Customer Reviews

The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wow! What a book, what a story, what incredible heroism, undaunted courage and grim will against all odds. This book tells the story of 246 U.S. Marines and Naval Corpsmen (medics) who fought and died for seven days on a God-forsaken frozen and icy hilltop in North Korea in November & December, 1950. Outnumbered literally 10-1 by the unforeseen involvement of several divisions of the Chinese Army, these brave men fought in inhuman conditions and, in the words of the authors, "dispatched more than three-quarters of the enemy [they] had faced".

The authors do a very admirable job detailing not only the week-long battle on Fox Hill, but also the events leading up to that fateful week, the involvement of other units in the area, and the return of the survivors to the base camp at Hagaru-ri. The action is fast-paced and amazingly detailed. But included with the military history is a wonderful portrayal of the personal stories of many of these men - their lives before the war, as well as afterwards. These personal stories serve to make the men of Fox Company very real and very human to the reader, increasing the sense of awe and admiration for the "uncommon valor" that these "common men" displayed. As another reviewer stated, I, too, was left completely humbled by this story and these men. We as a nation should never, EVER forget the sacrifices that these men, and so many others like them, have made in our history.

More than a military history of an incredible battle, this is the story of a brotherhood & compassion shared by men thrust into the most difficult and challenging of times. I highly recommend it.

Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have brought their skills to the telling of a very tiny slice of time during the Korean War which in itself is a very small timeframe in the many wars that our country has fought. By digging into the details from first hand interviews with the participants and into other writings, the authors have put together a very readable account of five days in the lives of 234 U.S. Marines that most likely seemed like one hundred years. The authors bring to the reader the circumstance of this situation in which these soldiers were thrust - "hold that hill". How many times were soldiers placed into a similar situation? But this "hill" is documented and now the reader can feel what it was like to be in the middle of North Korea in 20 degrees below zero weather, with the "fog of war" ever present as this small group of Marines protected thousands of other U.S. soldiers from the Chinese invasion that was attempting to cut off the U.S. soldiers from their supply lines, thereby isolating them from the 38th Parallel.

The writing is not elegant and the story doesn't have the flair of some authors, but the descriptions are clear and the wording is easily understood. The story just pulls on you from the beginning and you constantly want to get back to it and see how bad the situation is getting. I don't want to use the use the word entertaining as that would take away from what these men had to go through, but book was riveting and enlightening.

I read this book with a sense of dread and a sense of pride, that anyone would have the courage and fortitude to carry out these orders under these conditions for our liberty and freedom. With every page, more and more heroic behavior is manifested and with no further thought by the individual soldier than it was his duty - duty to his fellow comrades along the line.

The authors give depth to the characters as they fill in their background at various times. This allows the reader to form that bond with the characters. And there are a lot of characters. However, the authors are very successful at helping the reader to keep them straight while keeping the story flowing.

This book reads as fast as fiction, with the exception that referencing the maps is absolutely necessary. The one thing that might have made it easier to follow was to have the topographic map overlaid onto the detail map of the actual soldier positions. But this can be overcome by looking at both maps that are provided. It is a small nit in the scope of this work.

I feel that it was a privilege for me to be allowed to read about this battle and these Marines' lives.

I read this book in two days. I would have managed it in one had I not started so late in the day, thanks to being near the end of the mail carrier's route. In a word, it is breathtaking, as compelling an account of small unit action as I've ever read. As an account of a heroic stand it ranks right up there with Charles B. MacDonald's "Company Commander" or Harold G. Moore's "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young." The soldiers who fought on Fox Hill are brought to life in the narrative and you find yourself identifying with them, rooting for them, hoping they will make it.

