RETREAT FROM THE CHOSIN RESEVOIR, 1950: 3/4: Give Me Tomorrow: The Korean War's Greatest Untold Story—The Epic Stand of the Marines of George Company,by Patrick K. O'Donnell
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2024
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Give-Me-Tomorrow-Greatest-Story/dp/0306818019/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
After nearly four months of continuous and agonizing combat on the battlefields of Korea, such a simple request seemed impossible. For many men of George Company, or “Bloody George” as they were known—one of the Forgotten War’s most decorated yet unrecognized companies—it was a wish that would not come true.
This is the untold story of “Bloody George,” a Marine company formed quickly to answer its nation’s call to duty in 1950. This small band of men—a colorful cast of characters, including a Native American fighting to earn his honor as a warrior, a Southern boy from Tennessee at odds with a Northern blue-blood reporter-turned-Marine, and a pair of twins who exemplified to the group the true meaning of brotherhood—were mostly green troops who had been rushed through training to fill America’s urgent need on the Korean front. They would find themselves at the tip of the spear in some of the Korean War’s bloodiest battles.
1950 HAN RIVER
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a series, |
| 0:05.0 | this is CBS I and the world. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm John Batscher with Patrick K. O'Donnell, my colleague |
| 0:10.0 | and the author of Give Me Tomorrow, |
| 0:12.0 | the Korean Wars Greatest Untold Story, the epic stand of the Marines of |
| 0:16.0 | George Company. |
| 0:17.6 | George Company is now part of a very large contingent of U.S. Marines, the First Division, moving up the single road towards the Choson |
| 0:27.0 | Reservoir. It is winter. It is extremely cold. They are committing themselves to an attack |
| 0:35.0 | that MacArthur believes can reach the Yalu River |
| 0:38.2 | and clear out North Korea of communists. |
| 0:41.2 | At the same time, the army on the west shore from Seoul is launching an |
| 0:46.8 | attack north as well. It looks like on a map two pincer elements are moving towards the yellow because it is MacArthur's opinion and his |
| 0:56.7 | subordinate Ned Aulman's opinion that the North Korean army has broken and that there |
| 1:01.6 | are at most 100,000 Chinese in North Korea, which we can handle goes |
| 1:06.9 | the opinion of the Army, MacArthur, and Alman. |
| 1:10.1 | The Marine Corps, however, is cautious. |
| 1:12.6 | O.P. Smith, commanding the First Marine Division, is extremely cautious. |
| 1:16.5 | But Patrick, there's nothing they can do about that single road. |
| 1:19.8 | As you say quite correctly, this is market garden in winter. It is and John it's Arctic |
| 1:26.2 | conditions that you know as the end of November sets in this is the cold some the |
| 1:32.0 | coldest winter weather in Korean history that drops down 20 to 30 below zero. |
| 1:39.0 | And this is a story about men fighting against all odds, where a single division is surrounded |
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