Brothers in arms: dedication and devotion

In this story from the book, "Devotion," comes a tale that took place during the Korean War, circa 1950. There is now a movie out on this story.

Remember the Chosin Reservoir battle at the end of November, which lasted into December 1950? It involved about 12,000 Marines and 3,500 Army soldiers who had been surrounded by almost 125,000 Chinese soldiers. Prior, the allied forces had only fought the North Koreans, and it was pretty easy going. The allies were going toward the Yalu River, which bordered China. However, unbeknownst to U.S. intelligence, China had sent massive numbers of troops to stop the allies.

It was a battle to the death for Marines and Army personnel. They were getting killed right and left. To save the day and help them escape back to the coast, they were supported by air — a lot of Corsair planes flying off carriers. Two of these pilots were Jesse Brown, the first African American Navy pilot, who had been born in poverty, but became an officer and Navy pilot. His friend was another pilot, Lt. Tom Hudner, born to well-to-do parents.

They both flew Corsairs against the Chinese. One day, Jesse was shot down and crash-landed in enemy territory. Tom flew low and saw Jesse waving at him, but couldn’t get out of the plane. It was against regulations to land to try to aide another pilot, as then two planes and two pilots would probably be lost, but since he and Jesse were close friends, Tom did it anyway and crash-landed his plane. He couldn’t get Jesse out as Jesse’s leg was pinned in the metal and he was in dire straights.

Tom called for a helicopter to come with an axe to try to get Jesse out. The helicopter came, but they couldn’t get Jesse out. Despite all of their efforts, Jesse was unconscious and dying.

Lots of Chinese were coming to the crash site, so Tom and the helicopter pilot had no choice but to leave Jesse and fly out. Jesse had died. Later, instead of being court-martialed for disobeying orders, Tom received the medal of honor from President Harry Truman.

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the 1st Infantry Division, and is business owner in Priest River.