A Korean War POW—Herbert J. Schmitz

On September 6, 1951, my father was captured by the Chinese when the hill he was on was overrun. Because of the recent 60-year anniversary of this event, I did a little research to find out as many details of this event as was possible so that our family could have a short history of this time in my dad’s life.

September 6, 1951—Dad’s Story
My dad did not talk about Korea a lot when I was growing up, but this was basically how I understood the night of Dad’s capture: An officer looked out into no man’s land, and said, “We need to get some people up on that hill.” A company was sent up there, and Dad went along too, not because it was his company, but because they needed some extra radio operators up on the hill. Dad often would say, “I didn’t even belong up on that hill.” After being on the hill a couple of nights, the Chinese attacked and overran the hill. Dad ended up in a foxhole with three other men--a medic and two soldiers, one of whom had been shot in the foot--who were all captured the next morning.

Several years ago, my dad started attending yearly POW reunions. At one of these reunions, he spoke to one of the men who was in his foxhole the night he was captured. The soldier’s name was George Berube. Berube told my dad that he spoke to a guy who made it back to the U.S. lines who said that about 180 men were on that hill the night it was overrun. Ten were captured (including Berube and Dad) and 27 got back to the U.S. lines. That means that the KIA (killed in action) number for that engagement would have been 143 men.

My Research to Confirm or Correct Dad’s Story
I decided to do some Internet research to see if there was any way to verify the story that I heard from Dad. First of all, I wanted to confirm Dad’s division and regiment, and that was easy enough to find out on the Internet. My dad was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division, 7th Cavalry Regiment. He was a radio operator in the 1st Battalion Headquarters Company.

From here, I decided to see if there was a way to discover engagements or casualties chronologically. I wanted to know if 143 men were actually killed in that action. I discovered a website that allows you to see KIA by day throughout the war. This chart shows all the 1951 casualties for the 1st Cavalry Division. The green arrow points to the 30 casualties on September 6, 1951.

So this engagement was not the biggest for the 1st Cavalry Division, but it was significant enough that I hoped to find some narratives of the night Dad was captured. (Interestingly, in reading up on this, I discovered that the high casualty days at the end of September were fought on the same ground where Dad was captured earlier.)

The Casualties
My next step was to search for all the 7th Cavalry men who were listed as casualties on September 6, 1951 to see if it matched the graphic from the Korean War Project or Dad’s story. Here are the men who were killed, wounded, or captured according to sources I discovered on the Internet.

Killed in Action
Sylvan Adelsgruber PV2
Edward Cook PFC
Alfred Langston 2LT
Carl Logan PV2
Donald Munster PFC
Irwin Rappaport Corp.
Charles Steele PFC
Jasper Williams PV2

Died of Wounds
Aubry Brumfield SGT

MIA/Declared Dead
Harry Andersen PV2
John Heavener PV2
Jack Lee Corp.

Captured
George Berube Corp.
Frank Borrelli PFC
Charles Bryant PFC
William Cheatham Corp.
James Coogan PFC
Donald Frazee PFC
John Johnson Corp.
Charles Lawson PFC
Donald North PFC
Herbert J. Schmitz PFC
Luis Velasquez Corp.

Wounded
Jack Bongiovanni SFC
James Campbell PV2
James Copeland PFC
Thomas Crosby PV2
Justo Fejaram PFC
Daniel Giggliello SGT
Karl Hicks SGT
Huey Olivier Corp.
Lawrence Pernell PFC
Charles Shipman PFC
Barton Snow PV2
Andy Swetky PV2
Donald Wendel PFC

This is a grand total of 36 men. It differs slightly from the 30 in the graphs above. In doing a little more research, I discovered that the 5th Cavalry Regiment was also engaged on the 6th, and they lost 18 men KIA. Therefore, the number 30 above is accurate for the whole division’s KIA on September 6, 1951. So here is the summary of casualties as far as I can tell for the engagement in which Dad was captured on the night of September 6, 1951.

KIA / MIA/Declared dead / Died of wounds = 12 men
Captured = 11 men
Wounded = 13 men

I think we can say that the official sources disagree with the story Dad heard from at the POW reunion--there were definitely not 143 men in the 7th Cavalry KIA on September 6, 1951.

Company C
The key when doing any research on a person who served in the military is to get the unit to which he was attached. The more detail you can get, the better the chance of finding information. I knew dad’s division, regiment, and battalion assignment, but I didn’t know who he was on the hill with. Who were these men? What company were they assigned to?

