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Floyd Jaros, Virginia, Minnesota, knows the misery of a cold Korean winter, and understands full well what
kind of injuries can result from exposure to sub-zero weather. He served as a Navy corpsman with Easy
Company, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marines and F-2-7 Marines from August 1951 to March of 1952.
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Introduction
When American troops first arrived in Korea in July of 1950, they found themselves in a hot, humid climate
that showed them no mercy as they fought the enemy and trekked up and down one hill after another. A few months
later, Army soldiers and Marines experienced just the opposite in the Chosin Reservoir area when temperatures
dropped to extreme, below zero cold. Navy personnel stationed in the waters off the Korean coastline, assisting
in close air support efforts, also were exposed to extremely cold temperatures. When spring approached,
American ground troops in Korea experienced the misery of downpours of rain and sloshing through mud. This page
of the Korean War Educator provides raw weather data from four weather stations (Pusan, Seoul, Kangnung and
Inchon) in Korea. Additional, it details information about cold weather injuries. The KWE’s "Weather Report"
also provides a means for Korean War veterans to share some of their memories of the weather conditions they
experienced in the Korean War. To add your information to this page, contact
lynnita@koreanwar-educator.org.
Kongju National University Data
The raw data regarding the weather in four stations in Korea (Pusan, Seoul, Kangnung, and Inchon) was
supplied to the Korean War Educator through the help of Meang-Ki Kim of Kongju National University. Because
there was a war going on at the time, there are segments of data missing for some months in 1950 through 1953.
The raw data found here includes daily-mean temperature ONLY. (Daily maximum temperature, daily minimum
temperature, wind speed, precipitation, and snow fall are in the works.) Our special thanks to this Korean
scholar for the much-needed help to provide weather information to the KWE. Click on the links below to see the
information in PDF form:
Cold Weather Injuries
Introduction
Thousands of American veterans (in fact, more than 5,300 in just the first winter of the Korean War)
suffered frostbite during the extreme cold temperatures in Korea during the war years. Many of them were
evacuated and received treatment in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, however, too many others did not have
that chance due to the battle conditions they were in at the time. The latter lost fingers and/or hands, toes
and/or feet, and had to endure the anguish of frostbitten noses and ears. Decades later, these Korean War
casualties are still experiencing the after effects of frostbite. Some receive medical assistance and
compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. But there are still thousands of Korean War veterans who
either don’t know they are eligible for disability benefits based on their cold weather injuries, or they
can’t get anyone in the VA to believe that their current health problems are service-related. This page of the
Korean War Educator is devoted to the issue of cold weather injuries in the Korean War. If any of our readers
have cold weather related materials to add to this page, they are encouraged to contact
lynnita@koreanwar-educator.org.
Video – Cold Injury
Robert Speights of Austin, Texas, is a Korean War veteran who served with the 1st Provisional Marine
Brigade soon after the war broke out. Speights suffers from cold weather injury, having no feeling from the
knees down as a result of his exposure to the cold during his time in Korea. In the process of applying for
disability benefits, he discovered the excellent, VA-produced video entitled, "Cold Injury: What to Look For."
It is a 70-minute tape which was created to show doctors what to look for with regards to cold injury
symptoms. Bob has high praise for this video. He said, "Some doctors who have made an unfavorable decision
regarding a veteran’s injury have reversed their decision after looking at this video. Cold weather injuries
often have the same symptoms as non-weather related ailments, and consequently veterans fail to receive
compensation which they deserve to receive." The video, "Cold Injury: What to Look For" can be purchased for
$5.00 (shipping & handling included) from Speights at P.O. Box 140733, Austin, TX 78714-0733
(ph.1-512-836-0458).
Medicine – LIFE Magazine
Volume 30, Issue No. 6 of LIFE magazine (February 5, 1951) carried a story about the latest treatment for
frostbite victims of the Korean War. The article is reprinted here from pages 82 to 84, with full credit going
to LIFE magazine for drawing our nation’s attention to the very damaging injury known as frost-bite.
From LIFE:
New Treatments for Frostbite
They Save Limbs of Korean Casualties
In the military hospitals of Japan and the U.S., there are several thousand casualties of the Korean War
who bear no scars from enemy weapons. These men are victims of frostbite, a trivial-sounding but terrible
affliction in which the flesh freezes solid, then dies and scars.
