Info on Marine who owned my S&W 1917

[Davidwhitewolf]

ORVILLE BIERKLE'S KOREA DIARY, 70 YEARS AGO TODAY.

FRIDAY 01 DECEMBER: We assembled down near the road and were issued all the ammo we could carry. I carried four bandoleers, for a total of 192 rounds, plus my .45 ammo. I also had one can of beans. We burned the materiel that we couldn't take with us.

I found a can of hard Christmas candy and filled my pockets with it. I lived on the candy and my can of beans for three days. The candy got covered with lint, but that didn't matter. We moved off down the road, carrying our dead and wounded in the trucks, which we loaded with every piece of equipment that we could make fit. We took along every truck, tank, trailer and gun that we could. Everything that was left, we destroyed.

Around midafternoon the leading elements hit the first roadblock that halted the column. By the time it was cleared, it was too late in the day to move on. A perimeter was set up on the ridges overlooking the column on the road.

The night was extremely cold. We walked back and forth to keep warm and to keep our feet from freezing. Several squad tents were erected hastily to serve as warming tents, on ten-minute shifts, but there wasn't enough room in them for everyone. The poor devils who suffered most were the wounded, who either hadn't gotten evacuated by air or had been wounded later on the road. They didn't complain much, and my hat's off to them.

I didn't get much sleep that night, for one thing because it was so cold and for another, we were expecting to be hit that night. The artillery pieces were loaded with cannister shells but, lucklly, no attack came.

[Davidwhitewolf]

ORVILLE BIERKLE'S KOREA DIARY, 70 YEARS AGO TODAY.

SATURDAY 02 DECEMBER: We got ready to move at first light. Our air cover was on station, a comforting sight. We moved out with our forward elements clearing roadblocks as we went. "Easy" company and "Dog" company were combined under the "Dog" company captain, giving us about 195 men. Our ranks were being thinned by an occasional sniper concealed in the hills, and by cold hands or feet.

My gloves were constantly wet and it was difficult to dry them out. I couldn't dry out my shoe pacs, let alone change socks. We would place one pair each of socks and felt inserts next to our skin, to dry them with body heat, and wear the other pair. The idea was to alternate them every few hours while we dried out our shoe pacs, but that wasn't always practical under fire. One couldn't really call "time out" for this little task, the Chinese just wouldn't go for it.

We were halted for an hour by a roadblock, which gave us a chance to build some fires and warm up a bit. We started moving again and came under fire almost immediately. We lost several men in this exchange. Small groups of Chinese stragglers would roam the hills above the road and fire on us as we passed by. Our troops would usually get them, but there were a lot of them.

I remember being fired upon as I moved along a ditch; I could see the bullets ricocheting off the frozen ground next to me. A little farther on I was fired upon again and while running in this ditch, I slipped on some ice and fell down on my left knee, wrenching it. It swelled up immediately, but I had to keep running in order to keep up with the column and to get out of the line of fire. It didn't stiffen up too badly, so I could still get around. The sky clouded over and it started to snow again, but not for long.

A lone Chinese sniper held up our convoy and we had to wait until he was taken care of. All the men were deeply exhausted and sat or lay where they were, in the ditch or against vehicles. Our air cover tried to dislodge the sniper with bombs, rockets and napalm and machine gun fire. He just dug down deep in the hills, then started potting away when the planes left. This went on for quite a while and, in the meantime, we could see other aircraft working over the Chinese that we could see on the ridges across the valley from us. They sure caught it.*

As it got darker, the troops were moved off the road and below it for protection. We then proceeded to a spot on the road again, out of [the line of] fire. The trucks had to take their chances and make a run for it. All but a couple of them made it. After dark, we prepared to halt and set up, but it was decided that we continue.

As the lieutenant and several men and I talked and waited for that decision, we heard an incoming mortar shell. We all dived into the ditch, landing on top of one another. I wrenched my left shoulder, not badly, but painfully. The shell exploded about fifty yards away in an empty field. We moved out again, but later were stopped by another roadblock and had to wait until it was cleared.

* [Editor's note: image is of roadblock and napalm strike days later and south of Hagaru-ri, on Dec. 06.]

[Mr. Blue]

I read the last entry as I didn’t know the extent of what this was. I think I might read the entire thing. This is amazing.

EDIT: I went back and read the foundation of this thread. Incredible. Truly incredible.

CGN ADMIN: Can this be a sticky? This thread shows the utmost importance of Calguns, and just how it can bring lives together. American heroes, and their gear.

