WEBVTT - Carl Sitter: When Faith Led the Fight 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey everyone, We've put together a survey for listeners of 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:06.760 Medal of Honor and we want to hear from you. 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.240 Tell us what you love about the show, what we 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.760 can improve on, or stories you think we've missed. We're 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.840 committed to making this show even better and you can 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.960 help to take the survey. Visit bit dot lee slash 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:27.320 MH survey. That's bit dot l y slash mh survey. 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:41.479 The link is also in our show notes below. Pushkin. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.960 A deadly winter storm whipped across the Jagged Hill in 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:55.960 North Korea. It was the last day of November nineteen 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:00.400 fifty and it was more than twenty degrees below zero. 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.839 The Marines of Company G tried to find a foothold 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:09.640 on the hill. It was pure ice. They kicked their 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.919 frozen guns, hoping to get them to work. They tried 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.720 to carve fox holes in the rock hard ground. They 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.319 searched for some way to shelter from what was coming, 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.720 and they had to do it fast. They heard the 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.960 sound of bugles and whistles. The Marines knew what that meant. 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.920 They were about to face an onslaught of enemy soldiers, 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:42.720 and they were totally and completely outnumbered. UN forces had 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.360 been trying to hold this ground for days. Many had 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:50.920 already been wounded or killed, and some had snuck off 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.920 the hill. They knew certain death when they saw it, 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.840 but not the men of Company g There was something 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:04.880 that kept them going. It sure wasn't food. Their cans 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:10.920 or rations were frozen solid. It wasn't adrenaline either. It 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:16.720 was their captain, Carl Sitter. He moved from one position 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.640 to the other. He checked their guns, but mostly he 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.000 talked to them. He told them they could do it, 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.040 They could fight off the enemy. They could survive and 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:35.160 hold that heel. Secretly in his heart, Carl believed that 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:39.280 he might not survive. In fact, he was pretty sure 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:44.280 he would never make it home, but he had faith 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:55.000 that his men would. I'm j R. Martinez and this 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.400 is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.840 Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States, 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:07.520 awarded for gallantry and bravery and combat at the risk 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:11.280 of life, above and beyond the call of duty. Each 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.040 candidate must be approved all the way up the chain 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.600 of command, from the supervisory officer in the field to 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.799 the White House. This show was about those heroes, what 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.720 they did, what it meant and what their stories tell 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:31.040 us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Carl Sitter 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:36.120 wasn't your typical marine. He wasn't an amazing physical specimen, 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.960 all muscle and rawn. He was kind of pudgy, round 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:46.280 faced and kind. But he had a superpower, a talent 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:50.360 for taking care of his men, shepherding them through the 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:55.960 worst days of their lives, inspiring them. They knew for 0:03:56.120 --> 0:04:00.200 sure he would never leave them behind. And that's the 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.920 crazy thing. Carl wasn't really supposed to be there. His 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:09.640 story of leadership is filled with crazy good luck and 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:14.560 crazy bad luck. His story is about fate and faith, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:20.200 the kind of faith that can keep you alive against 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:40.320 impossible odds. When Carl Sitter got to Korea in nineteen fifty, 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.920 he wasn't supposed to be leading any marines at all. 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.800 He was supposed to be a Special Services officer. And 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.440 if you don't know what that is, it's the officer 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:56.160 in charge of equipment. And Carl's case, that equipment wasn't 0:04:56.240 --> 0:05:03.599 guns or ammo. It was basketball's football and jockstraps. Not 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.680 exactly the job he'd wanted. Carl was only twenty seven, 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.800 but he was pretty out of shape, so out of 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.240 shape that his superiors had him in a desk job. 