This is Jocco Podcast number 53 with Echo Charles and me, Jocco Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening.

At what point do you quit? At what point do you give in? At what point do you surrender? And what is it that makes you surrender? The enemy, fatigue, hunger, thirst, bitter comfort?

Gold. Who are these men that decide that they will not surrender no matter what? What will? What human will do they have?

That they decide they are going to fight on no matter what they face.

Well, I will tell you these men are men. They're human beings like you, like me, human beings that decide they are going to fight on despite being surrounded by the enemy, despite the hunger and the danger and the thirst and the bitter cold.

They decide they will not surrender.

We can find examples of these men throughout history.

But one of the foremost examples comes from the Korean War. In late November and into mid-December of 1950, when 30,000 UN troops, mostly American, were surrounded by 120,000 Communist Chinese forces.

And these Americans were attacked, attacked by the enemy and attacked by the bitter freezing cold and attacked by hunger and fear. And yet they would not and they did not surrender.

And tonight we're going to hear from a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps Joseph R. Owen, who served as a mortar section commander for Baker Company, first battalion, seventh marine regiment, first marine division.

In his book, we just called colder than hell.

And the book starts off with one of the best short overviews of the Korean War I've ever read, likely because it's written by a man who was there.

A man named General Raymond Davis Ray Davis, who, first of all, he was a battalion commander in World War II at the Battle of Pellilu, awarded the Navy Cross there for leading his men against overwhelming Japanese troops.

And in Korea, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, as well as two silver stars, a Legion of Merit, and a bronze star as the commander of first battalion, seventh Marines.

On that, he also served as the third Marine Division commander in Vietnam in 1969, where he was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and three Republic of Vietnam gallantry crosses.

So when he speaks, I think maybe we should listen. And I'm going to start with that forward by General Davis in the book, colder than hell, by Joe Owen.

Twice in 1950, during the first months of the Korean War, the United States faced military catastrophe.

Both situations occurred because of American errors of diplomacy and faulty intelligence, and because our military was not prepared to meet a determined enemy on the battlefield.

North Korea and China were the enemies that exploited our failings. On two occasions, that year, they caught us by surprise, launching massive attacks, first against our ally South Korea, and then against our own inadequate forces.

Both times, the consequences were devastating. There were tragic numbers of casualties in the ranks of our soldiers and Marines, and American prestige worldwide was severely impaired.

The surprise invasion of South Korea by North Korea with the support of Communist China and the Soviet Union was virtually invited by the United States and the South Koreans.

South Korea was vulnerable. Its soldiers were ill-equipped, poorly trained, and improperly deployed. The American forces at that time, victims of Washington politics and false economies were nearly as bad off.

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