[Davidwhitewolf]

I read the last entry as I didn’t know the extent of what this was. I think I might read the entire thing. This is amazing.

EDIT: I went back and read the foundation of this thread. Incredible. Truly incredible.

CGN ADMIN: Can this be a sticky? This thread shows the utmost importance of Calguns, and just how it can bring lives together. American heroes, and their gear.

Welcome aboard. And great minds think alike; the thread was stickied long ago.

EDITED TO ADD: Yup, due to popular demand, Ivanimal stickied it back in Post #251. (As a complete coincidence, I'm pretty sure I purchased from Ivanimal years before that post a S&W .22 target revolver; I'll dig that gun out for a photo with the Sergeant's revolver at some point to prove, I dunno, more Calguns synergy I guess. )

[Davidwhitewolf]

Many options here, but OP has been amazing so that deserves reward.


Another option for OP is to see that it goes back to Ruth's family when his time on earth is up. That way (1) OP enjoys it now and (2) something personal and directly tied to a family ultimately makes its way home.


But again ... this is OP's decision not ours.

Thank you -- the sentiment's much appreciated.

Much has been said on the crucial topic of the revolver's fate, and I've carefully read and thought about each and every comment in this thread, and been thankful for everyone's input. All were valuable in making my decision.

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Those interested in how my thinking evolved may want to check out, in order (in order makes it a tale):

Posts #39 and especially #55 (ruth);

Posts #63, #75 (me);

Post #231 (ruth);

Posts #238, #255, and #256 (me);

Posts #259 (homebrew),
#260 (me),
#264 (UtahJarhead),
#266 (cdtx2001),
#277 (Tythagoras),
#285 (me);

Posts #171 (ruth endorses boomer), #372 (boomer);

Posts #401 and #465 (me);

and #469 (UtahJarhead).


After going back through the thread (it's very dusty in here!) I'm realizing I'm way behind on posting videos from events where folks have been able to handle and shoot the revolver. Here's one with my little speech from 2014 (unfortunately, you'll have to click thru until I get it up on YouTube).
Untitled
by Davidwhitewolf of Random Nuclear Strikes blog, on Flickr

[Davidwhitewolf]

ORVILLE BIERKLE'S KOREA DIARY, 70 YEARS AGO YESTERDAY.

SUNDAY 03 DECEMBER: We were sitting and waiting in a ditch by the side of the road, when I fell asleep while talking to the man next to me. I could hear myself snore, but my eyes were wide open. The lieutenant told me to wake up and I said that I was awake, yet I kept snoring. It's funny what exhaustion can do to you. We again moved down the road and again came under fire. The other lieutenant and I dove behind some large boulders. The Chinese were firing up ahead and, again, I could hear bullets striking the frozen ground. The lieutenant was in front of the boulder and I was behind it when I heard a bullet hit the rock. He called out that he was hit and I asked him how badly. He said it was in the arm. When I asked him if he needed any help, he replied negatively. I gave him covering fire while he made toward the rear for aid. By the time I had emptied my rifle, he had reached safety.

A bulldozer was brought up and the driver went down the road toward the ambush point with the blade raised for protection. Several of us following behind him and could hear the bullets striking and bouncing off the blade. We fired into their area and the Chinese took off.

The bulldozer was taken back up the road and after much tugging and pulling, rescued a tank that had slipped partially off the road; at one point, it almost slipped completely off and into the valley below. The tank crew got back in, started it up and moved on down the road with the bulldozer leading. It was lucky for us that the the tank was with us -- it blasted a group of Chinese who were setting up a mortar to fire on our column as it came down the road. It also blasted roadblocks, which were rocks, logs or whatever the Chinese found handy. The bulldozer would then clear away the debris.

The tank had a .50 caliber machine gun on top, which I manned until the firing pin broke.* There was no replacement pin, so the gun was useless. We were still getting casualties. When a man got wounded, the corpsmen would patch him up, then we'd stuff him in his sleeping bag and put him on top of the tank over the engine cooling vents, where the hot exhaust air would keep him warm. At one point, when a roadblock held us up, we fired on CC who were moving along the ridges across the valley from us. At around midafternoon we left the road at the top of a pass and cut across country to get back on the road at the bottom.

During this trek we came across quite a number of dead Chinese, frozen in their foxholes, their wet uniforms again glazed with ice. We got to the bottom of the pass in the late afternoon and set up a small perimeter.

