Has anybody seen this documentary movie? I just came across the trailer on Youtube by chance. It's about the battle of Outpost Harry June 1953. It is a shame it took this long to make a movie about this. These guys were up there holding this rock against WORSE odds than the guys at the Alamo had. 500 Americans and Greeks vs. 15,000 Chinese. But it was a really small outpost and they could only put one company at a time up there. So at most, you'd have like 200 UN soldiers up there a night and 88,000 rounds of Chinese artillery fell on this little place that week. They were calling in U.S. artillery on THEMSELVES when the Chinese overran them. It was that desperate. I've always thought this story was of equal to the Alamo. But I get especially emotional about it because my grandfather, Cecil Payne, was there. Able Company, 5th Regimental Combat Team, which earned the coveted presidential Distinguished Unit Citation there. To give you an idea of what a big deal that is, the entire U.S. Army had less than 40 of those awards in World War II. The odds at Outpost Harry were 30 to 1. A lot of the stuff I saw in the trailer gave me chills because I'd heard my grandpa talk about it, on the rare occasions he would. The Chinese loudspeakers was one. He said the Chinese would listen to them talk and whenever they heard a name, they'd call it out on their loudspeakers, as in "Cpl Smith, we have intercepted a letter from home. Bob is f...ing your wife," etc. He said that really messed with some of the younger guys.
The one that really gave me chills was the guy that said "it took me one or two seconds before I shot my first one. Then, after you get started at it, you're like a rabid dog."
The odds at outpost Harry were 30 to 1 against the Americans and Greeks.
It's high time my grandpa and those with whom he served, got some recognition. The attack was a senseless squandering of life - almost 5,000 poor Chinese souls were killed, 114 of ours were killed. The war was supposed to have been over by this point. The POW agreement was signed two days before the attack and that was the big sticking point in the peace process. This was all just to fine-tune the drawing of the new map of the Koreas.
This is my grandpa. Cecil Payne, 5th RCT, Korea. Thanks for serving.
Yeah, Korea was HELL. My dad was a Korean War vet. He lucked out. Did his time stationed in Hawaii. But the guys who went to Korea can tell stories that would make you cry.
I've not seen it, The Library should have it to borrow...My Dad was a Marine in the Korean war - I believe more soldier died in that war then all others.
The Chozin Reservoir and Outpost Harry are the two battles that made an impression on me when I studied about the Korean War. Your pride in the service of your Grandpa is well founded Dave. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
I stopped and saw grandpa today. He's not doing very well. I told him about the movie and he was talking about Outpost Harry and he was talking about how they had to put a new company in there every day, because the next morning there wouldn't be a company left. He said of the 268 that went up there with Able Company, only 68 could walk off the hill the next morning. So, I said, "Grandpa, there were 15,000 Chinese attacking Outpost Harry. Why didn't they send more troops?" He looked up, like it was the craziest question ever. He says, "Because 268 was all we needed." Wow. ---------- David Elk River Harmonicas