Frostbite is caused by cold, but almost never by cold alone. The 25-below-zero temperature in the North
Korean mountains did little harm to the U.N. troops as they moved northward in an orderly advance. But when
the same men turned in desperate retreat through the same ice-bound region, the Korean winter struck them down
by the hundreds. They were often immobilized, pinned down by enemy fire. There were no replacements. The
wounded lay too long on the frozen ground. It was the military situation rather than the harsh climate that
produced most of the 5,300 frostbite casualties listed so far for the U.S. Army and Marines.
In World War II, most of the so-called "frostbite" cases treated during the Battle of the Bulge were really
trench-foot cases. When the Korean War began, the Army was inexperienced in dealing with true frostbite under
combat conditions. Yet Army doctors have now set up an efficient program to cope with it. Along the fighting
front itself, GI’s with frozen hands and feet are hurried to aid stations where the hard, white flesh is
slowly thawed out at room temperature. At the nearest field hospital, they usually get injections of procaine
to deaden their pain and, if they are not otherwise wounded shots of an anticoagulant called heparin which
prevents the clotting of blood in the injured parts. Within a few days the patients are flown to a special
hospital in Osaka, Japan. There, with bed rest and constant medication, the milder cases are cured and
discharged. Most of the seriously injured are treated for three or four weeks. Then, if they are well enough,
they are flown back to Percy Jones General Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, to complete their recovery.
The main objective of the doctors at Percy Jones is to save the black and gangrenous limbs of their
patients from the amputations that would have been almost automatic during World War II. In the great majority
of cases, they have been successful. They concentrate on maintaining circulation in the damaged part with
drugs which speed the flow of blood. In most cases, new flesh grows again and dead flesh peels away. Where
whole hands would once have been amputated, fingertips are now removed. Men whose entire feet were black and
mummified have walked out of Percy Jones without a limp.
Symptoms of Frostbite
First Stage
First stage of frostbite is the frozen state in which the flesh is white and hard. Blood vessel walls close
in so that all circulation is stopped. The hands and feet area are most subject to frostbite since they are
the most difficult for the body to keep warm. Ninety percent of Korea cases are feet. Nine percent are
hands. Others are ears, noses.
Swelling
Swelling and reddening of the whole hand comes soon after the frostbitten flesh is thawed out. Blood pours
back into the tissues in great quantities as the blood vessels open up once more. The vessels are now
enlarged and tightly packed with red cells. Their walls, damaged by the freezing process, begin to leak and
fluid escapes into surrounding tissues, forcing them to expand, swell enormously.
Blisters
Blisters mark the development of the third stage. These usually form between 6 and 24 hours after the skin
begins to turn red, though in the least severe cases they may not appear at all. The blisters occur because
of the continuing seepage of fluid out of the engorged blood vessels. When frostbite reaches this point, the
skin must be kept absolutely clean to avoid the constant danger of infection.
Gangrene
Gangrene is the final stage of frostbite. The fleshy part of the hand returns to normal, but the frostbitten
fingers become withered and black. Blood vessels are now packed hard with red cells which clot together and
lose their form. Bits of clotted blood are also scattered through nearby tissue. In a case as severe ast
his, the first two joints of the fingers probably would have to be amputated.
Frozen During Hungnam Retreat, a Young GI Recovers in the U.S.
Like most of the young patients slowly recovering under Percy
Jones’ intensive treatment, 19-year old Pvt. John Baldridge came to the hospital with extreme injury to both hands and feet. Like most of them, he got
his injury during the early part of the retreat in Korea. Baldridge was cut off with two battalions north of
the Changjin reservoir. Supporting artillery had been annihilated, and the men fought for three days with
small arms. On the fourth day, they began to fight their way south toward the Marines at Hamhung. "We were
walking along, firing all the way," Baldridge said. "You could see them on either side of the road and
sometimes they’d be right next to you. About noon I got hit in the leg. It didn’t hurt so much but I got
weak sometimes. Blood was squirting out of the top of my boot. It was about 25 degrees below zero."
