This is an IHeart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

Shortly after General Douglas MacArthur pushed his forces deep into North Korea,

his 10,000 First Division Marines found themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000

Chinese soldiers.

Their only chance for survival fight their way south through a narrow gorge.

It needed to be held open at all costs.

The mission was handed to Captain William Barber and the 234 Marines of Fox Company.

Here to tell the story is Tom Clavin, author of The Last Stand of Fox

Company. Let's take a listen. The onset of the North Korean winter had been harsh. They were frozen

and exhausted when it snowed, and they were frozen and exhausted when it didn't snow, as is referring

to the members of Fox Company.

An unremitting wet gale blew constantly.

The Marines took to calling at the Siberian Express.

And glazed every rock with ice.

Their knees, knuckles, and elbows were covered with bloody scabs from continually slipping on treacherous slopes.

And their feet and hands were always numb.

Hours during the day were hardly noted as they

set their body clocks only by daylight and darkness. And aside from a vague awareness that

Thanksgiving had just passed and Christmas was coming, many had no idea what date it was,

much less what day of the week. Moreover, because canteen water had to be thawed over campfires,

stateside notions of hygiene had been abandoned from almost the moment they had set foot on

...