laststandonzombieisland

Some 75 years ago today, paratroopers of the United Nations forces made a combat jump from aircraft near the North Korean town of Sukchon/Sunchon well behind enemy lines, 20 October 1950.

These men were all of the 187th “Rakkasans” Regimental Combat Team, the old 187th GIR/PIR of WWII fame. On 20 October, they dropped 1,407 men in the first serial, and 1,203 men in the second, reinforcing the regiment with its last tranche of 671 men on the 21st.

A lot of gear was also flown in/dropped in, including a full dozen 105mm pack howitzers, 39 jeeps, 38 1/4-ton trailers, a quartet of 90mm antiaircraft guns (each with a 3/4-ton truck to pull them), and 584 tons of ammunition, gasoline, water, rations, and other supplies.

It had originally been thought that the 187th could be used in Inchon in a similar way to the old 82nd/101st Airborne on D-day in Normandy, but the Army couldn’t get the paratroopers in theater in time.

The regiment had been redesignated from the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment on 28 August 1950, just three days before loading on 14 troop trains from Fort Campbell, cross-country from Kentucky to San Francisco for sealift embarkation for Korea aboard the USNS Heintzelman and the USNS Anderson. It had only arrived at Moji Port, Kyushu, Japan, on 20 September, joining the Eighth Army’s reserve.

Within days, they were airlifted via 300~ C-119 Flying Boxcar sorties from Ashyia AB to Kimpo outside of recently-liberated Seoul.

They were used in action in “rat hunting expeditions,” mop-up duties against North Korean stragglers. They saw combat starting on 24 September as part of the tail end of the Inchon operation once the Inchon Marines had been shifted north to Wonson.

Then came the prep for the Sukchon jump, which was intended to cut off a North Korean evacuation toward the safety of the Yalu River, hopefully bagging the country’s brass as it fled the capital of Pyongyang to the south.

As noted by the unit history:

At 1900 hours on the eighteenth, with all preparations completed and billets cleared, a briefing was held for pilots and jumpmasters at Kimpo AFB. A drizzling rain had begun and continued throughout the day. At the joint briefing, it was announced that, in the event of worsening weather, the jump would be delayed by three-hour periods.

Though the weather reports were unfavorable for the 20th, Headquarters remained alert throughout the late hours until Colonel Bowen returned with the news that P-Hour was postponed until 1100 hours, 21 October. Turned out of barracks, the troops had only their combat loads and a ticket on an air train that looked as though it might not leave.

Revielle was held at 0230 hours on 20 October. It was still raining when the men fell out for formation. Formed by plane loads in stick order, they shuttled to Kimpo AFB. At 0400 hours, the drawing and fitting of parachutes began. Then the jump was postponed for three hours. Few men realized that a train containing Communist Party bigwigs and American Prisoners of War had already departed Pyongyang.

At 1030, the order was given to chute up.

A typical C-119 aircraft carried two sticks of 23 men each, fifteen monorail bundles, and four door bundles. The planes were so filled that some men had to sit on the floor to find space. Each man, besides a main parachute and reserve, carried a light pack, water, rations, ammunition, a 45 caliber pistol, and a carbine or M-1 rifle. An extra Griswald container, filled with small arms or light mortar ammunition, was carried.

At 1200 hours, the first aircraft, commanded by Colonel Bowen, was airborne. Some of the aircraft scraped the ground on takeoff. The flightpath hooked West over the Yellow Sea before curving back into North Korea from the seaside to maximize surprise and minimize flying over enemy-contested territory.

The armada consisted of 73 C-119s of the 314th Troop Carrier Wing from Ashiya, AFB, Kyushu, and 40 C-47s of the 21st Troop Carrier Wing from Brady AFB, Kyushu, Japan. Top cover was established at 5,000 feet by escorting F-80 Shooting Stars while F-51 Mustangs were on call for ground support.

At 1350, the airborne force turned east on the base leg of the approach to the drop zone, opening the monorail doors just 20 minutes out, while still over the water. “When the green light came on, door bundles, monorail, and paratroopers debouched in a streaming mass. Seventy-four tons of equipment and 1,470 men were landed from the first two serials alone.”

The first serial had landed by 1405 hours and was soon in contact with what turned out to be the 239th North Korean Infantry Regiment.

The second serial, under the command of Lt. Col. Gerhart, comprised 17 C-119s lifting the First Battalion, Regimental Headquarters, Support Company, Company A 127th Engineers, Medical Company, and Service Company. These elements dropped southeast of Sukchon before dark. By the next day, the Medical Company was carrying out casevac of critical cases by helicopter and L-5 Grasshoppers, while the Clearing Platoon moved more stable patients to a hospital in Sukchon.

In the first use of a helicopter in support of an airborne operation, the USAF’s 3rd Air Rescue Squadron sent H-5s to evacuate some 35 paratroopers and rescue 7 American POWs from the Sukchon and Sunchon area. In the same operation, a C-47 used loudspeakers to persuade some 500 enemy troops hiding in houses near Kunmori to surrender. Combat Cargo Command began aeromedical evacuations from Pyongyang.

Relieved by Australian-manned Sherman tanks of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade, the 187th was able to fall back to captured Pyongyang on the 24th. Their first combat jump in Korea was a success, and even though it did not catch the Nork leadership, it disrupted a division-sized force and bagged 3,818 enemy POWs.

In all, the 187th only suffered 29 KIAs during the operation.

It wasn’t the first American parachute combat jump into Korea ever, as an OSS Team had made a drop into the Japanese-controlled Seoul area on 19 August 1945, four days after the ceasefire, ahead of American occupation troops in the last days of WWII.

The 187th made a second combat jump in Korea: Operation Tomahawk on 23 March 1951 into Musan Ni where 3,486 men, augmented by the 4th Ranger Company, 674th Parachute Field Artillery, and a few members of the 66 India Para Ambulance Detachment, jumped to cut off a Chinese retreat.

And that was the end of large combat jumps during the Korean War.

Small jumps, of the U.S.-trained United Nations Partisan Forces Korea (UNPFK), meanwhile, were logged by at least 21 missions behind enemy lines between 17 March 1951 and 18 May 1953, with most teams ranging between 6 and 20 men, except for one large operation (Green Dragon) that dropped 97 hardy souls. Of these, with the partisan forces receiving as little as six days of training before their drop, very little was heard of them again.