THERE WERE MANY UNSUNG HEROES AMONG THE 13TH ENGINEERS AND IT IS FITTING THAT THEIR DEEDS BE MADE KNOWN ON THESE PAGES AND THAT THEY RECEIVE OUR BELATED THANKS!
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ERNEST H. WOTRING Receives Silver de Fleury Medal.
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May 3,2000 was the occasion of the presentation of
the highest Engineer award to Ernie Wotring at a
'twilight tattoo' at Fort Leonard Wood, this medal
was presented to Ernie by the Chief of Engineers,
Lt. General Joe N. Ballard. This year this
prestigious award was presented to only five
individuals for "services significantly above
their peers" and "for acts of valor or
extraordinary performance". The time period to
be elgible is 1941 to 1975. The recipients do not
know how they were nominated, by whom, or for what
particular actions. The Awards Board may spend up
to a year in the investigation of a potential
recipient. The nominating person must convince
the Awards Board that the services of the nominee
were so outstanding in nature that the nominee is
fully deserving of this award. Ernie served in
Korea with the 13th Combat Engineers before
transferring to the 17th Infantry Regiment of the
7th Division. Ernie is a member of The Chosin Few.
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Congratulating Ernie on his award are Norm Strickbine on the left and Roy Wilson. Both are former members of The 13th Engineer Combat Battalion and served in Korea.
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THE BRIDGE TO PORK CHOP HILL
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Authored By Capt. James A. Brettell C.O.
Company A 13th Engineer (C) Bn.
Reprinted From The Association
Newsletter, April 1998.
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By the end of the 4th of July 1953, it
had been raining for 24 hours. Summer
rains there are devastating to the roads
and create enourmous maintanence
problems for the supporting Engineer
troops. It doesn't just rain it pours
very hard for long periods of time. It
was not uncommon to schedule around the
clock road maintanence operations
because the roads would wash out over
night if left unattended. The rains
also created serious problems for the
infantry units defending positions all
along the MLR and especially at such
outposts such as Pork Chop hill because
the rain masked noises that could alert
our troops of the approach of the
Chinese. Another aspect of the road
maintanence problem is the swelling of
streams which normally flow at depths of
only a few inches, but which during
these rains rapidly rise to depths far
too deep to ford with a wheeled or even
a tracked vehicle. M-46 tanks and APCs
were no match for the swift currents of
a swollen stream in the summer Korean
rains.
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On July 6, the Chinese, launched their last attack of the Korean War at Pork Chop Hill under the cover of darkness and the rains. It was ferocious and unrelenting. The 17th infantry suffered heavy casualties in the initial onslaught. Pre-arranged counter attack plans were implemented immediately. Each of these plans included use of "A" Company supporting engineers. A squad of engineers were assigned to each company of the 17th and regularly practiced counter attack procedures. The engineer troops had pre-arranged basic loads of ammunition, satchel charges, bangalore torpedoes. mines, radios and rations that each individual carried with him for use in the counter attack.
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During these counter attacks the
continuous rains complicated our routine
road maintenance operation so much that
we considered the need for a Bailey
bridge over one particular stream.
Normally small and fordable, this stream
flowed diagonally to the northwest
crossing the only supply route to Pork
Chop and on out into "no man's land"
just west of the Chop.
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The 17th Infantry Regiment of the 7th
Infantry Division was defending Pork
Chop and being supported by A-Company of
the 13th Engineer (C) Battalion. Early
on the morning of July 7th, M/Sgt. Goudy
and I conducted a reconniassance to
determine whether a Bailey bridge could
be used to span the stream. Our
affirmative report to battalion
headquarters set the wheels in motion.
The remainder of the story is an example
of Murphy's Law in action.
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Battalion quickly informed us that an
engineer bridge unit normally assigned
for such a task from I Corps was not
available. That meant the job would
fall to "A" Company to do in addition to
their other duties. This assignment
might not have been so difficult had
there been time for even a brief
refresher training period of the details
of a Bailey bridge and the construction
sequences so neccessary for the job to
proceed smoothly. Every engineer
soldier has training in Bailey bridge
construction, but no one in Able company
had even thought of a Bailey for a very
long time. However the job had to be
done and the fact that our troops were
rusty on the details of the Bailey was
only one of the many handicaps that
would present itself in the next 36
hours.