The book is, however, not without deficiencies, albeit, most of them minor. One error is the famous M1 Garand being referred to as the "Garland" M1, a rather more festive but inaccurate name. Hopefully this and other minor errors of omission and comission will be corrected in the published version of the book. My uncorrected proof did not have any of the 16 pages of black and white photos, but it did have the 15 maps and these vary in quality. The second map, "Chosen Reservoir Campaign" is identical to the third map, "Toktong Pass and Fox Hill", the only difference being that the third map is cropped. This third map, which is supposed to illustrate the movements of Fox Company, does not do justice to the narrative. The authors mention as the company's objective, Toktong-san, a mountain, but this mountain appears nowhere on the map and I had to read a ways into the book to find out where the mountain was in relation to Fox Hill (north, south, east, or west). We are told that this area is a bottleneck but the map gives no clue as to the terrain (we know only that it is mountainous). Ironically, the authors comment on the inferior maps provided to the marines; perhaps they took this to heart and wished to make us feel like we are there. Another small gripe while I'm at it: We are also told that Toktong-san is "a southeastern spur of the ancient Taebaek mountain range", which makes you wonder just which mountain ranges the authors would consider not ancient. I'm probably not alone is not knowing of any new mountain ranges.

The maps do improve; for example, the next map, "Fox Company's Defensive Perimeter" is actually pretty nice in that it shows us where individual marines mentioned in the narrative were, but it stubbornly refuses to give us a hint as to the terrain. In a general history, maps can be deficient in this way, but military history has higher standards. Armchair generals want to see what the terrain looked like. After all, how can you follow the decision-making of the men on the ground if you can't see the basis for their decisions? In a campaign in which terrain played so vital a part, you'd think the authors would want to at least give us a peek. "Fox Company's Re-Formed Perimeter" map finally gives us some contours but since the first perimeter map lacked these, you cannot easily flip back and forth to see exactly where the changes took place, and why. On the larger scale maps, some unit symbols would have been nice, showing the relationship to each other of the opposing forces.

But enough about the maps. All things considered, The Last Stand of Fox Company is a superior book. The story of those brave marines is compellingly related and if you do not feel the sting of tears as the story concludes, I'll be surprised. Highly recommended if you have any interest at all in the Korean War. If this book lacks anything at all it is the viewpoint of the Chinese command, which was one of the interesting facets of Moore's book, but that, too, is a minor complaint.

One final note: I'll never look at those smug, arrogant doctors on MASH the same way again, treating every officer as a war criminal. Hawkeye and BJ are not fit to hold Captain Barber's jockstrap.

The Korean War is justly termed America's "Forgotten War", but even those who haven't forgotten may not remember or may never have heard of the events chronicled in this book. If you remember the First Marine Division's dramatic breakout of Chinese encirclement in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir, you are doing better than most, but this is the story of the little battle that made the bigger battle possible: the stubborn and heroic defense of a hill overlooking a narrow pass that kept the road open for the rest of the division to use in their breakout.

Drury and Clavin have done an excellent job of putting you right there among the freezing marines of Fox Company, aided by the memories and written accounts of those who survived. It would make a Hell of a movie,...

if Hollywood made these sorts of movies anymore.

Defects? Not much that can fairly be laid to a prepublication copy: annoying typos and a lack of photos, presumably to be corrected upon publication, and more detailed maps would be nice.

This is a gripping and very moving account of a forgotten battle that should no longer be forgotten. At least the Marines didn't forget; this is one of the four signature U.S. Marine Corp battles deemed worthy of recreating in their national museum.

What a book! An outstanding story of an often overlooked period in our history. The writing style feels like a novel. What these men went through seems almost unbelieveable even more so considering this happened just 50 years ago. Everyone should read this book and give thanks to those Korean War vets and our soldiers in the Middle East today. One wonders if our younger generation has any idea what these men did and the conditions they had to endure. This was real sacrifice and done without whining. Too many people today feel entitled to all sort of benefits because they believe themselves victims of some sort of injustice. Read this story and remember these men and the sacrifices they made, much like our soldiers overseas today. Thank you, Rob

In the mid 90's I served in the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea. During the long, brutally cold winter months, my fellow soldiers and I would often muse, with a shiver, about what it would be like to have to fight in these conditions during the Korean War in the 1950's.