Small warming fires were started, but most of the available wood was wet.

Several dead marines were found and taken down to the road to be picked up. I found a sleeping bag shell and curled up in it, but it was frozen and didn't offer much comfort. The 11th Marines (artillery) were pulling out on the top of the pass above us and we were waiting to be picked up by their trucks; there were about fifty of us. Since all of us were frostbitten to one degree or another, it was decided that we would ride and provide protection for the guns and trucks. Around midnight, those of us who were sleeping were awakened and told to assemble on the road.


*Sergeant Bierkle worked his firing pins hard.

[Mr. Blue]

OP, as far as what to do with this gun. I think you have been more than kind to openly accept peoples suggestions. At the end of the day, it must be your call. The little I read from Ruth indicated that she did not want to have the pistol, but rather wanted the pistol to have as much of her Father as possible. Information, honor, storyline. I think you have done just about as good as a job on that part. Perhaps one day a solution will present itself that is a no brainer. A true win win. And of course, if Ruth did ever want the gun back, I’m sure you’d figure something out.

[covingtonhouse]

I found this thread last year, after quite awhile on this forum. I wish I had found it sooner. The Korean War was passed over lightly in my school years, (70'-80's). I had the honor to serve on a jury with a Korean War vet who was a Corsair pilot, and sustained major injuries, putting him in convalesence for over three years before he was able to regain his life back. Thanks OP for updating this thread on the 70th anniversary of Mr. Bierkle's diary. This is the one and only thread I have ever recieved email updates for.

[Davidwhitewolf]

ORVILLE BIERKLE'S KOREA DIARY, 70 YEARS AGO TODAY.

MONDAY 04 DECEMBER: It was around 0100 when the trucks arrived, each one pulling either a gun or a trailer, some carrying dead and wounded. We boarded and proceeded to Hagaru-ri. We were fired on occasionally, but we continued, stopping only when fiercer resistance was met and cleared out. By daylight we were about four miles from Hagaru-ri and were meeting even heavier resistance from the Chinese, who were on the ridge and could fire down on us. Those who were able to ran alongside the trucks on the protected side to keep from being hit. The truck drivers were a brave bunch -- they made good targets, but kept pushing along.

When we got out of range we walked to make more room for the wounded.

An abandoned 105mm field piece, immobilized by two flat tires, was sitting by the road, along with some ammunition. It was pointing at a ridge across a valley that was crawling with Chinese. Our platoon sergeant started to fire it at the ridge by himself. The sighting device was gone, so he would sight down the bore, load and fire. When the shells were used up, the gun was destroyed.

We reached Hagaru-ri about 0900. We formed up into ranks and marched into the perimeter. As we passed through, a Marine at the perimeter exclaimed, "Those bastards, those magnificent bastards!", a title I'll fondly carry for the rest of my life. It was there that I met several British Royal Marine commandos.

The field kitchens were working over-time to feed all the hungry, tired men who were coming in. A Marine lent me his mess kit and I stood in line for half an hour to get fed. The pancakes never tasted as good as they did that morning. I hadn't really eaten for three days -- I'd been living on just that hard candy that had become a gooey mess in my pockets. I went through the line again, and it was worth it.

After I returned the mess kit, I went over to the area where the remains of our company were to gather. It was a real sight. By now, only twelve of us remained out of the original company that had been at Yudam-ni on the 27th of November.

There was one lieutenant, one platoon sergeant, at least three sergeants, and the rest were corporals, PFC's and privates. Some of us hadn't seen each other for several days; it was like a reunion. It became a sad one as we compared notes and found out who was dead and who'd been wounded.

The lieutenant ordered those of us who were frostbitten to go to sickbay. By this time my feet were in bad shape; they'd started to blister and my hands were beginning to blister. The corpsman put an evacuation tag on me and told me to turn in my rifle and ammo. I hung on to my .45 and put it under my parka. The Corps, expecting even more casualties when they pushed out of Hagaru-ri to Koto-ri, evacuated all their casualties in order to not be burdened by the ones they already had. Some of the men they flew in to replace them had been evacuees themselves.

Later that afternoon I was flown from Hagaru-ri to Hamhung; my first airplane ride. At Hamhung we were taken to a huge tent and given hot soup and Tootsie Rolls by the chaplains.

After standing around a big bonfire to warm up, I sacked out in a squad tent for a couple of hours. It was nice not to have snow on the ground. I didn't get much sleep, though; my hands and feet hurt and I was still keyed up.

