The Punchbowl

Summer 1951 was quiescent. Then in September the Division was ordered to take the rest of the Punchbowl. The attack began 5 September. There were eighteen days of hard, inconclusive fighting. Thomas said flatly that the air support meted out by the Fifth Air Force was "un satisfactory." Over Marine Corps protests, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing

had been put under operational control of the Fifth Air Force with mission assignments coming from the Joint Operations Center. This was in accordance with Air Force doctrine of a single air commander and centralized control of tactical air operations, but it did great damage to the Marine Corps' air-ground team concept, and while the general level of air support across the whole front for all divisions may have improved, that received by the 1st Marine Division was down in both quantity and quality.

Strategically, the Fifth Air Force began Operation Strangle on 5 June, an interdiction attack against the enemy's rear designed to dry up his ability to fight. Major General Christian Schilt, hero of Quilali, had succeeded Field Harris as commanding general of the Wing. During July some concessions were wrung out of the Fifth Air Force as to the assignment of Marine aircraft to Marine-requested missions.

In September 1951, HMR-161, the first transport helicopter squadron arrived in Korea. Equipped with the Sikorsky HRS-l, the squadron put theory to practice and demonstrated that it could supply an infantry battalion in combat, lift a rocket battery, and move the Division recon naissance company to a mountaintop.

Winter 1951 found the 1st Marine Division holding eleven miles of front on the north side of the Punchbowl. On 10 January 1952, Thomas returned to Washington to become the Assistant Commandant and Major General John T. Selden took over the Division. Planners dreamed of amphibious "end runs" but they never came about. On 23 March the Division was pulled out of the Punchbowl sector and moved a hundred and eighty miles west to the left flank of the UN line, thirty- five miles of front which overlooked Panmunjom and included the defense of the Pyongyang-Seoul corridor. The British Commonwealth Division tied in on their right flank. The lines had solidified and it was trench warfare now, very much like World War I. There were no general offensives or big attacks, just nasty localized actions growing out of patrols and raids, or the loss or capture of an outpost. In mid-August 1952, there was hard fighting at "Bunker Hill" outpost. In October, there was a fight for the "Hook." In early 1953 there was a contest for "Berlin" and "East Berlin" and in March particularly hard fighting for possession of "Reno," "Carson," and "Vegas." (Vegas was lost and recaptured by 5th Marines, now commanded by "Lew" Walt.)

During 1952 and 1953, the F9F Panther jet gradually replaced the prop-driven Corsair as the Marine Corps first-line fighter-bomber and the Douglas R4D transports were augmented by Fairchild R4Q "Flying Boxcars.

In June 1953, Major General Randolph Pate assumed command of the Division. Firing ceased at 2200 on 27 July as the truce argued out at Panmunjom went into effect. During the Korean War 4262 Marines had been killed, 21,781 wounded, twice the totals of World War I. Of the 7190 Americans taken prisoner, however, only 227 were Marines. The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing had flown 127,496 combat sorties and lost 436 aircraft. Korea had largely been fought with World War II weapons drawn from the vast stores held by the Marines at Barstow in California's desert. There were few new innovations in equipment. The basic rifle was still the M-1. Leggings, which like the bayonet had grown shorter, gave way altogether to combat boots. For cold weather a thermal insulated "Mickey Mouse" boot replaced the treacherous shoe-pac used during the first winter. An armored vest, or "flak jacket," developed at Camp Lejeune proved particularly effective against grenades and mortars and became general issue. A cold-weather training camp was opened at Pickel Meadow in California's High Sierras and all re placements passed through it. A huge artillery range was acquired at Twenty-nine Palms in California. An East Coast counterpart of the supply center at Barstow was developed at Albany, Georgia.