The Last Stand of Fox Company gives a pretty good idea of what it would be like.

This non-fiction book is an hour-by-hour, day-by-day account of the ordeal and rescue of a Marine company sent to secure a strategic choke point near the frozen, mountainous region of the Chosin reservoir during the onslaught of Chinese forces in Northern Korea.

The 246 men of Fox Company withstood nightly assaults by thousands of Chinese army regulars and kept open an essential, narrow exit route for thousands of Marine forces, who were trying to survive an untenable situation farther north.

With colorful anecdotes from the testimony of the Marines who served, coupled with military data and existing histories, the authors have presented a stylized narrative of the events that is, (forgive the cliche) hard to put down. Rather than a dry, clinical account, The Last Stand of Fox Company is peppered with the slang, expletives and frank thoughts of the men who participated.

At one point an injured soldier finds he is hovering "ten feet above" his wounded self, and he sails even higher, viewing the battle from a slightly elevated position before he is jerked back into his body.

Later in the book, the rescue party, known as "The Ridgerunners", are marching through the snowy mountains at night, trying to locate the besieged Fox Company. Fighting off exhaustion, hunger and frostbite, three officers hunker down in a bunker to consult their antiquated maps and choose the right route. Three times in a row, they emerge from the bunker unable to remember what they JUST DECIDED, so they hunker down again.

These moments give life to what is an almost unbelievable story of heroism and survival. Probably the greatest testimony to the incredible story of valor and bloodshed comes near the end of the book. One of the officers who fought during the stand is putting in the Medal of Honor request for one of his enlisted men and he admits that on the paperwork he lessened the actual number of Chinese the man had killed because he thought people wouldn't believe it!

The book deals with violence frankly; swollen feet, horrible wounds, and hand-to-hand fighting are described in vivid detail. And the moral calculus of war is presented matter-of-factly. When it is apparent that Chinese soldiers are pretending they are dead only to hop up to take a shot at the Marines, the Marine commanding officer makes a hard decision: in certain instances, Marines must administer the coup de grace to the enemy wounded.

Staying very close to the events on "Fox Hill," the authors only occasionally bring the larger, strategic events into our view-just enough for us to understand how the situation developed from a geo-political standpoint. Macarthur and his staff are very distant figures, although their decisions have direct bearing on the fate of the characters.

Other reviewers here on Amazon have critiqued the maps, and I would agree. The maps could have been improved with more detail on the topography, and as the perimeter of Fox hill recedes, it would be nice to see where certain characters ended up. But once you get the general lay of the land, you can follow the events pretty well.

This remarkable book tells the unbelievable story of a small company of Marines fighting to hold open a mountain pass in Korea. Out-numbered and out-gunned, these 246 Marines hold off 10,000 Chinese soldiers determined to overtake the Toktong Pass near the Choisin Reservoir. The story of their eight day battle is a moving account of bravery and of sacrifice.

Drury and Clavin have given the reader a riveting day-by-day picture of the efforts of this extraordinary group of soliders. The narrative is enriched by what are obviously first-hand accounts from the soldiers themselves. The horrors of the days, where the Marines must battle both the elements and the enemy, are meticulously detailed, as are the ever-mounting casualties.

This book is not an easy read by any means, but even knowing the staggering losses that would be presented, I found it hard to put down. Both the writing and the story itself draw the reader in, and make finishing this book an imperative. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. military history.

Although I am a history teacher I have to admit that I am woefully under-informed on the Korean War - at least when compared to our other wars. Sadly, I am not alone in this fact - there's a reason why the Korean War is called "The Forgotten War".

Drury and Clavin start off slowly, in part because there is no context as to why the soldiers are marching around in the subzero weather in northern Korea. However, once they explain the purpose of this particular campaign in the war as a whole and show the reader a few maps I got a lot more comfortable with how they were telling the story and appreciated it a lot more.

