I read “Task Force Smith.” The story of undertrained, ill led, under supplied, poorly equipped, American soldiers fed piece-mill into battle against superior forces, and utterly slaughtered. The officers who ordered them into battle ought to have been court martialed. No wonder their father never wanted to speak of it. It was probably nothing short of a miracle that he even survived. The first Americans into battle in the Korean War paid a heavy price for the South Koreans’ freedom and it is gratifying to know that there still are South Koreans who appreciate that.
It's a story that more people need to understand! Thanks for the comment and thank you for being here with us. If you saw that clip of the memorial in Osan late in the story, I found a few others on the DVIDS site. I didn't expect to see what I saw. The number of South Korea citizens there paying tribute. It reminded me of pictures of our WWII veterans who visit Europe and there are lines of people out the door waiting to shake their hand. They consider those heroes their liberators. We like to say we are patriotic here and in many ways we are, but how many Americans can tell you what happened in Osan, South Korea on July 5, 1950?
My grandfather was there from the beginning as well. Joined during ww2 he was underage. Him and his friends lied about his age, when he was tired of playing army he told them he was underage and called his dad. His dad lied and told the army he was 18 and he was stuck. He ended up doing airborne with the 101st but never deployed in ww2. Then after ww2 he stayed in the military. He went to the Philippines and trained and went to Okinawa and other islands. Then korea started and he got voluntold as a scout and attached to the 24th, and some how was attached to the Philippines scouts idk how but he always said he was a philipino scout.. He said when they got there his entire unit was killed except him and his squad of a few men. He was apart of the first people into korea. And what he called a 100% casualty unit where everyone was wounded or killed. And the rest of the war was much of the same. He never talked about it much, instead he would talk about stuff like "bill was my best friend" "we were all scared" "the airforce killed more of us then they did of the Chinese" "we were told we would be fighting people with pitchforks and it would be over in a flash" etc. Much like their father, the military "lost" his awards but accepted the ones we had proof of. Truly a forgotten war. My grandfather as well was a VERY hard man. I remember one time my sister tried to wake him up from a nap for something, before anyone knew it he had her on the ground choking her and about to kill her. That's when I learned Grandpa was in a war and you don't wake him up because he has bad dreams. All my grandfather told me of his job is "I was the guy who grabbed prisoners, and you find the biggest toughest loudest SOB there is, you take off the piano wire from your pants, and cut off his head, then do it to the next till they start talking". And he always said "I got shot in the A because I was running we were all running we were all scared, I go around the left side of a tree my friend went around the right, I'm here today and he is dead".
Wow. There’s no way to survive that and not come out the other side with serious trauma. Task Force Smith was what the called the first guys to fight in Korea. They were outnumbered at least 6-1 if not more. Casualty rates were comparable to Pearl Harbor & Omaha Beach. There has been a saying in Army doctrine since then… “ no more Task Force Smiths “ All because they knew they were sending in troops without the resources and training they needed. They hoped since the U.S. just played a huge part in winning WW2 the Koreans would see them and run away. It was a dumb plan. Thank you for sharing your grandfather’s story. Incredible story.
@@joshroe What I know of it, it's worse than what you or the video said. I believe it was 300 or so people in my Grandfathers outfit and just him and a handful of others survived. They thought everyone was dead till his squad came back, they were the only ones from that outfit to live from Puson Parimeter or how ever you say it. My uncle talked to Jesus Rodriquez about it and stuff, at first Mr. Rodriquez didn't believe my grandfather was there because no one survived and he didn't know my grandfathers name. But my uncle sent him pics and stuff verifying it and they talked for a good long time. My grandfather was the scout, the one who went on patrols behind enemy lines, he was a Sgt. and had a few men, and he prided himself that he never lost a man. We kinda learned more about what my Grandfather did from Rodriguez than anything. Mr. Rodriguez said he himself went on a scout mission one time but never again, and just said my grandfather was a bad A because that was his job, to be a scout. I heard a few stories of him from my Uncle telling the brass to go put a kite where the sun doesn't shine and so forth. Especially one time some commander told them to storm a hill that was suicide and he refused and him and his men walked away and told the leader to go do it himself. But basically they hated my grandfather. He was a rebel (kinda runs in the family). So they sent him on suicide missions to try to get rid of him. And he kept coming back alive, so it became his job. He talked a bit about their leave time, apparently they were on some island and they had greenbacks or something and my great-grandmother gave him an Indian Ink kit, so he was able to forge money to make it look like a higher currency than what it was and they all lived like royalty when on leave. But most of the time he was digging latrines or cutting grass with scissors because he was a rebel. On the battlefield they loved him, off of it they hated him LOL. He talked about in the winter it was so cold, that their PX burnt down because guys were fighting over a blanket. And he took pictures of it with his camera and sent it home to his mother. But from what I heard, nothing on the internet actually tells the real