Customer Reviews

On Hallowed Ground: The Last Battle for Pork Chop Hill

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As an Australian military historian myself, I have written numerous books on the Australian military experience overseas, principally in the two world wars. Quite frankly, however, I admit I knew lamentably little about the Korean War, the so-called "forgotten war". In fact, I think it's true to say that most people's knowledge of that war these days would only have derived from watching episodes of MASH. That lack of knowledge for me, at least, changed forever after a friend relentlessly urged me to read Bill McWilliams' superb account of the battle for Pork Chop Hill in 1953. If anything, I found it to be even more evocative and powerful than James Bradley's wonderful "Flags Of Our Fathers" for the descriptions of the battles, and the compelling stories of the ordinary but extraordinarily gallant leaders and men who fought, died or survived in one of the bloodiest, most ferocious engagements of any war. You cannot read past the stories of such combatants and medics as Bob Northcutt, James McKenzie and Dick Shea without giving thanks for their astonishing valour and determination, and yet the book is filled with such stories, told at length or in a few simple but effective sentences. At first glance the book's earlier pages may seem a little overladen with background detail, but once you begin to read you realise that the author has done a superb and meticulously thorough job of research, and does not lead us into any situation without first fully presenting the preceding events, the units assigned, and those individuals particularly involved. It is a masterful blend, as McWilliams first informs us, then sets the scene, and finally takes us through the different battles and aftermath using the stark, sometimes horrifying, often poignant recollections and accounts of a host of participants and/or witnesses. There is a welcome abundance of excellent photographs and maps to show where the engagements took place, and many of the soldiers and leaders who took part. Family members also reflect back over half a century to the deeds and heroism of their loved ones, which adds yet another dimension to this engrossing book. The story of the 7th Infantry, and in particular the different battalions of the 17th and 32nd Regiments, is one that has been told before, but never with such descriptive detail, real-life drama, and compassion. This is certainly a book to be treasured, and read many times. Thank you, Bill McWilliams, for giving us this truly fascinating, truly compelling book.

The Korean War is often called the "Forgotten War." However, in truth, the war of maneuver that made up the first year of the war has been the subject of many excellent books. The stationary, or "outpost war," that was fought from 1951 to 1953 has received far less attention. Bill McWilliams' book, "On Hallowed Ground: The Last Battle for Pork Chop Hill," is a close study of one of the most brutal battles fought during that period.

Pork Chop Hill may be familiar to some readers as the subject of SLA Marshall's book and the subsequent movie starring Gregory Peck. That book and movie deal with the April 1953 battle for the outpost on Pork Chop. McWilliams reviews that earlier battle as well as the overall strategic situation, but he focuses on the July 1953 battle in which regiments of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division fought against a Chinese enemy determined to seize Pork Chop.

The author does a great job in describing this chaotic battle and the bravery of the soldiers in the rifle companies and their supporting elements that fought it. He examines in detail the decisions made at high levels of command that ultimately determined the outcome of the battle. And finally, in his section on the aftermath of Pork Chop, he puts it in the perspective of both history and the families of the fallen.

This is a great addition to the literature of the Korean War. It should be of interest to both students of the Korean War and those readers with a general interest in military history and ground combat.

As I was the first platoon leader of I Company 32 Infantry who was wounded in this engagement I can attest to the author's excellent and honest recreation of the events of those terrible days in July of 1953. It really is difficult to understand the carnage that occurred on that insignificant little outpost in front of the MLR if one had not been there. But, the author not only did a fine job in explaining the political situation(Pork Chop had no strategic value- so why expend so many lives?), and the tactical situation as it evolved day by day, but he managed to tell what it was like for the individual infantryman to fight and try to survive under merciless shelling and masses of enemy soldiers whose leaders cared little about the cost to these men in their wave assaults.
As a side bar- the second battle of Pork Chop Hill was the most intense artillery action in the history of modern warfare. Never in such a limited area were so many shells fired from as far back as the big guns at the Corps level down to the battalion mortars.

I bought this book because it focussed precisely on the time that my father was in the war. He was at the Westview Outpost near Pork Chop which gets only passing mention and that's okay. You should know that this book is written from a military man in the trenches point of view. It is very a technical and nuts and bolts description of the conduct of the war during this period of time. It is light in it's treatment of the political side of things, even though this was a politically driven war. That's okay so long as nuts and bolts is what you want as I did. I wish that he would have provided more detailed illustrations to provide a sense of where Pork Chop was within Korea and where the various named outposts were located relative to Pork Chop. Also he uses acronyms like BAR and other things that he should have provided a glossary. This book would be more meaningful to a military man and/or someone who was in this war. He could have done better at stepping out and writing to the non-military person. But with those caveats, it does what the writer set out to do.

Great book. I hope someone passes along a copy to President Obama. Helps understand how the Chinese and North Koreans view war.