At 10 p.m. they hit a road block and the GI’s decided to try to ram through with their trucks. "I held
onto the side of the first truck with one hand and held my gun in the other," said Baldridge. As the trucks
roared ahead into the darkness, he fired with his free hand. "Where my left hand was bent around the post I
couldn’t open it. I knew it was freezing," he said. A mortar exploded. Baldridge came to at 4 a.m. just as
the Reds were starting their attack and managed to crawl away through heavy machine gun fire. Next day he
draped himself in a Korean sheet and made his way through the enemy lines to the Marines. "It took them 30
minutes to get my boots off," he said. "They were froze stuck to my feet." Back in Japan they operated on
his leg and told him that he would lose most of both feet. But lying in his bed at Percy Jones, holding up
his black, shriveled fingers, Pvt. Baldridge was able to smile. "They’ll cut off my toes," he said, "but
they’ll save the balls of my feet. I’m glad of that."
Photo captions
[KWE Note: The photos shown in this article of LIFE magazine are not reprinted on the
Korean War Educator. However, because the captions shed some light on how the victims of frostbite were
treated for their condition, we have posted the interesting captions. – LB]
Frostbite victims shiver in the bitter Korean winter while waiting for a plane to evacuate them. They
were caught in encirclement, could not protect themselves from the subzero temperatures.
One last cigarette is allowed each frostbite casualty when he reaches Japan. Tobacco is then strictly
forbidden because smoking constricts small blood vessels, retards circulation in frozen parts.
Procaine in sugar-water is piped into Pvt. Robert whitehead’s veins at Osaka to increase circulation (by
preventing spasms) and help kill pain. Besides two quarts of procaine solution, patients get several
injections of heparin each day to prevent coagulation of blood. Cokes and candy help men forget cigarettes.
Ankle exercise at Percy Jones helps restore circulation to toes. Feet are propped up and slowly rotated,
then hung over bedside and rotated some more.
Whirlpool bath gently massages frostbitten hands and feet with swirling currents of 100 degree water.
This treatment can be used only after all gangrene is gone.
Stemple/Yeasted Letter
Vincent J. Yeasted is a former Korean War combat Marine who lives in the hills of Pennsylvania. During the
Chosin Reservoir campaign, he served under James Stemple in Able Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. Due to
the conditions that existed at the time, Yeasted suffered severe frostbite. Decades later, when he tried to
file a VA claim for benefits related to his cold weather injury, he found the going uphill. A letter from his
former commander helped push the claim through.
In 1999, Lynnita Brown visited the home of Mr. Yeasted, and conducted a full-length oral history interview
with the USMC veteran. Following is the letter that Col. James Stemple (now deceased) wrote on Yeasted’s
behalf, used with Mr. Yeasted’s permission.
October 3, 1994
To Whom it may concern:
Subject: Cold Injury, case of Vincent J. Yeasted, former US Marine, enlisted Serial Number 116003
The following summarizes events in North Korea in November and December, 1950 which caused severe
frostbite and associated injury to then Private First Class Vincent J. Yeasted, U.S. Marine Corps. I, James
W. Stemple, then a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, commanded the 3d rifle platoon in Company
"A," First Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. During November and December, our 7th Marine
Regiment as part of the 1st Marine Division was engaged in fighting Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) in and
around the Chosin Reservoir in mountainous central North Korea near the Manchurian border.
On or about 11 November, Pfc. Yeasted was a Browning Automatic Rifleman (BARman) in the third squad of my
three squad reinforced rifle platoon. The platoon was returning from an arduous day-long combat patrol
several miles to the west of the Korean village of Koto-ri. It was just getting dark as we approached
friendly lines. By radio, I was ordered not to return to our company positions several miles to the east,
but to stop and establish a roadblock across a valley to the west of the friendly positions, and that we
could expect an enemy attack from the direction that night. Also, that because of the distance from our
company command post (CP), we would not be receiving either our packs or a re-supply of rations that night.
Temperatures that night dropped to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. To this point in the campaign, we had not yet
been issued cold weather gear and were still wearing ankle-length leather shoes and canvas leggings with
brass hooks and eyelets, and legging laces. As we dug our foxholes, we were reinforced by a 2-gun section of
75mm recoilless rifles and a 2-gun section of heavy machine guns. We stayed in our foxholes all that night
and shivered. Because we had been on patrol since early morning, we were wearing only M-1943 field jackets
over our utility clothing.