story. Hundreds of men dead, not due to lack of training. He was airbone trained with the 101st, further trained in the Philipines, etc. He went to leadership school, etc... He was over trained if anything. As much as one can be trained without combat. The were sent into the slaughter, he said they were told they were fighting people with pitchforks and not rifles. They were sent into ambushes head first on purpose. Then our own airforce would kill them instead of attacking the enemy. He HATED the airforce with a passion. He also said that awards meant nothing I AM NOT SAYING THIS TO TAKE AWAY FROM Mr. Cox!!!! I am just saying what my grandfather told us. He said after a mission or battle the brass would see how many were left alive, and give who ever they recognized a medal. He had papers for a medal of honor and did something to get out of it. I heard stories of him blowing up the barracks stairs with a hand gernade and watching all the leadership fall on their faces in the morning when they ran out because there were no stairs... Lots of stuff he did LOL. But, he hated medals and said the only reason they give you one is because you are the warm body. Despite trying to get out of them all the time he got stuck with a few bronze and silver stars that my mother used to play with as child. Of course the Military lost those records just as they lost Mr. Cox's. Again, I do not say that to downplay Mr. Cox, anyone who lived through the stories I have heard is an ultimate hero. I would not downplay Mr. Cox's memory at all! My goal is the opposite, it is to highlight that their leadership was in such dire needs for propaganda because so many men were dying, that if you lived you were instantly a hero. I have never heard of another situation like that in any war. From what I know, every award meant you were the warm body that came back. The fact you came back alive meant you had to be exceptional and beyond reproach. My Grandfather was Roger Lambert Morgan (I guess his philipino scout name was mongoose), 1931-2011. ANYONE who lived through that is beyond steel. My utmost respect to Mr. Cox and I understand what they mean by he was a hard man and he never talked about the war because he didn't have too. It sounds just like my grandfather. I completely understand what they mean. Mr. Cox is a bad A, and no one knows or will know.... No one wrote books or movies about them, no one talks about them, yet they went through something that IMO is worse than ANY war we have ever had. And it's covered up because the Govt. said who cares about them and their memory, we need to pretend the military never does anything wrong. But I can not stress enough, it was NOT lack of training! It was leadership plans. They wanted to look cool and win instantly and sent trained men into ambushes and death traps, and the only reason they survived is because they were trained and were just plain ol' fashioned tough. Never once did I ever hear my grandfather complain about lack of training, it was ALWAYS about leadership.
@@hikotai1925 I'll take the first hand account of the lived experience over anything you'll read in any official report or document. The writer of that report will often have other concerns that the person who lived it won't. You mentioned the part about being a rebel. Most Medal of Honor stories you'll see is someone sticking their neck out when they were told not to. That's what makes what those people did special and of the MOH recipients I've talked to over the years when they got the call they didn't want it or wanted it to go to someone else. I appreciate the insight and the conversation!
@@joshroe No problem, he hated medals with a passion and basically said that they were just for the leadership to brag. That medals only meant you lived and someone else died. I don't mention the medals being warm bodies to downplay Mr. Cox at all, I cannot stress that enough. The fact they were giving medals to warm bodies shows the only ones coming back were super-human. And I bet Mr. Cox's family has similar stories about medals and how they were awarded (if Mr. Cox talked about it). The ONLY medals I never heard him downplay or talk bad about is his purple hearts, he always talked solomly about them and said he got them because they were scared. The purple hearts meant something to him. But all the other medals he hated with a passion. He hated the military with a passion and blamed everything on poor leadership and said the leadership would chase medals and awards and such. And he hated the airforce saying they killed more of his men than they killed the enemy. That they saw a plane and they all would hide because the airfoce would shoot them sooner than they would shoot the Chinese. The weirdest part, is we have no clue who was in his squad, their names or anything... It truly is a forgotten war. All we know is the philipino he was with he said was his brother and they would die for each other. And that his best friend was a black man named bill. That's it... I remember him telling me a story about a hill and how he told the B.A.R. team to go on this hill instead of another and it saved them somehow, but I cannot really remember because I was to young. I remember bits and pieces and him telling me about tactics of battle, but again I was to young to care or remember. (I think that is why he was telling it to me, because I wouldn't understand or remember). I wish there was more on these men, but they are forgotten.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I read “Task Force Smith.” The story of undertrained, ill led, under supplied, poorly equipped, American soldiers fed piece-mill into battle against superior forces, and utterly slaughtered. The officers who ordered them into battle ought to have been court martialed. No wonder their father never wanted to speak of it. It was probably nothing short of a miracle that he even survived. The first Americans into battle in the Korean War paid a heavy price for the South Koreans’ freedom and it is gratifying to know that there still are South Koreans who appreciate that.
