Harrison was “fearless” and “liked to get into trouble,” recalled Carlos Banks, a team member from the forward observer team.

The men could see the hulking outline of the disabled T-34. Several burned-out hulks of tanks and self-propelled guns trailed behind it.The broken bodies of hundreds of men lay in the wreckage of bombed-out buildings along Ma Po Boulevard, directly in front of George Company’s positions. Four battalions of artillery, along with machine guns, rifle fire, small arms, and bazookas from George Company had crushed the North Korean counterattack.

By this time, all three of George Company’s platoons had fallen far under their initial strength. Many of the men who had come ashore at Inchon were dead or wounded. Tom Powers remembered Third Platoon as having less than fifteen men standing from its original complement of forty-two.

Encountering minimal resistance, George Company pushed through the rubble of Seoul. The entire block in front of them lay pulverized. Downed electrical wires littered the street, along with the gray, burned-out buildings.This portion of Seoul had largely been flattened into an urban holocaust. Feral dogs and cats moved around the area. “Our objective was to cross over an area where the two streetcar tracks intersected. As we were making our way up the street, we came across a massive white wall. We had no idea what was on the other side of it,” recalled Captain Westover.

To find out what was inside, a squad formed “a human pyramid.” One man used the pyramid to scale over the wall, went down the other side, and opened a massive gate. “We had stumbled upon the royal palace of Duk Soo. There was no one inside.” As other units of the First Marine Regiment arrived, the palace was quickly converted into Colonel Chesty Puller’s regimental headquarters. George Company fanned out around the ancient building.

The North Koreans fell back in full retreat as the First Marine Division began occupying most of Seoul. To cover their retreat, the North Koreans launched several counterattacks and continued resisting the UN troops. George Company cleaned up pockets of resistance and attempted to trap Koreans fleeing to the north. Meanwhile, General Walker’s Eighth Army advanced quickly up the spine of South Korea, pursuing, killing, and capturing large numbers of the enemy.

As George Company probed deeper into the city, they stumbled on a prison where they encountered grisly atrocities committed by the North Koreans. Fred Hems recalled seeing several of the prisoners, their hands bound behind their backs with wire and bullet holes drilled into the backs of their skulls.

During the advance, the Third Platoon entered a schoolhouse used as a makeshift hospital to treat Seoul’s civilian population, which had suffered heavily during the battle. As they crossed the threshold, they entered a cavernous room that resembled a Civil War hospital on the set of Gone with the Wind. Civilian and Navy doctors frantically treated the wounded. “There was blood all over the place. People were screaming and hollering.The doctors’ aprons were soaked in crimson,” recalled Powers. Nearby stood several fifty-five-gallon drums filled with “bloody, amputated arms and legs.”

At this time, the unit also encountered elements of the South Korean security services. “We didn’t know who they really were. We just saw some guys in uniforms with armbands who claimed that they were security forces,” recalled Clark Henry.

The FO team had been using a South Korean civilian to help carry equipment. “He was a burly guy and very friendly to us,” remembered Henry. Suddenly, the uniformed guys showed up and took him away, claiming he was a spy. “They took him around a corner, and a shot rang out,” recalled Henry.

Tom Powers recalled a similar incident. He stood in the middle of a street where all of the buildings were burned-out shells, a stark reminder of the battle.Westover was standing next to Powers when two men from the “security service” appeared and started grilling a civilian whom they accused of being a spy. When he wouldn’t answer their questions, one of the security officers, armed with a Russian carbine and “pigsticker” bayonet, jabbed the rodlike dirk in the man’s eye.The civilian buckled over screaming. “I lost it,” recalled Powers, as he “butt-stroked” the security officer in the back of the head with his M1.

On the previous day, as George Company had been advancing up Ma Po Boulevard in its heaviest fighting so far, X Corps Commander Edward Almond had announced that Seoul had been liberated. As in so many wars in the past, when the generals announced something secured, it was hardly the case for the men doing the fighting on the ground. MacArthur had hoped to hold the liberation ceremony on September 25, but the North Koreans weren’t cooperating, and resistance continued through September 29. Several counterattacks were repelled, even though George Company was in a reserve position and had not been in any firefights.

A ceremony turning Seoul over to the South Koreans and President Syngman Rhee was scheduled for the morning of September 29. A portion of security on the parade route became the duty of 3/1. However, the Marines who had captured Seoul were ordered to stay out of sight while performing their duty. After spilling their blood to capture the city, some felt the order was a slap in the face.When Chesty Puller arrived at the airport to greet MacArthur and other dignitaries, an Army MP tried to turn his Jeep away, saying the airport was restricted only to “staff guard.” The MP caved in only after Puller growled, “Drive over that SOB if he doesn’t move.”