[Davidwhitewolf]

ORVILLE BIERKLE'S KOREA DIARY, 70 YEARS AGO TODAY.

TUESDAY 05 DECEMBER: At around 0200 we were awakened at and loaded onto a plane for Japan. The flight lasted about two hours, so we snoozed on the way. We landed at Itasuki Itazuke (Fukuoka Airport) and were taken to the 118th Station Hospital. There we were fed, our filthy clothing was taken from us and we were assigned beds. Later in the morning all Naval and Marine personnel were taken to the railway station and put aboard a hospital train, which took us to Yokosuka Naval Hospital on Tokyo Bay.

[freonr22]

Over 400,000 views!!
Davidwhitewolf, an honor to read your commentary

[CSLucas]

This is by far the coolest thing I’ve read in a long time. And as a professor with 7 degrees I’ve read A Lot.

Thank you for all of this.
Amazing.
Prof CSL (Luke)

[Calif Hunter]

It was fascinating to read this chain of posts and the diary. My teenage friend, Stan Haydock, was the son of a career Marine who also survived the Chosin Reservoir. Tragically, Mr. Haydock committed suicide not long after I met his son in the 1960s so I never had the chance to know him. I am unsure of his rank, being either a Gunnery Sergeant or a Sergeant Major. My friend, Stan, unfortunately died of cancer a few years back.

[Davidwhitewolf]

ORVILLE BIERKLE'S KOREA DIARY, 70 YEARS AGO TODAY.

EPILOGUE

We arrived at Yokosuka Naval Hospital on the 6th of December.

After a stay of approximately one week I was flown home, from Haenada Haneda Airfield, outside of Tokyo, to Travis AFB, California. I was taken from there to Mare Island Naval Hospital, where I stayed for four days. I was then flown down to the Santa Margarita Ranch (Naval Hospital) where I spent three months before going back to duty and eventual release to inactive status.


This was an experience I would not want to repeat, and yet I would not trade it for a million dollars. These events were a fine example of what leadership, discipline and training are all about. Without these we would have suffered far more than we did.


Xenophon did it at Thermopylae in 401 BC,* the Marines did it at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. The tactics were the same, only the weapons were different.


As one Marine put it, "The Chinese Communist Forces may not have Known who we were, but they sure as Hell found out in a hurry!"





*[Editor's Note: The initial fighting in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir certainly echoes Leonidas' outnumbered Spartans at Thermopylae in 480 B.C., the clash of Western and Eastern civilizations that gave us "Molon Labe." However, the Sergeant's mention of Xenophon and the date of 401 B.C. indicates the Sergeant was referring here to Xenophon's arguably more impressive March to the Sea with his Ten Thousand, a closer parallel to the Chosin Few. The March to the Sea is recounted in Xenophon's Anabasis, unfortunately a dry read of an astonishing set of events. For a a much better-told history see Robin Waterfield's Xenophon's Retreat. Also, an entertaining modern tale of a Stryker company reenacting the Anabasis (with echoes of 2020 Calgunners may find intriguing) is John Ringo's The Last Centurion, a novel in blog-post form, similar to this thread, that I think the Sergeant might have liked. I did.

This is the last page of Sergeant Orville A. Bierkle, U.S.M.C.'s KOREA DIARY. For pdfs of the Diary, see Post #153 (with thanks again to rkt88edmo for making it happen).]


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The DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT from the first pages of the Diary reads as follows:

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEN I SERVED WITH IN "E" CO. 2ND BN. 7TH MAR. 1ST. MAR. DIV. F.M.F., DURING OUR PART IN THE KOREAN WAR. I ESPECIALLY WISH TO REMEMBER THOSE WHO DID NOT MAKE IT BACK.


MY THANKS TO THOSE WHO HELPED TO MAKE THIS WORK POSSIBLE. ERIC HAMEL WHO SUGGESTED THAT I PUT THIS DIARY TOGETHER, MARIA KITZMILLER WHO ENCOURAGED ME TO CONTINUE ON THIS PROJECT, AND TO RHEA MELAND WHO WAS ABLE TO DECIPHER MY HIEROGLYPHICS AND DID THE WORD PROCESSING. MY THANKS TO ALL.



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About the Author

Orville Bierkle was born on March 26th, 1926 in Nanking China of missionary parents. At the age of one, he had to flee with his parents from the City of Juijang, after the "Nanking Incident" when U.S. and British warships shelled the city in order to aid the evacuation of foreign nationals who were trapped in the city.