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We all knew that a bridge panel was 5
feet by 10 feet and weighed 560 pounds,
but in a matter of minutes M/Sgt. Goudy
came up with a tech manual to provide
the rest of us with the bridge details
that we needed. The bridge construction
had to begin right away because the
stream was rising rapidly and soon would
cut off the only re-supply capability of
the 17th Infantry to move
Troops,ammunition and food to the Chop
and to evacuate the wounded.
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The first order of business was a recon to determine how much bridge was needed and select the exact location. M/Sgt. Goudy and I during day light hours moved by jeep to a location out of sight of the Chinese occupying "Old Baldy" and prepared to move from there on foot to an area exposed to anyone who wanted to watch us. We realized we were in sight of the Chinese on "Old Baldy" but we hoped the rain would disguise our presence long enough for us to get our job completed.
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As we approached the general location
for the bridge, M/Sgt. Goudy stepped on
something that emitted a very loud
"CLICK"! We both knew immediately that
he
had stepped on a pressure release mine,
but Goudy had the presence of mind and
the courage to stand still with his
weight on his left foot so as not to
release the pressure on the switch that
would detonate the mine. We stood there
for what seemed an eternity but after we
caught our breath, he asked "What do I
do now?" I said "Stand still and let me
think a minute." Murphy was alive and
well!
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It didn't take long to realize we had very few options. By this time it occurred to me that we had been out there for a very long time. The probability of being observed increased each minute and we were well within range of small arms fire of the Chinese on "Old Baldy".
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As I looked around I saw no resources except some boulders strewn around the area. I thought must be something we could do with them to solve our dilemma. I told M/Sgt. Goudy to be patient, and soldier that he was he mustered the courage to stand perfectly still while I maneuvered loose boulders to his leg and fashioned a parapet wall right against it. When I finished I told him I couldn't do anything more. I said "I'll get behind that big boulder over there. Whenever you're ready , fall over that wall and drop to the ground as quickly as you can." In a voice typical of his calm and cofident nature, he merely said "OK". Knowing that he was standing on an explosive charge that could take off his leg or even his life didn't seem to faze Sgt. Goudy at all. His voice never wavered a bit! This man was cool!
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We both knew this type of mine was
designed to be propelled upward with a
two or three second delay before
exploding, spraying fragments downward
in a fan shaped pattern. After assuring
that I was in place, he took a deep
breath and jumped toward the outside of
the boulders. It seemed like an eternity
before we realized that the initial
explosion had propelled the mine
diagonally up and away from M/Sgt. Goudy
and me so that when the mine exploded
its force was nearly horizontal in one
direction and straight down in the
other. Neither of us had more then a few
scratches! We assumed the mine was an
M-2 Bouncing Betty. We knew of no
Chinese mine of that sort. This mine
must have been planted by our own forces
at some earlier time. After recovering
our breath, we realized all of Murphy's
pronouncements were bad!
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In retrospect' it is difficult to
understand why the Chinese didn't fire
at us or attempt to capture us from
their positions on "Old Baldy". Perhaps
they didn't fire because they knew the
area was mined. Perhaps they were just
amusing themselves watching and waiting
for us to blow ourselves up. Perhaps
they didn't try to capture us because
they had only several days earlier
captured the Columbian battalion
Commander with enough documentation to
cause the burning of midnight oil at
division headquarters.
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What a way to start construction of a
Bailey bridge!
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In spite of this difficult beginning we
remembered our mission. We had come to
select a site and determine the lenght
required for a Bailey bridge that would
provide a life line to the troops
defending Pork Chop Hill. As it turned
out, it was a good thing we performed
that chore when we did because only a
few hours later the continuing rains
would have made it impossible to do on
foot.
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Bridge trucks arrived late that afternoon with the bridging materials and we began immediately to move components to a staging area near the bridge site. It was here that the next example of Murphy's law confronted us. The space in the staging area was very limited because the road to the bridge was on a side hill cut and we had to stay behind a nose of the hill to mask our activity from a line of sight to the Chinese. It was difficult and time consuming to maneuver the huge trucks in such a limited space.
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By dark we began the construction. We
had Korean Army Soldiers, known as
KATUSA's integrated into our company.