Further Internet searching brought me to an account by Lt. David Hughes. Hughes was a West Point graduate who was in charge of K Company of the 7th Cavalry during the fall of 1951. On the boat home from Korea in the spring of 1952, he wrote an account of his time in Korea for his captain. The letter is interesting on its own, but there was one paragraph in particular that caught my attention:

For another couple weeks, we ran patrols from near Yonchon, and I got in five good officers. Then we watched the two patrol bases out in front of us get it in the neck. One was on Hill 343 and the other on 339. Hill 339 was key, and about halfway between lines. It was lost and gained by patrols every few days. One day Company C was sent out to hold a perimeter on it, which they did for two days and on the night of the third was completely overrun in a mass attack. We got the hill back again with the 2d battalion and then they were ordered off. This yo-yo game continued until 21 September when they ordered the 3d Battalion out to hold a patrol base from 339 to 343 and back over to 321, a 4,000 yard perimeter.

Company K got the delightful mission of holding 339, and 1,000 more yards of perimeter.

. . .

Lt David Hughes
7th Cavalry, King Company

I thought there was enough evidence in this part of the letter to assume that what Lt. Hughes was describing was the action the night Dad was captured. It gives the Company that seemingly was engaged on the 6th, a hill number, and the overrun. The only clue not explicit here was the date of the action he described, only that it happened before September 21.

Figuring that Hughes might show up in other places on the Internet, I did a search on his name. He came up in several places, and one website included his e-mail address that was current as of a couple of years ago. I took a chance and sent him an e-mail asking him if he had any additional recollections of early September 1951. Here is his reply to my e-mail:

Yes your dad was surely ‘with’ Company C, and on 339 the night it was overrun on September 6th, 1951. A Rifle Company, which Company C was, was 200 strong. But all units were under-strength, so it might have had 150–175 max. (I was at 169 at that time.) The Headquarters Company your father came out of was the 1st Battalion Headquarters Company (the Bn had Rifle Companies A, B, C and then D a heavy weapons company, and the Headquarters Company. It too would try to be about 200, but would have been lower).

With this reply, Hughes gave me confirmation to my conclusions. But it turns out the action of the night of September 6, 1951, also appears in print. Hughes sent me a PDF of a page from a book called Of Garryowen in Glory from 1960. (Garryowen is a nickname of the 7th Cavalry.) The book confirms the tale that Hughes told me.

Hughes also responded to my question about casualties:

Knowing what I do, the number killed on the 6th seems low. For every one killed in that kind of combat there were at least 5 or more wounded. And I know the entire Company C at 150 strength could NOT have occupied just the peak of 339. Too small an area. So at least one or two of the 40 man rifle platoons would have had to be down the slopes to the north, and east. So the ‘overrunning,’ may have occurred only at the peak and 90% of the casualties and captured could have come from that small area. But once the Chinese had a force on top, they could fire down on the other platoons, who could not stay so exposed. It was late at night, so yes the majority of the other two platoons could have gotten away fairly intact once they saw that the top of 339 was all Chinese.

Hughes directed me to his own website where he was writing his memoirs. The section Hughes wrote about the Korean War is fascinating reading. David Hughes went through a lot in his time over there, and he can rightly be called a hero.

You can get a more detailed accounting if you go to http://davehugheslegacy.net and on the home page go to the left and ‘Military Years’ then to ‘Korean War’ section Korean War (23) and read through it. Then keep going through Korean War (25) to the very bottom and you will see a larger sketch map of the area with 339 and an arrow to 347. Then at the very bottom you will see a color map showing 339 with relation to 347 battles we fought.

Finally, I spoke to Hughes for about an hour on the phone one afternoon, and he told me about his time in Korea. He answered specific questions for me about unit strength, the accuracy of Hill 339, and other information that was helpful to me in researching this history.

Missing in Action/Declared Dead
One of the sad things I realized when doing research for this history is that quite a few of the postings on websites like the Korean War Project are from people who are still searching for information about husbands, uncles, brothers, and friends who were missing in action, but whose bodies have never been recovered. Two of the three men with the designation of MIA/Declared Dead from the action of September 6, 1951 still have family members actively searching for information about them. I have communicated with family members and friends of both Harry Andersen and Jack Lee, wondering if I have discovered some information that would help them find closure on this event in a loved one’s life. Unfortunately, I have not been able to help them, except to confirm that no others besides the 11 captured men marched north from that battle site.