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:20.360 But Carl wanted to be on the front lines, so 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.960 he pushed and pushed. But Special Services was the most 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:30.200 the Brass would give him. It was a demotion. Still, 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.280 Carl didn't complain. It was a job in the war, 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:40.200 and he took it for a second because right after 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.120 he got to the base in Japan with all that equipment, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:50.440 a typhoon blew it into the water, all of it gone, 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:55.479 and that's how his career in Special Services ended. The 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.919 Brass had no choice but to give him the job 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.599 he'd wanted in the first place, on the front lines, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:07.520 so he was given command of Company G. When his 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.480 Marines looked at him, they couldn't quite believe this dumpy 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.039 guy was going to be their leader. He didn't have 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.000 a six pack, but he had something that a lot 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:22.440 of other guys didn't experience. He had enlisted when he 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.279 was just seventeen years old, right out of high school. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.160 He served in World War II, rising quickly through the ranks, 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.080 and by the time the Marines landed in Guam in 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:38.520 nineteen forty four, he was a lieutenant and had received 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:43.719 the first of what would be four purple hearts. But 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.560 he also picked up a habit wearing his pistol holstered 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:53.960 over his heart. Here's why. During one battle he felt 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.400 the slam of a bullet into the left side of 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:02.120 his chest. He thought, this is it. I'm going to die. 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:07.160 But wait a minute. He was definitely alive. So he 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.600 touched his chest and he felt warm blood. But he 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:16.320 also felt the cold steel of his pistol. It had 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:20.120 stopped the bullet. He would wear the pistol there for 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:25.360 the rest of his combat career. By the time the 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.240 war was over, Carl had a Silver Star and a 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:34.480 life in the core. Sure, maybe he'd gotten a little 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.840 soft since World War Two, but that didn't mean he 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.480 wasn't keen to fight in the next conflict, Korea. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.760 On Sunday, June twenty fifth, communist forces attacked the Republic 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:48.320 of Korea. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:50.560 That's President Harry Truman. 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.320 We know that the cost of freedom is high, but 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.960 we are determined to preserve our freedom no matter what 0:07:58.040 --> 0:07:58.600 the calls. 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:04.119 At first, it looked like the United Nations forces would 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:08.040 make quick work of this new war. General Douglas MacArthur 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.600 led them into South Korea, and they easily drove the 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.720 North Koreans back above the thirty eighth parallel, but then 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:20.680 MacArthur decided they should try for a second victory, this 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:25.400 time in the north. By the winter of nineteen fifty, 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.720 UN troops had landed in North Korea and were moving inland. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.600 They went up treacherous mountain passes and straight into a trap. 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:41.520 They didn't know that around four hundred thousand Chinese troops 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:46.000 had secretly crossed the Manchurian border to aid the North Koreans. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:51.640 Some were battle hardened veterans, and most were so called 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:56.320 volunteers who had been forced into combat. They didn't have 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.200 enough weapons, they were fed very little, but there were 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:04.040 so many more of them, and on the night of 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:10.320 November twenty seventh they attacked. Chinese soldiers surrounded the group 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.079 of Marines who had gotten the farthest into the mountains, 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:19.120 and the Americans realized they were outnumbered by the thousands. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:24.880 General MacArthur ordered a hasty withdrawal, but then those withdrawing 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:30.680 troops got trapped. They were miles inland near the Chosen 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:35.080 or chang Jin reservoir. There was only one road out, 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:40.000 and the Chinese forces captured it. They were hopelessly stuck. 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.640 Reporters were there to witness the mayhem. 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.920 Here, thousands of Marines and other United Nations forces are 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.120 trapped by overwhelming masses of Chinese Reds who encircle them 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:52.480 near the chung Jin Reservoir. 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.280 Carl and Company G were in North Korea, but far 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:02.400 from the fighting that didn't last. Stephen Olmsted was a 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:04.800 young Marine private in Carl's company. 