MacArthur and Rhee drove to the royal palace. Lieutenant Carey recalled, “The general’s motorcade passed near our position. He looked over at me and remembered the day I had grabbed him. He looked over at me and said, ‘How’s it going, lieutenant?’”

In one of his finest moments, MacArthur opened the ceremony with a brief address: “Three months to the day after the North Koreans launched their attack south of the thirty-eighth parallel, the combat troops of X Corps recaptured the capital city of Seoul.... By 1400 hours, 25 September, the military defenses of Seoul were broken.” In a dignified manner, MacArthur turned toward Rhee:

Mr. President, by the grace of a merciful Providence, our forces fighting under the standard of that greatest hope and inspiration of mankind, the United Nations, has liberated this ancient city of South Korea.... On behalf of the United Nations command, I’m happy to restore to you, Mr. President, the seat of your government, that from it you may better fulfill your constitutional responsibilities.

Nevertheless, the announcement seemed in keeping with MacArthur’s manufactured time line of three months to the day for the liberation.The rumble of artillery and small arms fire punctuated his words. Several shards of broken glass hit the floor from the damaged skylight above the ceremony. After MacArthur completed his words, Rhee, also overcome with emotion, said, “We love you as the savior of our race. How can I ever explain to you my own gratitude and that of the Korean people?”

On September 27, President Truman authorized MacArthur to pursue operations north of the 38th Parallel. Specifically, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s direct orders to MacArthur were the following:

Your military objective is the destruction of the North Korean armed forces. In obtaining this objective, you are authorized to conduct military operations, including amphibious and airborne landings or ground operations north of the 38th Parallel in Korea, provided at the time of such operations there has been no entry into North Korea by major Soviet or Chinese Communist forces, no announcement of intended entry, nor a threat to counter our operations in North Korea. Under no circumstances, however, will your forces cross the Manchurian or U.S.S.R. borders of Korea and, as a matter of policy, no non-Korean ground forces will be used in the Northwest provinces bordering the Soviet Union or in the area along the Manchurian border. Furthermore, support of your operations north or south of the 38th Parallel will not include air or naval action against Manchuria or U.S.S.R. territories.

Cut off and in danger of destruction, North Korea’s armies were in full retreat north. By the end of September, Seoul was firmly in UN hands, and by the first of October, South Korean units had pushed across the parallel. Encountering limited resistance, Walker’s Eighth Army advanced north. MacArthur had additional plans for X Corps.

“I found a barbershop,” recalled Hock. North Koreans still occupied some buildings, and there was always a fear of sniper fire. “Hock, come on, let’s get a haircut,” said one of his fellow Marines. “I’ll cover you if you cover me.”

Hock did exactly that, and the men were able to amble into the barbershop and find a seat. Inside were several elderly gentlemen in stovepipe top hats. One man, who looked like he was 110 years old, asked in perfect English, “Where are you from?”

On their excursions through the city, the men also spied a bank. Tom Powers remembered, “We found the vault, and one of the men put C-4 explosives on the door. The plastic blew the door off and money was lying all over the floor.” The men descended on the bills like locusts. The money was completely worthless, consisting of North Korean banknotes. “I still have one of them, which has burn marks on its edges,” recalled Powers.

In the final week of September, George Company was ordered back to the Inchon beachhead. On their way back, the men got a welcome treat. A trailer with hot showers awaited them. Before they entered, they tossed their torn and filthy uniforms into a pile. Victorious, the men cleaned off weeks of dirt, grime, and blood as they enjoyed the warm water that hit their bodies.

As they filtered out of the showers, they were issued a fresh pair of dungarees.They formed up and marched toward a pontoon bridge that spanned the Han River.They encountered a company of doggies. Interservice rivalry immediately bubbled to the surface as both groups traded insults. Someone yelled, “Jarheads!” Powers then snapped, “What’s the blue line down the middle of your patch stand for? It separates the horse shit from the chicken shit.”

The men were from the First Cavalry Division and wore the First Cav patch of a horse separated by a blue line.The insults continued to fly as the fracas suddenly spiraled out of control. A Marine dropped a live grenade onto the pontoon bridge that the Army was crossing.The grenade began smoking. Several of the Army personnel hastily dove into the water. The grenade exploded with a tiny pop. Someone in George Company had dropped the grenade and removed all of the powder from its pineapple casing. Army officers immediately began barking, “Who’s in charge of this outfit?”