From a niece of Jack Lee, however, I have learned the government’s account of the night of September 6, 1951. It contains a few details that are missing from the “Garryowen” book:

By the fall of 1951, the situation on the Korean Peninsula was approaching a stalemate around the area of the 38th Parallel. Fighting was generally characterized by battalion or smaller unit actions and artillery duels in tactical fights for possession of key terrain features in the area of the mid-Korea waist. In September 1951, the 1st Cavalry Division occupied the western part of the Chorwon Valley. The 1st Battalion of 7th Cavalry Regiment and supporting elements occupied a series of hills about four kilometers south of the current Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). On 6 September 1951, C Company of 1st Battalion and the attached 58th Counter Fire Platoon occupied a patrol base on Hill 339 and received fire from enemy artillery and mortars periodically throughout the day. Later in the day the Chinese attacked behind a mortar barrage on the U.S. defenses, an assault that was fought off with automatic weapons. The U.S. occupiers of Hill 339 withdrew under pressure 1,500 yards southeast to Hill 321, and the Chinese attack continued on Hill 321 throughout the night.

The U.S. had regained 339 by the next day—too late to stop the Chinese from sending their captives north.

When I recently asked about specifics of that night, Dad said he went off-duty at 8:00 and went to sleep. He woke up when the attack began, and quickly jumped into the foxhole where Berube and Cheatham already were. Berube had been shot in the foot, but it was not a severe injury. Coogan joined them in the foxhole soon after. Dad said from the beginning of the attack until the point when the hill was overrun was probably about 15 minutes. Dad had been in Korea for almost three months (the summer months of 1951 were relatively quiet), and he had never heard a shot fired in his vicinity before this night. He was captured without ever discharging his gun.

The Location of Hill 339
When I spoke to David Hughes, he told me a few other things I didn’t know. I asked how the hills were numbered, and he said that they got their numbers because of the height of the hill in meters. The soldiers were looking at topographical maps, and they named the hills by the height recorded on the map. Because of this, it is quite possible that more than one hill could have the same number. He said Hill 339 was east of the Imjin River, west of Chorwan and north of Uijonbu.

Importing a couple of maps into Photoshop, then layering and resizing them, I began to search with Google Maps to see if I could find the area that made a good match. The double horseshoe of the Imjin River is a dead giveaway, and not too long after beginning the search, I found what I was looking for--the indisputable location of the action when Dad was taken as prisoner of war. Here is a Google Map of the border of North Korea and South Korea, with a small red circle around Hill 339.

And here is a much closer view of that area, again with a small red circle around Hill 339. Hill 339 is just south of the Korean DMZ.


Prisoners of War—These Eleven Men
After his capture, Dad was taken with the other ten soldiers and marched for two and a half months through North Korea. In talking to dad, I got the sense that these men were the people who really shared his experiences in the Korean War. These were the men with whom he went through some of the most difficult times of his life. I thought I would do some Internet research to see if there was anything to report about each of these men. It turns out that all eleven men taken on the night of September 6, 1951, lived through their time as POWs.

George Berube—George is from Maine. He was an infantry man and he was one of the guys who was with dad in his foxhole when he was captured. George was shot in the foot, according to dad. George is also the one guy from this group who dad has met at past POW reunions. Here is a contemporary mention of George in a Bangor, Maine, newspaper:

George Berube Sr. of Caribou was in the Navy in World War II and was part of the force ready to attack Japan when the A-bombs fell. He came home to The County, then wound up in Waterbury, Conn. He enlisted in the Army and was at Fort Benning, Ga., before being shipped off to Korea. On the day he was to come home, he got captured and became a P.O.W. for two years. They got two meals a day, mostly of rice and sorghum. When released they headed across the international bridge, where they were sprayed down to get rid of the lice, took showers and were given clean clothes. When George left Korea he weighed 91 pounds.

As of this writing, George is still living.

Frank Borrelli—Frank was from San Francisco, California. Dad said that Frank was not in the best of health in Korea, but he made it to the Big Switch, so he must have been okay healthwise. From what I have been able to tell, Frank died in 2003 on his 77th birthday.

Charles Bryant—Charles was from Cincinnati, Ohio. He was one of two black soldiers taken with dad. Dad said that when they were staying in a village on the march north, a little North Korean child came up to Charles and touched his face. According to dad, Charles didn’t like that very much. There was a blurb in the Newark Advocate when Charles was repatriated in 1953:

Pfc Bryant’s release was the answer to the prayers of his mother, Mrs. Grace L. Bryant. “It’s such good news,” she said. “Thank God my prayers have been answered.” Her son was captured Sept. 6, 1951, during an engagement with the North Koreans and Chinese Communists at Honchon. Mrs. Bryant said she heard from her son about every two weeks for the first three months he was a prisoner. Since then letters have come only about every three months.

William Cheatham—William was from Allegany County, Maryland. William was the other black soldier taken with dad. He was a medic, and he was in dad’s foxhole when they were captured. I found an obituary from The Afro-American newspaper of October 7, 1967:

Funeral services for William Cheatham, 700 block N. Central Ave., were held yesterday at the Elroy Wilson Funeral Home. Burial followed at the Baltimore National Cemetery. The 40-year-old Korean War veteran died Thursday at Ft. Howard Hospital. While serving in Korea, Mr. Cheatham spent 23 months in a prisoner-of-war camp. An employee of Bethlehem Steel, Mr. Cheatham attended Waters AME Church. He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Helen B. Cheatham, a sister, Miss Helen J. Cheatham, and a brother, Ralph Cheatham.