It's a story that more people need to understand! Thanks for the comment and thank you for being here with us. If you saw that clip of the memorial in Osan late in the story, I found a few others on the DVIDS site. I didn't expect to see what I saw. The number of South Korea citizens there paying tribute. It reminded me of pictures of our WWII veterans who visit Europe and there are lines of people out the door waiting to shake their hand. They consider those heroes their liberators. We like to say we are patriotic here and in many ways we are, but how many Americans can tell you what happened in Osan, South Korea on July 5, 1950?
My grandfather was there from the beginning as well.
Joined during ww2 he was underage.
Him and his friends lied about his age, when he was tired of playing army he told them he was underage and called his dad.
His dad lied and told the army he was 18 and he was stuck.
He ended up doing airborne with the 101st but never deployed in ww2.
Then after ww2 he stayed in the military.
He went to the Philippines and trained and went to Okinawa and other islands.
Then korea started and he got voluntold as a scout and attached to the 24th, and some how was attached to the Philippines scouts idk how but he always said he was a philipino scout..
He said when they got there his entire unit was killed except him and his squad of a few men. He was apart of the first people into korea. And what he called a 100% casualty unit where everyone was wounded or killed.
And the rest of the war was much of the same.
He never talked about it much, instead he would talk about stuff like "bill was my best friend" "we were all scared" "the airforce killed more of us then they did of the Chinese" "we were told we would be fighting people with pitchforks and it would be over in a flash" etc.
Much like their father, the military "lost" his awards but accepted the ones we had proof of. Truly a forgotten war.
My grandfather as well was a VERY hard man. I remember one time my sister tried to wake him up from a nap for something, before anyone knew it he had her on the ground choking her and about to kill her. That's when I learned Grandpa was in a war and you don't wake him up because he has bad dreams.
All my grandfather told me of his job is "I was the guy who grabbed prisoners, and you find the biggest toughest loudest SOB there is, you take off the piano wire from your pants, and cut off his head, then do it to the next till they start talking".
And he always said "I got shot in the A because I was running we were all running we were all scared, I go around the left side of a tree my friend went around the right, I'm here today and he is dead".
Wow. There’s no way to survive that and not come out the other side with serious trauma. Task Force Smith was what the called the first guys to fight in Korea. They were outnumbered at least 6-1 if not more. Casualty rates were comparable to Pearl Harbor & Omaha Beach. There has been a saying in Army doctrine since then… “ no more Task Force Smiths “ All because they knew they were sending in troops without the resources and training they needed. They hoped since the U.S. just played a huge part in winning WW2 the Koreans would see them and run away. It was a dumb plan. Thank you for sharing your grandfather’s story. Incredible story.
@@joshroe What I know of it, it's worse than what you or the video said.
I believe it was 300 or so people in my Grandfathers outfit and just him and a handful of others survived. They thought everyone was dead till his squad came back, they were the only ones from that outfit to live from Puson Parimeter or how ever you say it.
My uncle talked to Jesus Rodriquez about it and stuff, at first Mr. Rodriquez didn't believe my grandfather was there because no one survived and he didn't know my grandfathers name. But my uncle sent him pics and stuff verifying it and they talked for a good long time.
My grandfather was the scout, the one who went on patrols behind enemy lines, he was a Sgt. and had a few men, and he prided himself that he never lost a man.
We kinda learned more about what my Grandfather did from Rodriguez than anything.
Mr. Rodriguez said he himself went on a scout mission one time but never again, and just said my grandfather was a bad A because that was his job, to be a scout.
I heard a few stories of him from my Uncle telling the brass to go put a kite where the sun doesn't shine and so forth. Especially one time some commander told them to storm a hill that was suicide and he refused and him and his men walked away and told the leader to go do it himself.
But basically they hated my grandfather. He was a rebel (kinda runs in the family). So they sent him on suicide missions to try to get rid of him. And he kept coming back alive, so it became his job.
He talked a bit about their leave time, apparently they were on some island and they had greenbacks or something and my great-grandmother gave him an Indian Ink kit, so he was able to forge money to make it look like a higher currency than what it was and they all lived like royalty when on leave.