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.760 Then we got the word, you guys are going to 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:10.800 join up with your parent thet time. 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.440 They were going to bring ammunition, food, and supplies to 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.480 the trap Marines. 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:22.560 The people up around the reservoir desperately needed reinforcements, particularly 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:23.760 some more tanks. 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.319 Most of the troops were near the UN force's last 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:35.600 best foothold, a town called hagaroo Re. It had makeshift 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:40.520 hospital facilities and to have constructed airstrip. It was their 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:46.559 only hope to unite the separated groups of Marines. Hagaroo 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:52.679 Re had to be held at all costs. Carl's men 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.560 would have to fight their way there up the main 0:10:55.679 --> 0:11:00.840 supply route, that dangerous mountain road. Then they would clear 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.480 the path for all the UN troops to retreat to 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:09.320 the port and get out of North Korea and they 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:24.000 would be outnumbered ten to one. There's something important you 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.800 need to know about the Battle of the Chosen Reservoir. 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.360 It wasn't just the enemy that was deadly, it was 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:36.040 the weather. It was the coldest Korean winter in one 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:42.200 hundred years. Raymond Davis was there, like Carl. He was 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:43.920 commanding a group of marines. 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.199 The snow cames of Tempture dropped to forty below zero 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.880 into the mountains. My Weather Service said that wind chill 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.040 was something like seventy below zero. 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.959 Weapons froze, shut truck batteries. 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:04.280 Died, faces covered with the ice. The radios wouldn't work. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:09.199 They were frozen food, frozen water, frozen terrible conditions. 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.640 And the men didn't have the right gear. After all, 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.960 everyone including leadership, had been sure they'd be home by Christmas. 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:24.280 Their coats were thin. On their feet, they wore something 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:29.040 called shoe packs. They weren't winter boots, just rubber soles 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.800 and a leather top. They made your feet sweat when 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:37.199 you marched and freeze when you stopped. Tons of men 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:38.960 got frostbite. 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:43.760 Anytime I find a marine down, get him on his feet, 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:45.199 because he'd freeze to death. 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.960 And now Carl and his men were going deeper into 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:58.240 the mountains. Carl's company had joined forces with Colonel Douglas 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:03.080 Drysdale of the British Royal Marines. On November twenty ninth, 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.839 they all set out for the un camp at Hagaroo Re. 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:12.040 Here's Stephen Olmsted again that private in Carl's company. 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.559 We boarded trucks and there was kind of like an 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:20.200 old Western movie going through what is later called Hellfire Alley. 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.880 Hell Fire Alley is right on one side of the road. 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:29.320 There were steep drop offs going down thousands of feet. 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:34.000 On the other side, Chinese fighters held the high ground. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.920 They turned that mountain road into a shooting gallery. 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.240 We're going to jump out and gauge them, drive them away, 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.319 and go and do it all over again. 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.880 Carl was focused and calm as they made their way 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:54.600 towards Hagaroo Re. At one point they came under intense fire. 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.200 The Chinese had set up a road block up ahead 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:03.480 and company g sitting ducks. Unless they got out and 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:10.400 cleared it, their trucks would explode where they stood. Now 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.840 we don't have access to recordings of Carl, but he 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:19.840 was interviewed many times during his life. Our editor and 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.800 good friend of the podcast, Ben Nadaf Hoffrey, is going 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.440 to read his words here. This is what Carl told 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.400 leather Neck Magazine in nineteen eighty six. 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.600 I yelled for everybody to get off the trucks, and 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.640 it seemed like anybody close to me was getting shot, 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.280 like I was protected by an invisible shield, and I 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:40.000 wasn't being hit. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.600 Carl didn't have time to marvel at his survival. As 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.040 the bullets rained down. He raced to the front of 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.560 the convoy. He had to check in with Drysdell, but 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.280 when he got there, he discovered that Drysdell had been shot. 