The next morning, and over the next several days, my platoon members began complaining that their hands
and feet were hurting from the cold, and I lost my first few Marines to frostbite, mostly new replacements.
The entire 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, including my first platoon, continued aggressive day-long
patrolling, engaging the enemy as we encountered them. There were no tents or shelter from the elements of
any kind for the rifle platoons. The rifle platoons were generally on long patrols all day, returning to
their company positions at about dark. No warming fires were permitted in our front line positions. We just
went to our foxholes, ate our evening meal of "C" rations, often as not frozen solid, and established 50%
watches for the night. The action was repeated day after day.
On November 14, our company advanced north along the road from Koto-ri toward Hagaru-ri located at the
southern tip of the Chosin reservoir, a major objective of our 7th Regiment. At about noon we halted our
advance, and I was ordered to use my platoon to construct a footbridge over the Changjin River which flowed
north to Hagaru-ri along our route of advance. (The bridge location was in the vicinity of Army Map Series (AMS)
Korea, Sheet 6635II, approximate grid coordinates 556614.)
The footbridge was to be used the next day to enable another infantry battalion, the 2d Battalion, 7th
Marines, to have a "dry-foot" crossing of the river before advancing to Hagaru-ri along the high ground
across the river. The Changjin River at that location was about 100 feet across and 6-to-12 inches deep. A
tumbling mountain stream, it flowed fairly swiftly over a rock-strewn bottom. A narrow gauge railroad track
ran parallel along the east side of the river.
The weather that day was below freezing all day, and the river banks and surrounding hills were covered
with 4-to-8 inches of dry powdered snow. We worked building the bridge until nightfall. We used rocks and
smaller boulders, pulled with our hands from the riverbed and from along the banks of the river, to build
"cribs," upon which we placed railroad ties that we could loosen with our entrenching tools and logs and
other debris from the woods along the west side of the river. The building of the bridge involved wading
into the stream, pulling up and carrying rocks in our bare hands and building the "cribs" upon which we laid
the timbers. The water was so cold in the stream that it was frozen where it pooled naturally, and would
freeze quickly where our rock-piling caused it to pool. Pfc. Yeasted was the largest and strongest Marine in
my platoon. Because of his size and unusual strength, he spent most of the day going in and out of the
water, lifting rocks, positioning them, and carrying and positioning timbers for the bridge.
When we completed our work, I was ordered to dig in for the night in the vicinity of my present position,
extending my platoon from the right edge of the river, eastward across the railroad track and across the
road. My platoon was the most advanced unit of any toward the enemy that night. It took us well over an hour
to chip and dig our foxholes for our night defensive positions. It was hard work and we were extremely tired
and cold. Because of our forward positions, again there could be no warming fires.
Our socks, shoes, leggings and trousers were frozen to our legs and feet. Our jacket sleeves where they
were wet were frozen around our lower arms and hands. The temperature that night dropped to minus 8 degrees
Fahrenheit.
At about 9:00 p.m. that night, I was ordered to send my troops back about 500 yards to the rear in order
to exchange our leather shoes and canvas leggings for new cold weather footwear called "shoe-pacs." It was
my understanding that the "shoe-pacs" had just been received in the rear that day. It took several hours to
accomplish the exchange for the entire reinforced platoon.
For those who are not familiar with them, the "shoe-pac" was a leather boot top with lacing and with a
rubber foot, like a heavy conventional "rubber." It was very poorly designed for cold weather operations.
Two pairs of one-half inch thick flat felt inserts, or soles, were issued with each pair of boots; one pair
of the inserts was to be placed on the bottoms in each boot, and the other pair was to be placed next to the
skin, generally one under each armpit, along with a pair of wool socks. The felt inserts in the boots were
supposed to capture the moisture from foot perspiration, and at the end of the day the wet inserts and the
wet socks worn that day were to be exchanged with the dry items under the armpits. Body heat would dry the
wet inserts and socks over the next twenty-four hours.
This design was not suitable for the combat infantryman's use, particularly for the conditions we were
exposed to during November and December 1950 in the Chosin Reservoir campaign.