But most of the time he was digging latrines or cutting grass with scissors because he was a rebel. On the battlefield they loved him, off of it they hated him LOL.
He talked about in the winter it was so cold, that their PX burnt down because guys were fighting over a blanket. And he took pictures of it with his camera and sent it home to his mother.
But from what I heard, nothing on the internet actually tells the real story. Hundreds of men dead, not due to lack of training.
He was airbone trained with the 101st, further trained in the Philipines, etc. He went to leadership school, etc... He was over trained if anything. As much as one can be trained without combat.
The were sent into the slaughter, he said they were told they were fighting people with pitchforks and not rifles. They were sent into ambushes head first on purpose. Then our own airforce would kill them instead of attacking the enemy.
He HATED the airforce with a passion.
He also said that awards meant nothing I AM NOT SAYING THIS TO TAKE AWAY FROM Mr. Cox!!!!
I am just saying what my grandfather told us.
He said after a mission or battle the brass would see how many were left alive, and give who ever they recognized a medal. He had papers for a medal of honor and did something to get out of it. I heard stories of him blowing up the barracks stairs with a hand gernade and watching all the leadership fall on their faces in the morning when they ran out because there were no stairs... Lots of stuff he did LOL. But, he hated medals and said the only reason they give you one is because you are the warm body. Despite trying to get out of them all the time he got stuck with a few bronze and silver stars that my mother used to play with as child. Of course the Military lost those records just as they lost Mr. Cox's.
Again, I do not say that to downplay Mr. Cox, anyone who lived through the stories I have heard is an ultimate hero. I would not downplay Mr. Cox's memory at all! My goal is the opposite, it is to highlight that their leadership was in such dire needs for propaganda because so many men were dying, that if you lived you were instantly a hero. I have never heard of another situation like that in any war. From what I know, every award meant you were the warm body that came back. The fact you came back alive meant you had to be exceptional and beyond reproach.
My Grandfather was Roger Lambert Morgan (I guess his philipino scout name was mongoose), 1931-2011.
ANYONE who lived through that is beyond steel. My utmost respect to Mr. Cox and I understand what they mean by he was a hard man and he never talked about the war because he didn't have too. It sounds just like my grandfather. I completely understand what they mean. Mr. Cox is a bad A, and no one knows or will know.... No one wrote books or movies about them, no one talks about them, yet they went through something that IMO is worse than ANY war we have ever had. And it's covered up because the Govt. said who cares about them and their memory, we need to pretend the military never does anything wrong.
But I can not stress enough, it was NOT lack of training! It was leadership plans. They wanted to look cool and win instantly and sent trained men into ambushes and death traps, and the only reason they survived is because they were trained and were just plain ol' fashioned tough.
Never once did I ever hear my grandfather complain about lack of training, it was ALWAYS about leadership.
@@hikotai1925 I'll take the first hand account of the lived experience over anything you'll read in any official report or document. The writer of that report will often have other concerns that the person who lived it won't. You mentioned the part about being a rebel. Most Medal of Honor stories you'll see is someone sticking their neck out when they were told not to. That's what makes what those people did special and of the MOH recipients I've talked to over the years when they got the call they didn't want it or wanted it to go to someone else. I appreciate the insight and the conversation!
@@joshroe No problem, he hated medals with a passion and basically said that they were just for the leadership to brag.
That medals only meant you lived and someone else died.
I don't mention the medals being warm bodies to downplay Mr. Cox at all, I cannot stress that enough.
The fact they were giving medals to warm bodies shows the only ones coming back were super-human. And I bet Mr. Cox's family has similar stories about medals and how they were awarded (if Mr. Cox talked about it).
The ONLY medals I never heard him downplay or talk bad about is his purple hearts, he always talked solomly about them and said he got them because they were scared. The purple hearts meant something to him.
But all the other medals he hated with a passion. He hated the military with a passion and blamed everything on poor leadership and said the leadership would chase medals and awards and such.
And he hated the airforce saying they killed more of his men than they killed the enemy. That they saw a plane and they all would hide because the airfoce would shoot them sooner than they would shoot the Chinese.
The weirdest part, is we have no clue who was in his squad, their names or anything... It truly is a forgotten war.
All we know is the philipino he was with he said was his brother and they would die for each other. And that his best friend was a black man named bill.
That's it...
I remember him telling me a story about a hill and how he told the B.A.R. team to go on this hill instead of another and it saved them somehow, but I cannot really remember because I was to young. I remember bits and pieces and him telling me about tactics of battle, but again I was to young to care or remember. (I think that is why he was telling it to me, because I wouldn't understand or remember).
I wish there was more on these men, but they are forgotten.