Chosin Thanksgiving
75 years ago.
Official caption: Thanksgiving Turkey is prepared for members of the Camp Pendleton-based “Fighting Fifth” Marine Regiment near the Chosin Reservoir of North Korea, 21 November 1950.
At this stage, a lot of folks thought the Korean Campaign was a wrap with “home by Christmas” talk being thrown around.
Marine Photo A4975 by Sgt FC Kerr, National Archives Identifier 74242756
The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir/Battle of Lake Changjin would kick off just six days after the happy image above was snapped.
Lasting approximately 17 days, it pitted 120,000 enemy Chinese “volunteers” of the Red 9th Army against a force of just 30,000, mostly Marines (primarily of the 1st Marine Division’s 5th, 7th and 11th Marines augmented by the British 41 Commando RM and assigned Sailors) as well as a smattering of Soldiers from the 3rd and 7th Army Infantry Divisions.
This, as an estimated 300,000 Chinese poured across the Yalu, forced MacArthur to notify Washington, “We face an entirely new war.”
It is interesting that at the large Police Museum in Beijing (not on the tourist track tho’ close to Tianamen Square but well worth a visit; most exhibits are also labeled in English) the biggest monument is for the thousands of Chinese police volunteers who died in Korea. The Canadian contingent from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry particularly distinguished itself in the early months of the war at the battle of Kapyong.