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.320 He could no longer lead the group. Command to Carl, 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.600 in case all of this action has wiped your memory, 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:09.920 let me remind you Carl wasn't even supposed to be 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.720 on the front lines, and he certainly wasn't supposed to 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.800 be leading this group of men on this deadly mission. 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.000 But he didn't question it. He had a sense that 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:27.320 if he was there, it was for a reason. By 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:31.280 this point it was night. The surviving Marines cleared the 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.800 roadblock and jumped back in the trucks. They rattled forward 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.440 through the dark, unsure of how far they had come 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.320 and how much further they had to go. Tracers and 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:48.960 explosions lit up the night as they inched towards Hagaroui. 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.800 Then they saw the distant lights of the marine encampment. 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:59.560 Carl breathed a sigh of relief. There were tents on 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.880 the side of the road. They had to be Americans. 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:09.040 They weren't. Chinese fighters jumped out of the tents and 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.720 the Marines were right back in the battle. Three of 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.160 the trucks went over the side of the road on fire, 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.840 lost for good, and the rest of the convoy hit 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.680 the gas and made it out of the ambush, and 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:30.120 at nine pm they finally reached Hagaruri. The twelve mile 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:37.440 journey had taken twelve hours. Of the nine hundred men 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.520 who started out that morning, one hundred and sixty nine 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.960 were killed, one hundred and fifty nine were wounded, and 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:51.760 three hundred and twenty one were missing or captured. That 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.240 left them with less than a third of their fighting force. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.760 Once they got to camp, Carl told his men to 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.520 get some rest. They would have to sleep on the 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:04.280 frozen ground. 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.560 Half the people didn't have sleeping bags. I didn't have one. 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:09.560 I gave mine up. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.640 When they woke up the next morning, they were covered 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:14.320 in snow. 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.520 You could see all these holes where people had melted 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:19.280 through the snow while they slept. 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:24.840 They were freezing and exhausted. But if the un troops 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.280 ever wanted to leave the chosen reservoir, Carl and his 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.359 marines would have to fight again. They had to take 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:39.639 East Hill. East Hill rose about five hundred meters above 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:44.080 the valley floor. It was the high ground. Whoever controlled 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:51.280 East Hill controlled that one road in and out of Hagarui. Plus, 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.800 if the Chinese took East Hill, the Marines would never 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.720 be able to finish the airfield. That means they would 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.560 never get more supplies. They wouldn't be able to bring 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:05.359 out their wounded, and they're dead. 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:11.320 If we had not controlled it, physically controlled it. First 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.080 Marine division in all likelihood put him in annihilated. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.920 Carl would be going to relieve Major Reginald Myers. Myers 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.600 had been fighting on East Hill for two days. He 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:28.679 and his men were just barely hanging on. Myers needed 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:36.040 help badly. Here's what interests me as a leader. Myers 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.560 was the opposite of Carl Sitter, a tough marine with 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:44.240 an old school way of leading his men. If he 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.240 felt they weren't moving fast enough, he'd just well, I'll 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.560 let him tell you. You kick them and you shot 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:52.040 at them. 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.240 Rather you pulled your pistol out and you fired the 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:57.880 sh in the air and did everything. 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.000 You could to get him removed. Basically, you treated your 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.240 men like cattle, which is how a lot of guys 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:10.359 treated soldiers. But let's be honest, that didn't always work. 