Rifle platoons were the eyes and ears, and fingers, of the larger units, constantly patrolling, looking
and feeling for the enemy. For example, not a day passed between 10 November and 7 December when I was
evacuated that my platoon was not involved in a lengthy patrol action, frequently involving contact and
combat with our Chinese enemy. The weather was extremely cold, most days below zero degrees Fahrenheit.
Between 26 November and 7 December temperatures dropped to 20 to 30 degrees below Fahrenheit. We walked up
and down rugged mountains, not too unlike the higher Alleghenies in West Virginia and Pennsylvania in the
deep winter. The ground was covered with snow twelve to twenty inches deep.
During combat patrols or in movement to contact operations, our feet would perspire profusely in our
rubber-bottomed boots as we walked. Then, for combat, we would be forced to stop, lie on the snow-covered
ground, engage in combat and then get up and move again, repeating this activity many times over during the
day, and often times, nights and around the clock. During stopped periods our bodies and our feet would be
immobilized, and one could actually feel the inserts freezing in the boots. Under these conditions, wiggling
the toes in the boots did little to restore circulation, or prevent further freezing. This type of activity
resulted in a cycle of repeated freezing and thawing of the feet within the boot.
Quite frequently after stopping for the night and preparing our night defensive positions, we would
remove our boots and literally "peel" the frozen inserts from our boots like pulling cheesecloth from a
round of cheese. Under these circumstances the daily changing of felt inserts and socks was mostly
ineffective, particularly for the Marine infantryman in the rifle platoon.
The morning of November 15 following the bridge-building episode, my platoon was ordered to proceed in
advance and to "screen" for the forward elements of the 2d Battalion, 7th Marines in its advance to
Hagaru-ri along the road. This resulted in a six-mile forced march for my platoon over the snow-covered,
hard-packed road, while wearing the oft-times ill-fitting new footwear. The previous night's shoe-fitting
had been done hurriedly and poorly by dim kerosene lantern in a dark tent. As a result, nearly every Marine
in my platoon, including PFC Yeasted, reached Hagaru complaining of bloody, blistered feet,as well as the
cold.
Over the next several days, I began to lose my Marines, including some of my best NCOs, to the medical
evacuation process due to frostbite. In addition to the problems with frozen feet, almost every Marine in
the platoon also suffered cold injury to their hands from the ice river and handling the cold stones with
bare hands. After a few days we experienced first pain, and then splitting of the skin on our finger tips.
The skin would partially heal, but the numbness remained, enabling many of us to handle and retrieve hot
rations cans from fire without feeling pain from the heat. Pfc. Yeasted was one of those who suffered both
the frozen, blistered feet and the splitting fingers. As the platoon was now reduced in strength below 50%
he, like many others, would not go to the battalion aid station for relief. He was concerned that if he did,
he would be evacuated, as he had seen happen to other platoon members. Parenthetically, every Marine still
alive today who served in my platoon in Korea in the period described above, complains about painful feet
and hands in wet and/or cold weather, and a tingling sensation and coldness in the feet almost constantly.
Pfc. Yeasted is no exception.
Before the campaign was over, almost every man in my reinforced platoon had been killed or wounded by
enemy action, and/or lost due to severe frostbite.
During the period from about November 17 to November 22 prior to the battalion commencing the advance
North from Hagaru to Yudam-ni, my platoon was assigned the mission as a platoon-sized combat outpost located
some 2 miles to the northwest of the remainder of the battalion in Hagaru and in the vicinity of the
geographic region of P'eygouk. The position was on a cold, fully exposed snow-covered hilltop. It snowed
frequently during this period and the platoon, including Pfc. Yeasted, patrolled out from the outpost to the
west and northwest daily, moving five to six mile over the frozen mountainous terrain each day, seeking
contact with the enemy. The 2d platoon of "A" Company manned a similar outpost several miles to the
northeast of my position and under the same conditions.
Pfc. Yeasted was wounded seriously in action on December 3 when he was shot in the shoulder and chest.