In addition we were fortunate enough to
have Korean Service Corps (KSC)
personnel to assist in labor tasks. The
darkness and rain were serious handicaps
for the project but soon the Chinese
started firing mortars directly into the
bridge site. As if we didn't have
enough trouble, it quickly became
apparent that due to the language
barrier communication with the KATUSAs
and the KSC laborers was extremely
difficult.Nevertheless the unloading and
assembling of the bridge continued.
Actual construction of the bridge was
under way.
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After constructing the first three sections of the bridge, we found that we could no longer push the joined sections of the bridge towards the far shore with the personnel we had available due to the rain, slick footing and intense incoming fire. We moved a Caterpillar D-7 to the site and as sections were added to the bridge they were rapidly pushed toward the far shore. Work halted frequently when it was neccessary to direct the men to take cover from the intense and unrelenting ennemy fire, which continued all night through the entire project. In one instance, M/Sgt. Goudy ran out to the suspended end of the bridge to pick up a wounded KATUSA and carry him back to safety. The men performed heroically time after time, exposing themselves to deadly mortar fire and small arms fire to assemble the bridge that was so essential to the success of the infantry mission. Casualties occured one after the other. Yet the members of Company A as well as the KATUSAs and KSC persisted in assembling section after section until a 60 foof span bridged a rain swollen stream. The vital supply route was reopened by 0600 on the 7th of July.
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During the night there were many trips
to the Infantry Battalion aid station,
not far from the bridge site and to the
rear, and we made that trip many times.
On one trip M/Sgt. Goudy himself wounded
drove another soldier with him to the aid
station. After the Medics treated Goudy,
they told him the other man was very
seriously wounded and would have to be
moved to division level immediately.
The Doctor said that all of the
ambulances were gone and ordered Goudy
to take the wounded man to Division. By
the time Goudy returned, his platoon
leader was pretty grumpy about the delay
until he realized Goudy was wearing a
new Purple Heart.
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By the next morning July 8th, the
rising stream was threatening the
abutments of the bridge, so we decided
to extend the lenght of the bridge to 90
feet. Fortunately the bridging
materials were on the site and we were
able to begin work right away. Although
the in coming mortar fire was
threatening every minute, we were able
to reassemble the launching nose on the
far shore and then assemble additional
sections on the near shore without
delaying traffic for more then two
hours.
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When we finally finished the additional 30 feet, we heaved a huge sigh of relief and took stock of our assets. We had suffered 38 casualties during the previous 36 hours! There were 21 valor awards on this single operation. The job was done in spite of Mr. Murphy and his law!
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NOTE: M/Sgt. James Goudy traveled from
his home in Wisconsin to Texas to
collaborate with Capt. James A. Brettell
on the writing of this historical
record of the 13th Engineers. In
addition Lt. Edward Larkin, also a
member of A Company at the time of this
event came from Louisville to
assist in preparation of this document.
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BRONZE STAR FOR VALOR AWARDS
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The Following 21 Men Of A-and H&S CO.
were awarded the Bronze Star For Valor.
In addition 38 Purple Hearts were
awarded to men of A-Company who worked
on this bridge. ***** CAPT. JAMES A.
BRETTELL ***** LT. JOSEPH
M. McMAHON **** LT. JAMES J. DIETZ
(First Oak Leaf Cluster) ****2ND. LT.
RICHARD W. WHITE **** M/SGT. JAMES R.
GOUDY **** M/SGT. JAMES SILER ****
M/SGT. HOUSTON LONG **** M/SGT. RICHARD
J. ASTRUP **** SGT. KENNETH KELLY ****
SGT. NICHOLAS TOMASINI **** CPL. WILLIAM
J. WEST **** CPL. KENNETH B. THOMAS ****
PFC. JOHN KIMMEL (First Oak Leaf
Cluster) **** PFC. CHARLES A. AUSTIN
**** PFC. CHARLES DOUILLETTEE **** PFC.
ARTHUR J. LaFRANCE **** PFC. J. JONES
**** PFC. JAMES B. YORK ****PFC. MARVIN
C. WARD **** PVT. TOM V. HOWARD ****
SGT. ROBERT L. HARRIS (H&S-Co).*********
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