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.840 A lot of Meers' men had gotten off the hill 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:18.320 as quickly as they could. They took wounded soldiers down 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.320 to the aid station and somehow never managed to go 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:27.760 back up, And now Myers was down to just seventy 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:32.520 five men. So on the morning of the thirtieth Carl 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:37.359 and his marine started up that icy hill, slipping and crawling, 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.439 passing the bodies of fallen soldiers as they made their 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:46.280 way higher. The Chinese machine guns kicked up dirt and 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:51.320 shards of ice around them, but finally they got to 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:55.399 the top, they began to dig in. They tried to 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.040 carve out fox holes in the ice, but their tools 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:03.119 snapped like machsticks. They knew the counter attack was coming, 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:09.879 and at ten thirty that night it did a Chinese 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.800 illumination grenade went off, and the sky turned to a 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.400 sickly green, and the dim light, the Marines could see 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.520 the hill below them. There were so many men climbing 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:27.119 up it looked like the ground was moving. The sound 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:31.040 of their bugles and whistles cut through the icy air. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.680 Carl told the Richmond Times Dispatch in nineteen ninety three 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.840 that it was the scariest sound in the world. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.280 If you're not afraid, you're stupid. I think everybody was afraid. 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.520 Carl's men looked up at him with hopelessness. They were 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:53.760 so outnumbered, but Carl knew what his job was, not 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:58.720 to force them like myers, not even just lead them, 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.800 but to motivate by understanding what they were going through. 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.639 Those people were depending on me, and when they depend 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.680 on you, you have to live up to their expectations. 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.160 And soon enough the enemy soldiers were right on top 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:15.000 of them. 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.760 It was hand to hand grenades that night. You're all 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.879 hepped up and the bugles screaming and people screaming. It 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:23.800 seemed to me they kept coming and coming. 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.600 It was a free for all, everyone shooting at close range, 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.280 and when the bullets ran out, they hit each other. 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:37.199 With helmets, stabbed them with bayonets. Carl was hid in 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.560 the face and chest by grenade fragments, but he kept 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.560 shooting back with that pistol he kept holstered on his heart. 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:49.280 The blood froze on his wounds, but against those crazy odds, 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:56.000 Carl's men held the lie. They held that hill all night. 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.320 Once the sun came up, Carl had a view across 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:10.320 the valley and what he saw was awful bodies everywhere 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:15.439 and about a thousand more Chinese troops forming up to 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.960 get back into the hills. He knew they would return 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.439 that night, and he knew he didn't have enough men. 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:24.680 To take them. 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:28.960 So he had a crazy idea. He called down to 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.600 the bottom of the hill and asked for any able 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:37.159 body man to be sent up east hill. Cooks and 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:42.320 supply people and engineers answered the call. This ragtag crew 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.200 made their way up to join Carl and his marines. 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.280 Carl was already an improbable leader, and now he was 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:54.480 leading men who weren't even supposed to be fighting. But 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:59.959 if anyone could inspire them, it was Carl. In nine 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:04.040 nine nine, he told a Richmond Times Dispatch reporter that 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:07.760 he had total faith in those men, even if he 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:09.520 wasn't sure he would survive. 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:11.879 I had no doubt we were going to get out 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:14.600 of there, but I didn't know if I personally would 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:15.000 make it. 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:20.879 As darkness descended again, the enemy returned in full force, 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:26.560 just as Carl had feared. The hill was rocked with 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:31.880 mortar fire. The Chinese soldiers attacked, and group after group, 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:39.240 their numbers seemed endless. All through that long night, Carl 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:44.639 exposed himself to fire again and again, just so he 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:48.359 could take care of his guys. He went from foxhole 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:53.760 to foxhole, adjusting machine guns, telling his men to stay 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:59.560 strong and hang on. Once again, he was wounded, hit 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:04.679 with an in the face, chest and arms, but he 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:09.280 would not leave. All of his other officers had been hit, 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:15.479 or evacuated or killed. He felt it was his duty 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:16.919 to stay. 