Because of his wounds, he was placed aboard a truck, along with dead Marines and other non-ambulatory
wounded for movement along the evacuation route. The supply column of trucks, jeeps, and artillery, moved
along a road, surrounded by attacking Chinese Army units until the 1st Marine Division was able to withdraw
back to Hagaru from the vicinity of Yudam-ni, some fifteen miles to the northwest of Hagaru. An
expeditionary airfield had been constructed at Hagaru for medical evacuation purposes. Thus, while wounded
on 3 December, Pfc. Yeasted's cold injuries were further aggravated by being immobilized aboard the truck in
sub-zero temperatures for four more days before he was evacuated from Hagaru to a hospital in Japan on 7
December.
Substantiating information concerning environmental and topographical conditions, temperature extremes,
and the nature of the combat that Pfc Yeasted encountered in November and December of 1950 during the Chosin
Reservoir campaign where he received his cold injuries, are well documented in official Marine Corps history
and can be obtained by writing to the U.S. Marine Corps Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps Headquarters,
Washington, DC.
If additional information concerning the circumstances surrounding then Pfc Yeasted's cold injuries is
needed, you may contact me at the address listed below.
- Col. (Ret.) James W. Stemple, U.S. Marine Corps."
Walker Symptoms
Ray Walker of Brentwood, Tennessee, is also a frostbite victim from the Chosin Reservoir campaign. He knows
full well what an uphill battle it is to file a claim and receive VA benefits for Korean War cold weather
injuries. He wrote:
"My symptoms were that it feels that I'm putting my feet into a shoe that has a rolled up sock in it,
they're numb, at times ache, burn, itch - not constant but the numbness is constant. My neurologist found I
have idiopathic (unknown cause) neuropathy of the legs and feet. This can also be caused by diabetes, and
diabetes can be caused by cold injury also."
Walker’s advice to other veterans seeking VA assistance is this: "In order to get this done it is
IMPERATIVE that the veteran go through a veteran association service officer. I found the VVA (Vietnam
Veterans Association) to be the most helpful. If the veteran goes to his own doctor, he should not mention
cold injury, but get a neurological exam. Cold injury generally causes a neuropathy that can be determined by
a neurologist.
The V.A. doctors are lax in this area - but when given an objective, neurological exam, they've got to act
on it. And do not get discouraged. Be sure to file an appeal, and do it through the VVA service officer. Give
the VVA service officer the video. He should take it from there. It takes determination.
Also, E-mail to a former Marine, Beltram, at
gaviotaent@mindspring.com. He lives in Santa Barbara, and is one of those who pioneered the Cold
Injury Claims with the V.A. Discouragement is what they count on. The VA doesn't want to spend the money, so
you have to be patient and persistent."
The Centurion
The Delaware Commission of Veteran Affairs published a newsletter called, "The Centurion." In Volume 5,
Number 2, October-December 1996, the issue of Korean War cold weather injuries was highlighted in the article,
"Korean War Veterans’ ‘50s Frostbite Injuries Return to Haunt Them." The text of the article follows:
"When former soldiers got together for a reunion, they were astounded. "Everybody was having problems."
Thousands of men who limped home from the Korean War, hurt not by bullets but by relentless subzero cold, are
making painful discoveries four decades later. Frost-injured limbs that once got better are unexpectedly
getting worse with age.
Veterans who quietly overcame their injuries are suffering today from new symptoms that include infections,
skin cancer, joint deterioration, and extreme sensitivity to cold. In the worst cases, men are losing limbs to
amputation as infections settle into stumps and scars that lack healthy nerves and circulation. Most of the
afflicted are veterans who fought and froze on the windblown mountains above North Korea’s Chosin
Reservoir—scene of a disastrous battle in which Allied forces were overwhelmed by invading Chinese and by
temperatures hovering near 30 below.
"I always had problems, but I never paid too much attention to them until I got older, and I started
getting worse and worse and worse," said Ernest J. Pappenheimer, a former Marine gunnery sergeant who lost all
his toes to frostbite and today leads a national group for cold-injured veterans. "Any front-line soldier or
Marine has got to have a problem. And I was probably more fortunate than most of the victims." Pappenheimer,
68, spends winters in Louisiana to escape the cold, returning each spring to his home in Michigan. Even now,
at his lakeside house near Flint, his feet burn on chilly nights when the temperature dips below 50.
Year-round, his stumps and heels are prone to dangerous infections and wounds that won’t heal. And his joints
"crackle like Rice Krispies," a reminder of the deterioration caused by 45 years of walking on stubby feet.
