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Ray Anderson

I have a picture of Outpost Harry that I've captioned, "The long climb to death's doorstep". My Greek counter parts called it "Death Place".  

I was on the Outpost every day except for one from June 11-18th. Lost most of our squad and two platoon leaders.

I recall the morning of June 11th. like it was like yesterday. We arrived at that jumping off point to make our way to Harry. There was shooting going on all around and there was this one soldier in a shallow trench just shaking and crying. I guess it was just battle fatigue. 

We were ordered to fix bayonets and told we were going to have go up and chase the Chinese off the Outpost. That order was changed as we had to pile into an armored personnel carrier for our run up to Harry. It carried us right to the supply bunker. 

From that point we jumped into the trench line and made our way up to the top of Harry. The scene was just grotesque. The dead were everywhere and in every imaginable condition. No heads, parts of  heads, parts of bodies. Being thrust into that situation is like being hit in the head with a sledge hammer. You can't describe the carnage to someone unless they have witnessed it. 

Just as we got to the top of Harry, The Chinese put down this horrible artillery & rocket barrage. I was certain I wasn't going to make it. But God was on my side as I prayed for survival. 

I was just fortunate that I didn't have to stay up there at night. It was bad enough during the day.

The  photo at right is of me with a captured Chinese burp gun. The burp gun was in excellent condition and I was going to bring it home with 
me but couldn't figure out a way to get it past inspections. So I just ended up giving it away. 

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©Copyright 2002, Ray Anderson.  All rights reserved
Photo ©Copyright 2002, Freeman Bradford.  All rights reserved