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:19.879 They knew that I wouldn't leave them, and when they 0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:22.480 believe in you, then things can get done that maybe 0:24:22.560 --> 0:24:25.960 under normal conditions would never get done. But these were 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:29.920 abnormal conditions, and people had faith in themselves and their 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.159 units in the core, That's what all boils down to. 0:24:34.840 --> 0:24:39.600 And then just before dawn, the attack slowed. As the 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:46.200 sun rose, it was quiet. They were alive. Carl Sitter 0:24:46.240 --> 0:24:49.480 had led his team of supply guys, Cook and Maarines 0:24:49.920 --> 0:24:54.239 through the darkest night. He had believed in them, and 0:24:54.280 --> 0:25:14.160 so they had believed in themselves. Carl and his marines 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:17.679 would spend one more night on East Hill, but the 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:23.600 attacks wane. Soon the airport at hagaroo Ree was open. 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:31.960 Reinforcements and supplies were finally on their way. Carl had survived. 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:35.640 Only ninety six of his men walked off that hill 0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:39.840 with him. He took no personal credit for the victory. 0:25:41.119 --> 0:25:45.760 Maybe he thought this is why he had that invisible 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:50.719 shield around him on the road to Hagaroori, this is 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:55.199 why God had saved him when so many others had fallen. 0:25:56.800 --> 0:26:01.600 Carl's grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. Religious faith was core 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:05.720 to the family, and I think that faith helped Carl 0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:08.760 feel like he could do what he needed to do. 0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:15.159 The UN forces fought their way back down those mountain 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:19.000 passes towards the port. The men must have all been 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:24.400 shell shocked by that point, exhausted, but Carl's leadership didn't waiver. 0:26:25.640 --> 0:26:28.400 He made sure that his men knew that they mattered 0:26:29.240 --> 0:26:34.240 and that he would not leave a single person behind. 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:37.200 Stephen Olmsted remembers it well. 0:26:38.359 --> 0:26:42.119 I felt that if I were a hit, killed, or 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:46.160 badly wounded, my fellow marines, the guys on my right 0:26:46.200 --> 0:26:48.960 on my left would get beyond the hill and take 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:51.240 care of my body, And that meant a lot. 0:26:53.680 --> 0:26:57.600 On December eleventh, the last American forces reached the port 0:26:57.600 --> 0:27:00.960 of hung Na, where ships were waiting to take them home. 0:27:02.000 --> 0:27:07.439 Company G was decimated, badly shattered, men and men frostpitten 0:27:07.480 --> 0:27:11.400 beyond belief in the terrible cold, are put aboard platons 0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:12.560 for a safe harbor. 0:27:13.840 --> 0:27:18.679 Carl had survived, but the battle had changed him. It 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:23.480 had shown him how fleeting life was, how fragile we are. 0:27:25.280 --> 0:27:28.280 There was something else that struck him that all the 0:27:28.359 --> 0:27:32.280 men noticed. As bad as it had been for the Americans, 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:37.120 the Chinese soldiers had it even worse. They had been 0:27:37.280 --> 0:27:41.520 cannon fodder. It seemed like no one in their leadership 0:27:41.600 --> 0:27:45.679 expected them to survive. Here's Raymond Davis again. 0:27:46.359 --> 0:27:50.359 They didn't have our children, didn't have air. We found 0:27:50.400 --> 0:27:54.640 whole Chinese units frozen to death, tennis shoes and no shocks. 0:27:55.920 --> 0:27:59.960 Carl's heart went out to those enemy fighters, even after 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:04.639 after what he had faced. He felt sympathy and respect 0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:12.480 for them. He saw their humanity. Carl eventually returned to 0:28:12.520 --> 0:28:16.200 the States. He got promoted again, and then he got 0:28:16.200 --> 0:28:20.520 the call to go to his commanding general's office. He 0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:23.760 was going to be awarded the Medal of Honor by 0:28:23.840 --> 0:28:28.960 President Truman. Carl and Reginald Myers, the major who had 0:28:29.080 --> 0:28:32.720 started the battle on East Hill, both received the medal 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:36.040 at the White House. Reporters were there to film it. 0:28:36.760 --> 0:28:40.080 Two marine officers received from the President's hands the nation's 0:28:40.120 --> 0:28:44.320 highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Major Reginald Myers 0:28:44.360 --> 0:28:47.440 is joined in the occasion by his family. Both he 0:28:47.520 --> 0:28:50.680 and Major Carl Sitter were cited for their heroic conduct 0:28:50.720 --> 0:28:53.480 during the disastrous retreat from the chung Jin Reservoir a 0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:55.760 year ago in Korea. 0:28:55.840 --> 0:28:59.680 But Carl didn't believe he did anything particularly special. 0:28:59.720 --> 0:29:03.320 Or I had the easy job, because as commanding officer, 0:29:03.400 --> 0:29:05.840 you're worried about the troops and hoping your past training 0:29:05.880 --> 0:29:07.800 and everything will give you the knowledge to go ahead 0:29:07.840 --> 0:29:10.120 and do the right thing, and you hope the mission 0:29:10.160 --> 0:29:14.080 will be completed. The hardest position was some private down 0:29:14.080 --> 0:29:16.520 there in a hole, and the only thing he knows 0:29:16.600 --> 0:29:20.600 is someone's coming. 0:29:21.920 --> 0:29:24.400 Carl stayed in the Marine Corps for a total of 0:29:24.640 --> 0:29:29.760 thirty years. He had a full life, a family, two 0:29:29.840 --> 0:29:34.080 boys and a girl, and after he retired from the service, 0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:38.959 he and his wife Ruth settled in Richmond, Virginia. Carl 0:29:39.040 --> 0:29:43.840