The battle at the Chosin Reservoir lasted about a week toward the end of 1950, ending in retreat.
[KWE Note: The withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir was not a "retreat." It was a
breakout. - Lynnita]
It is assumed that nearly all the 18,000 Allied soldiers and Marines who fought there suffered frostbite or
some "cold injury."
Frostbite occurs when ice crystals form inside tissues, destroying cells and blood vessels as they expand.
Although less extreme, cold injury is an insidious condition in which prolonged exposure constricts
vessels—cutting off circulation like a tourniquet. Extremities can die from lack of blood flow even though
they don’t actually freeze. In either case, surviving tissues are often left with damaged blood vessels and
nerves. Later, the natural forces of aging, such as impaired circulation, can make once manageable ailments
intolerable. No doubt, the phenomenon has been experienced by other frostbite victims—from veterans of ancient
wars to children lost in snowy woods. But the victims were scattered by time and place, their symptoms poorly
understood until a group of men who fought under the same extreme conditions came together: The Chosin Few.
It happened in a San Diego hotel in 1985. Several hundred veterans were gathering for the first meeting of
a national organization called the Chosin Few. The former Marines and soldiers had met to reminisce. But as
they looked around, they were dumbfounded. "Everybody was having problems walking, getting up," said
Pappenheimer. They complained of excess sweating, malformed toenails, infected stumps, skin cancer. Many had
moved south to escape cold winters. The revelation that cold injuries were revisiting so many veterans
mobilized the Chosin Few. Pappenheimer helped organize a committee that educates veterans and doctors about
the latent effects of frostbite and cold injury.
The Chosin Few sent delegations to Washington, finally persuading the Department of Veterans Affairs to
change its outlook toward ex-servicemen disabled by the cold. The government is now approving about 600 claims
a year, many of them filed by veterans of Korea. A turning point occurred in 1994, when the Department of
Veterans Affairs agreed to stop denying disability payments to veterans who cannot produce evidence that their
symptoms stem from their service at the front. It was an important reversal because many troops had thawed out
in first-aid stations and returned to battle without any record made of their injuries.
Although the government is approving some claims, the Chosin Few contend the message has not filtered down
to veterans hospitals and claims centers. They say doctors know little about delayed symptoms, and have
unfairly dismissed complaints as psychological—even if the veterans fought at the frozen reservoir. This, they
say, has led to benefits being denied unjustly. The government compensates about 30,000 people for
disabilities resulting from frostbite and cold injury, according to the VA. They include veterans who survived
the prison camps and battlefields of World War II as well as Korea. (Dept. of Vets. Affairs, Daily News
Summary, 5/7/96)
Infantry School Quarterly
Korean War-era Infantry School Quarterlies from 1951 and 1952 carry scholarly articles about a wide range of
combat-related issues. Not the least of these were three articles written by veterans who understood the
difficulties of fighting in the extreme cold weather temperatures in Korea. Following are articles written by
John Volmer, Capt. Frank F. Rathbun, and Maj. Candler R. Wiselogle.
[KWE Note: To be added.]
Volmer
Rathbun
Wiselogle
Veterans’ Memories of Korea
(Weather-related)
[KWE Note: To add your literary contribution to this page, send your memories of the weather
conditions in Korea to:
lynnita@koreanwar-educator.org.]
S/Sgt. Chris Sarno Remembers
Excerpt from "Winter on the Mountain Top." (Read the Sarno memoir
in its entirety at HERE.)
"It didn’t take long for Sarno and the others to understand why the Charlie tankers were so happy to see
their replacements arrive. "Let me tell you," he said. "We froze our gajonies off each and every night on that
coldest of steel chariots. It was cold beyond imagination. We knew it was cold down in the valley, but on the
mountain top, the wind never stopped any day or night. That wind coming out of Siberia was incessant, and at
night time the temperature dropped to 35 below and lower." Sarno said that everything was iced up so much that
they didn’t even receive competition from the enemy. "We had everything the Marine Corps could give us to keep
warm," he recalled, "but our first two nights were ungodly unbearable. We thought we were properly clothed,
but by two o’clock in the morning we were crying—crying body pain from the cold. The intense cold contracted
our muscles so tight the pain was excruciating, so much so that it caused tears to flow." He said that by the
end of their guard duty that night, their only goal was to just stay alive in the cold. "For sure," Sarno
said, "this was our devilish frozen hell on earth, and our internalized mission was to fight and to endure."