The family spent two years in Shanghai waiting for the situation to settle down up river. His sister was born there during that time. They lived in other cities along the Yangtze river, then left China for the U.S. in June of 1932. Settling in the Los Angeles area he attended grammar and high school in San Gabriel and Alhambra California.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps in March 1944, and served in both U.S. Navy hospitals, and aboard ship until he was honorably discharged in June of 1946.

He joined the Marine Corps Reserve in June of 1947 in Los Angeles, in the 13th Infantry Battalion. In the meantime he took the X-Ray course and became an X-Ray Technologist. He was called to active duty in July of 1950, when the Korean War broke out. Originally attached to "A" Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, he was transferred to "E" Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. The 7th Marines shipped out from San Diego on September 1st, landing at Inchon Korea on September 21st where he participated in the Inchon-Seoul Campaign. The 7th Marines landed at Wonson, North Korea on October 26th eventually to arrive at the Chosin Reservoir, participating in the Battle of Sudong (Hill 898), and later on Hill 1282 Yudam-ni. After being wounded on the road from Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri he was evacuated by air, first to Japan, then to the United States where he was once more Honorably Discharged.

He is now a retired X-Ray Technologist with 48 years of service. His last job before retiring was at San Quentin State Prison, where he was in charge of the Radiology Department there. He spends time doing some photo-journalistic work, and working with kids trying to keep them out of trouble and places like San Quentin.



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[Editor's Note: Another brief reminiscence by the Sergeant is found in Ruth's Post #127, reproduced from Korean Vignettes: Faces of War : 201 Veterans of the Korean War Recall That Forgotten War Their Experiences and Thoughts and Wartime Photographs of That Era (Hardcover)
by Arthur W. Wilson.

Product Details
• Hardcover: 488 pages
• Publisher: Artwork Pubns (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965312003
• ISBN-13: 978-0965312004

I've also reproduced that page here. I now have a copy of this book and it will remain with the revolver.

Thank you, Sergeant Bierkle, for your example of the best of well-rounded American citizenship, shown by your character, your deeds, your wit,* and your words. --David


*While this has been a solemn thread, the Sergeant's wry humor amid all that occurred certainly permeates the Diary. I'll remind folks that the Sergeant, according to Ruth, enjoyed atrocious Dad-joke-style puns. If he's reading this thread from someplace, I expect he'd enjoy 'em, so post 'em if you've got 'em.]



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WAR POETRY.

The intensity of war has always inspired men to write great poetry: epics from the Iliad to the Song of Roland; short pieces from samurai death poems to the Death of the Ball Turret Gunner; from the ringing tones of Lepanto to the Concord Hymn; from Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner and When the Warrior Returns to John McCrae's In Flanders Fields.

The Korean War is no different. Sergeant Bierkle's daughter Ruth, in Post#55, noted her father included the following poem with the Diary (which she did not believe he wrote, but which must have meant a great deal to him).

Whatever we were in that frozen
long-ago and whatever we are now,
we are bound as one for life in an
exclusive fraternity of honor.

The only way into our ranks is to
have paid the dues of duty, sacrifice
and valor by being there. The cost
of joining, in short, is beyond all
earthly wealth.

Following is the poem Sergeant Bierkle did write for the Chosin Few newsletter. This poem appears as the first page of the Diary materials provided by Ruth.

The March of the Chosin Few

The march that began in December of that
frozen long ago, continues to this day,
and into the future. The end will come
when the last of us fall out, called to
the Final Fraternity.

In the beginning, we were young,
strong, and determined. Our ranks were
thinned, but we carried on as the world
watched in wonder. We achieved our
goal – the sea – despite horrendous odds,
and to the chagrin of those who had
written us off; we did not stop but
continued onward.

For some, it was continued service, and
for others, it was home and hearth… but
the march went on. As the years progressed,
we went our various ways: families, schooling,
business, good times and bad. But we still
marched on.

As time progressed, our ranks grew less as
those of us fell out when called to that Final
Fraternity – immortalized by the memories
left behind. Names of friends, strangers… yet
bound by that bond only we can share.
Still the march goes on.

We know not what the future holds but
inexorably our ranks will grow smaller
as those of us fall out when called. Our
legacy and traditions will live on as
guide for those who follow their own
marches.

As for us, We’ll continue our own
march, which will go on, and on, and
on..........

Orville A. Bierkle (USMC E/2/7)

[CSLucas]

Wow, what a day to end on. Dec 7th