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GySgt Terence D'Alesandro
to remember
Marine Sgt Robert Deeds.
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Contact Info
Home Town eldorado ar.
Last Address robert d deeds 265 pigeon hill lndg. eldorado ar. 71730
Korean War/First UN Counteroffensive (1951)/Pohang Guerrilla Hunt
From Month/Year
January / 1951
To Month/Year
January / 1951
Description In early 1951, the 1st Marine Division rooted out remnants of a North Korean division that had infiltrated the region surrounding Pohang and threatened X Corps headquarters at Taegu. Dubbed the "Pohang Guerrilla Hunt," the campaign sought to secure this area as it held the only usable port on Korea's southeastern coast, the main supply route for east-central Korea, and three vital airfields. The VIVO-6 ground support elements moved from Masan to Pohang by air, truck convoy, and ship beginning on 13 January 1951. The move was complete by 16 February. Pohang's mountainous and forested terrain hid the enemy who quickly broke up into small groups when the Marines arrived. The solution was saturation patrolling. The Marines sent out fire-team and squad-sized patrols operating from platoon- and com-pany-bases to flush out enemy stragglers. Helicopters were used for observation, reconnaissance, laying wire, command and control, medical evacuations, re-supply of isolated small units, and trans-portation of fire teams to remote hilltops. The guerrillas were driven underground by relentless Marine pressure, but not decisively defeated. In the words of the official history: "In retrospect, had [a full] squadron of helicopters been available . . . its quick lift . . . increased mobility and surveillance would have made quite a difference in the conduct of action." Unrealized at the time, the use of helicopters at Pohang was actually a foretaste of the methods that would be used by the U.S. Marines and Army on a much larger scale.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1951
To Month/Year
January / 1951
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember Pphang Guerrilla Hunt
this is three days of the pohang guerrilla hunt as remembered by sgt deeds.
jan. 1951. i was told to report to bn.headquarters of 3rd bn.fifth marines.i was
a squad leader from G company.when i reported,iwas told i was told that i was
to lead a three day squad patrol. the enemy was coming south in small units
from squad to company size to avoid detection & then organizing into larger
units.my recon. patrol was to be comprised of my squad &an interpreter & a300 radio operator & a corpsman .the officer that was explaining this to me
walked over to a large easle with a role of maps that were about four feet by
five feet in size.he placed a piece of onion skin over lay on the map&secured
it with push pins.he then marked the grid lines on the upper right &lower left
corners of the onion skin paper..he then placed three crosses on the onion
skin & told me that each was my destination for a day.we would be taken
to our dropoff point bytwo trucks leaving at 0700 hrs. the next morning.our pickup on the third day eas to be at a bridge at 1600 hrs.he said to be there as they would not wait on us.he said not to trust our interpreter too much as one patrol missed there pickup time & when found they were all hung with there belts & their interpreter as not with them.they gave me a pack filled with korean money to pay for our meals with..the interpreter was to negotiate for our meals.any questions? no. be here at 0600hrs.yes sir..i went back to our company area &told my squad.each man was to take two bandeleers of ammo. &four grenades.we were at third bn. hqrs. at 0630 hrs the next morning.the interpreter radioman &corpsman were already there weloaded up on the trucks &we left at o700hrs.they drove for about twenty minutes& stopped &let us off.we got oriented &spread out with one fireteam on point & the other two behind.one onthe left and the other one on the right.the fireteamswere about fifty yards apart.the men in each fireteam were about five paces apart.everyone was very alert as we were in front of our lines.the day was uneventful and we arrived at our first destination,a small korean village, well before dark.. the interpreter kim and myself went alone to the village while the rest remained about four hundred yards behind.kim questioned the peoplein the village and they assured him that no enemy had been seen.we brought forward the rest of our patrol and posted the guard..
kim negotiated for our supper and paid them.we had rice with some kind of sauce on it.we all thought it was very good which pleased the koreans.they gave each one of us four rice cakes which we munched on the next morning.shortly after daylight we started on the second day of our patrol.the rice paddies were getting much smaller proving that the incline had becme a lot steeper. by noon the incline was so steep that we were forced to travel in single file much ef the time.around 1500 hrs. we could see a good growth of trees going up the mountain on our left hand side.there was a nice stream about twenty five feet wide.now we could see a small village on the other side of the stream..again kim & myself went alone to the village.he Questioned them and made arrangements for us to be fed.they told him they had not seen any enemy.the rest of the patrol were brought forward and the guard was posted.rice again with a differentkind of sauce.it was not as good as the first day.i was awakened at daybreak the next,morning i think by agood marine by the name of George Paz.he told me that there was a good sized encanpment on the stream four or five hundred yards above us.i asked him how he knew and he said that he sawseveral cigarettes being lighted. at this time a barman Leonard Cotycame up &told me the same thing.he had counted eighteen or twenty cigarettes whitch led him to believe they were probably of platoon size.we got every one together and left from there within five minutes.the night before i had planned on following the stream down as i knew it went directly te our pickup point as it would be easy walking &we could stay pretty well concealed by the trees.i changed my mind as we could have been ambushed pretty easy & i was afraid there could be more enemy encampments along the stream.we struck out across the face of the mountain with the stream &trees on our left..some times we would be a quite.
a ways from the trees & some times a lot closer.by noon we could see a road and our bridge &amuch larger village.we sat down for awhile to kill time &moved on slowlyto the bridge .it was 0330hrs so we moved downto our pickup point.halt who goes there.ilooked across the road to thevillage and saw gun barrels every five or six feet all along the four foot stone wal.marine patrol i answered.advance senior man to be recognized.i hated to but i moved to where a driveway left the road &entered the village.i was never as glad to see any one as i was to see him.a big grinning marine said did i scare you?as i was never verybad to lie ,i just failed to answer him.he said the company commander wants to see you.the captain said why are you early?
i told him about the encampment upstream from the village.are you sure?he asked.i told him that i was. did you see them yourself?he asked.no i told him but either of the twomen that told me are just as reliable as i am .if you are sure iam goingto call an air strike but i bont want too give away our position.i am sure i said.in less than five minutes three corsairs came in low over the
village we had left from that morning.the first plane fired a rocket &then
straffed with his twenty mms.the second and third planes did the same as the first did.they circled &came in low over the village &made another run
duplicating the first.the first plane came so low over the village we were in
that we could see the pilot when he rolled the plane back &forth to wag his
wings.the captain said got em.the trucks pulled into the village &turned
around.we loaded up.in less than thirty minutes we unloaded at third bn.
headqoarters.i took them the pack with over half of the money left..i started to tell them about the patrol. they said we already know.good job.the squad &
i walked back to G company.it sure felt good to be home a gain.every time
hear someone say cigarettes will kill you,ithink of this patrol &shake my head
yes. submitted by bob deeds