James J. Coogan—James Coogan was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. James was also in the foxhole with dad the night he was captured. According to dad, James had some health issues later in their captivity. This is supported by the fact that he was repatriated in the “Little Switch” in the spring of 1953. Coogan caused a bit of a stir when his mother publicized a list of 71 POWs that Coogan had listed as still being in captivity. I found this from the memoirs of a ex-POW named Dallas Mossman:

We had a little more room in each room than we had had in Camp 1. In my room there was Jake Miller, Rocky Holmes, W.W. Smith, J.P. McMillan, and me on one side. There was Ivan Eaton, George Maryea, and James “Jimmy” Cougan [Coogan] on the other side. . . . While I was at Camp 2, the two sides in the war conducted “Little Switch,” which was returning sick and wounded prisoners of war back to their own side. . . . We also sent Jimmy Cougan back home. He hadn’t been there very long when his wife sent him divorce papers and told him that she wanted a divorce right away. She wanted to marry some other guy. He went berserk. Here was the love of his life and she wanted a divorce. So we sent him back. Jimmy used to come to our reunions but he is now deceased. His brother-in-law was a POW in Korea too.

James died in Florida in May 1997.

Donald E. Frazee—Donald was from Dayton, Ohio. I could not find additional information about Donald on the Internet.

John G. Johnson—John was from LaPorte, Indiana. Johnson was quoted in the local paper in August 1953 about a friend of his from the POW camp who decided to become a communist and stay in China:

A sergeant from Indiana started today on the “most heart-breaking mission in the world.” He must tell an anxious mother in New York State that her son is now a Communist and won’t be coming home. It would be easier to tell her that the boy died in a Communist prison camp, Sgt. John G. Johnson, 21, of LaPorte, Ind., said. Johnson must tell the unsuspecting mother that her son chose to remain with the Communists, even though the Chinese commandant urged him to go back to New York.

I could not find additional information about John on the Internet.

Charles R. Lawson—Charles was from Combs, Kentucky. I could not find additional information about Charles on the Internet.

Donald W. North—Donald was from Constance, Kentucky. Dad said that when they would stop at a village for the night while marching to the POW camp, Donald would sing songs like “Danny Boy.” Dad sent him a Christmas card after the war, and Donald’s sister sent a note saying that Donald was killed in a car crash. I looked him up online, and I found out that he was killed in a car crash in Independence, Kentucky, in November 1953. He was 21 years old.

Luis G. Velasquez—Luis was from Alameda, California. I could not find additional information about Luis on the Internet.

These eleven men finally arrived in late November 1951 at the POW camp at a place called Changsong. (The U.S. identifies it as Camp 1.) It was near the Yalu River (see map below). Dad spent the next 20 months as a POW. There is much more information about the POW camps online because of the number of men who were held as POWs and the number of memoirs about their time as POWs. Dad was repatriated on August 16, 1953 as part of Operation Big Switch, in which the final groups of POWs were swapped.


Sixty Years Ago
Sixty years ago, Dad was captured by the Chinese and spent basically the next two years of his life in a prisoner of war camp. This was a monumental event in Dad’s life, and because of that, I hope that this short history can be something of a monument to Dad. He didn’t want to be drafted; he didn’t want to be in the army; he didn’t want to go to Korea; and he definitely did not want to spend two years as a POW. But he did his duty to his country and that is a great and admirable thing.

As always seems the case, most of what we know from the oral history is true, but there are always a few surprising facts that can be uncovered with some research. Knowing the whole story of the 7th Cavalry’s time in Korea, and looking at the casualties that were to come, we can now see that the action of September 6 was a small engagement--more of an appetizer for the upcoming battles that would face the 7th Cavalry. Everything considered, Dad might have been lucky to be captured when he was, because there were some big battles ahead for this regiment.

The 1st Cavalry Division lost over 3,000 men in the Korean War--12 of them the night Dad was captured. I think of the fact that if Dad had been killed, obviously we wouldn’t be here today. I feel sadness for the names on the list of KIA, and I think of all the children that those men didn’t have, and then I think about how lucky we are for our lives and our freedoms.

I encourage everyone to read the narrative of Lt. David Hughes at his website, especially his remembrances of the fall of 1951. It is very interesting reading. He is a living, breathing hero of the Korean War, and he is still alive today. Without his and other veterans’ memories, the events of 60 years ago on Hill 339 might be lost in the mists of time.