Battle of Chosin - PBS American Experience

YellowSnow

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/chosin/

If you haven't caught is yet, the PBS American Experience Documentary on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir is available now for free streaming on Amazon Prime (Fuck you Bezos for hurting Comcast's bottom line!!!) Very relevant story today as we talk about Korea. This was battle was easily the worst natural elements faced by the US Army in its history and the interviews with the old surviving marines are terrific.

PurpleThrobber

YellowSnow said:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/chosin/

If you haven't caught is yet, the PBS American Experience Documentary on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir is available now for free streaming on Amazon Prime (Fuck you Bezos for hurting Comcast's bottom line!!!) Very relevant story today as we talk about Korea. This was battle was easily the worst natural elements faced by the US Army in its history and the interviews with the old surviving marines are terrific.

Never get involved in a land war in Asia and never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

TierbsHsotBoobs

Did we win yet?

YellowSnow

Apologies in advance for stepping on @PurpleThrobber 's turd, but Hot Lips was the hottest babe of the Korean conflict.

doogie

My Dad survived that. Only got him to talk about it twice... very briefly. ended in tears devastating

dnc

doogie said:

My Dad survived that. Only got him to talk about it twice... very briefly. ended in tears devastating

TOO bad
























I keed. Dark shit man.

TierbsHsotBoobs

doogie said:

My top Dad survived that. Only got him to talk about it twice... very briefly. ended in tears devastating

YellowSnow

doogie said:

My Dad survived that. Only got him to talk about it twice... very briefly. ended in tears devastating

No shit? He was at Chosin? Un fucking real what those Marines (and a few Army) had to go through. I teared up a few times watching those guys, but I tend to do that when the old timers are talking about the shit they went through.

Swaye

Some great Chosin quotes from Chesty Puller, one of the baddest mother fuckers ever.

All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time”
– Lewis B. Chesty Puller, USMC

“The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the Air Force has accomplished during the war.”
– Chesty Puller in a letter to his wife while in Korea

“Don’t forget that you’re First Marines! Not all the Communists in hell can overrun you!”
– Chesty Puller motivating his men at Chosin Reservoir

“They are a damn site better than the U.S. Army, at least we know that they will be there in the morning.”
– Lewis B. Chesty Puller
when a journalist asked him about being surrounded by 22. enemy divisions

“There are not enough chinamen in the world to stop a fully armed Marine regiment from going where ever they want to go”
– Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller

When the Marines were cut off behind enemy lines and the Army had written
the 1st Marine Division off as being lost because they were surrounded by 22
enemy divisions. The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty
ratio on an enemy in history and destroying 7 entire enemy divisions in the
process. An enemy division is 16500+ men while a Marine division is 12500 men.

YellowSnow

Swaye said:

Some great Chosin quotes from Chesty Puller, one of the baddest mother fuckers ever.

All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time”
– Lewis B. Chesty Puller, USMC

“The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the Air Force has accomplished during the war.”
– Chesty Puller in a letter to his wife while in Korea

“Don’t forget that you’re First Marines! Not all the Communists in hell can overrun you!”
– Chesty Puller motivating his men at Chosin Reservoir

“They are a damn site better than the U.S. Army, at least we know that they will be there in the morning.”
– Lewis B. Chesty Puller
when a journalist asked him about being surrounded by 22. enemy divisions

“There are not enough chinamen in the world to stop a fully armed Marine regiment from going where ever they want to go”
– Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller

When the Marines were cut off behind enemy lines and the Army had written
the 1st Marine Division off as being lost because they were surrounded by 22
enemy divisions. The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty
ratio on an enemy in history and destroying 7 entire enemy divisions in the
process. An enemy division is 16500+ men while a Marine division is 12500 men.

I thought of you @swaye when the old Marines where talking about the gruesome scenes they encountered post the Corsair pilots dropping napalm on the Chi-coms. That there is some old school, up closer and personal fighter-bombering.

Swaye

YellowSnow said:

Swaye said:

Some great Chosin quotes from Chesty Puller, one of the baddest mother fuckers ever.

All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time”
– Lewis B. Chesty Puller, USMC

“The mail service has been excellent out here, and in my opinion this is all that the Air Force has accomplished during the war.”
– Chesty Puller in a letter to his wife while in Korea

“Don’t forget that you’re First Marines! Not all the Communists in hell can overrun you!”
– Chesty Puller motivating his men at Chosin Reservoir

“They are a damn site better than the U.S. Army, at least we know that they will be there in the morning.”
– Lewis B. Chesty Puller
when a journalist asked him about being surrounded by 22. enemy divisions

“There are not enough chinamen in the world to stop a fully armed Marine regiment from going where ever they want to go”
– Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller

When the Marines were cut off behind enemy lines and the Army had written
the 1st Marine Division off as being lost because they were surrounded by 22
enemy divisions. The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty
ratio on an enemy in history and destroying 7 entire enemy divisions in the
process. An enemy division is 16500+ men while a Marine division is 12500 men.

I thought of you @swaye when the old Marines where talking about the gruesome scenes they encountered post the Corsair pilots dropping napalm on the Chi-coms. That there is some old school, up closer and personal fighter-bombering.

Shit was no joke.

RaceBannon

We never did get our dad to talk about his time in the Pacific theater in WW2. Like so many vets he just quietly drank himself to death while being highly functional.

YellowSnow

RaceBannon said:

We never did get our dad to talk about his time in the Pacific theater in WW2. Like so many vets he just quietly drank himself to death while being highly functional.

My grand pappy who was a Captain in the infantry (France and then Battle of Bulge) drank about a 5th of Cutty Sark per day from 1945- 65. He only made it to 1980 but was an extremely successful bidness man and a mover and shaker on the local level in GOP politics. Seems like the booze as treatment for PTSD was pretty prevalent in those days.

priapism

I've seen this doc multiple times. I've watched probably close to 10,000 docs by now at fast speeds.
US said Chinese deaths were over a million from the Korean War.
China says 180,000 Chinese deaths.
US seems to like to advertise the highest estimations of their achieved bodycounts in all wars.

priapism

This, IMO, is the best American Experience doc, by far.
The Donner Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTX49YHkn04

#shortcuts

Soundtrack is Dark Spanish Symphony.

Sledog

I read the book "Breakout" about 18 years ago. Lots of individual soldiers stories in it. Those stories are stuff of Marine Corps legend. Read it and you'll understand why they don't talk about it much and drink a lot! Highly recommend it.