He said that the temperatures were so low that all five tanks had to be started up every three hours and left
to idle for one hour to prevent the gasoline-fed engines from freezing up solid."
Gunny Sergeant Gene Dixon Remembers
Excerpt from "Southern Attack." (Read the Dixon memoir in its
entirely HERE.)
"When Yudam-ni was abandoned, a long train of vehicles and troops started on a 35-mile journey to the
south. First it would be Hagaru, then Koto-ri, and the trek down a treacherous mountain road. I didn't have a
thermometer, but was told by others (and it was documented in later reports), that it got as cold as 35
degrees below zero, made even more intense by a strong north wind. It got so cold that some of the vehicles
could not be started without a tow. There was plenty of snow, so dry that you could melt a cup of it and get
very little water from it. I don't recall it being very deep. I think it was the kind of snow you get with
strong winds--the kind that drifted in places.
It was so cold some of the weapons did not function well. It was also so cold that our canned C rations
froze. I can recall chipping away at a can of frozen franks and beans, one bean at a time. For the most part,
I took the little round cakes of dried cocoa furnished in the C rations and ate that along with whatever candy
might be among the box of rations for the day. Heating them up was next to impossible, besides the fact that
no one wanted to draw the enemy's attention with smoke from a fire. Using a cooking table (lighting a match to
it) was not sufficient to thaw the food.
We were always cold and hesitated to expose our bare body to the elements even to cope with our bodily
functions. While at Chosin, I don't recall saving at all, and bathing was just face and hands for the most
part. In 35 degrees below zero--no way. Also, we did not have the opportunity. We wore several layers of
clothing to try to keep warm. It was hard to keep our clothes dry, but at times we took the chance and lit a
fire, until we had to put it out for fear of the enemy seeing it. We had also been issued a type of boot
called a "Shoe-Pac." They caused feet to sweat when walking, and when you stopped, if you stood still for very
long the sweat started to freeze. I understand that this caused a lot of frost bite. I had previously switched
to my boondockers (shoes), and because of that, I think that I faired much better than many others. I came out
with only a slight case of frost bite. The bitter cold made me appreciate heat when it finally became
available to me. Living in northern Michigan, I now notice how sensitive my feet are to the cold. There is no
doubt this will forever be a lasting reminder of my involvement in the Chosin Reservoir campaign."
Former Navy Corpsman Ralph Fly Remembers
Excerpt from "Reserve Area." (Read Ralph’s memoir in its entirety
HERE.)
"Fly was not only learning the ropes as a newcomer to combat situations, he was also experiencing the cold
of Korea for the first time. While his company had the latest in cold weather gear, the men still got very
cold. Shortly after Fly joined his company on the front line, the company began its march to the rear to be in
a reserve area for a few weeks. It was a march that remained fresh in his memory for decades. "During that
march, late at night (so the enemy would not be aware of our movements), we had a snow storm every bit as bad
as our Pickle Meadows experience stateside," Fly recalled. "During the night, I had to drop my backpack and
run to answer a call for corpsman, thinking someone might be hurt. For example, just before the snowstorm
started, two men were getting very thirsty and dehydrated. The officers asked for permission to use chlorine
tables to purify ditch water. I decided that the water was just too contaminated and the chlorine tabs would
not kill all the pathogens. The ditch water in Korea was more lethal than any sewer waste you can imagine. I
respectfully said, ‘No Sir.’ As I walked back to get my backpack, the snow started flying furiously. And as I
placed my backpack on my back, the Marines were already out of sight. Though the snow was getting thicker and
deeper, I followed my sense of direction, which had never failed me. As day broke, I was extremely thirsty
from the long march. I spotted the reserve campsite and was looking forward to drinking some cold water, for
in spite of the snow and cold, I was sweating. But all I found was hot coffee. I drank a pot full, spread my
shelter half on the ground, placed my sleeping bag on top of the shelter half, got in and slept till noon."
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