This is not a fancy history - it is told from the ground level perspective of the the Marines on the hill and is full of tales of bodily fluids, men too young to actually join the Marines, frozen toes, poor equipment and a command structure that not only failed to realize the Chinese Army had entered the war, but failed to realize that a few thousand Marines were up against tens of thousands of those same Chinese soldiers.

Recommended for those who enjoy a "Band of Brothers" type perspective on the war. This book is not a general history but I'd suggest it as a companion to any general history in order to get that gritty feel of the front line perspective - the point of view of the men who actually fought the war.

"The Last Stand of Fox Company" is the true story of a Marine company that held a hill overlooking a key strategic pass leading to the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. Freezing, short on rations and ammunition, and nearly buried in successive waves of Chinese soldiers, the Marines held Fox Hill for seven days, permitting their fellow Marines to evacuate an unsustainable position at Yudam-ni.

This book is the real deal. The level of detail in the narrative is simply awe-inspiring. Often we know what happened down to the minute. Individuals are followed throughout the battle and we learn of their personal fates. The Marines display courage and even a sense of humor in the face of death, but nothing is sugar-coated for us. The men on Fox Hill took heavy casualties. Many of those who did not die immediately were scarred for life. Wounds went untreated, but the men fought on, and their pain is described in detail. Frostbite was nearly as debilitating as bullet wounds, and weapons often refused to function in the bitter cold.

The book is not all blood and guts. There are some intriguing tidbits of information. We learn about General Macarthur's plan to create a nuclear "dead zone" between Korea and China by exploding thirty nuclear bombs along the Yalu River. The description of the Chinese soldiers was fascinating. Some of them fought without socks in the sub-zero weather. Occasionally, Chinese officers dressed in Gilbert and Sullivan finery wandered into rifle range where they were instantly cut down. And the Chinese buglers blew "Taps" at dawn. A series of fine maps show the shifting positions and attack vectors throughout the ordeal.

"The Last Stand of Fox Company" is one of the best war books I have ever read. Readers looking for a story of heroism against the forces of nature and overwhelming odds will not be disappointed.

This is a true story about a battle that took place during the War in Korea in 1950. A company of United States Marines - 246 men - was ordered to occupy and hold the mountainous terrain overlooking Toktong Pass in North Korea. It was a strategic location. It is a choke-point on the only highway leading to and from that country's northern border with China. When Fox Company was ordered to hold this position, the North Korean army was in full flight northward and the United Nations forces, including about 8,000 U.S. Marines, were in hot pursuit.

It was a trap about to be sprung. More than 100,000 Chinese soldiers had surreptitiously crossed the border into North Korea and were hidden in the frozen mountain terrain, ready to surround the U.N. forces and unleash a devastating surprise attack. Three Chinese battalions - approximately 3,000 men - were ordered to remove Fox Company's 246 Marines from Toktong Pass.

The battle scenes are surreal. It was bitter cold, often twenty degrees below zero and colder. The bleak terrain was unforgiving. The enemy attacked during the night and harassed the Marines during the day with sniper fire. The authors have interviewed many of the men who participated in the battle, and their backgrounds and thoughts are recorded in the story. Some of the officers and NCOs had prior combat experience in World War II but most of the Marines were typical teenagers or young men in their early 20s. Thrust into an impossible situation, they not only endured; they prevailed.

It is a fascinating story of grit and determination. There are no tactical maneuvers, no brilliant innovations, and no strokes of genius. It is a hard scrabble mano-a-mano confrontation, with every man doing his job to the best of his ability with the resources at hand.

A subplot to the battle is the effort of a group of about 300 Marines to reinforce Fox Company by traveling cross-country through enemy-held mountains, at night in a snowstorm.

On occasion there is a questionable comment such as the one about an M-1 rifle that would not operate in the "automatic" mode, whereas the M-1 is a semi-automatic (i.e., a one-shot at a time) weapon. But by and large, the descriptions of the weapons and equipment are accurate.

It is an excellent book.