A Hillarious Uproar Of Laughter In The Middle Of Battle

Common Sense Commentary:

It was mid-December 1950, on a high, mountainous, gravel road in North Korea, near the Chinese border. The windy -30 to -40 below zero temperature knew nothing of wind-chill factors, in those days. We, the First Marine Division, went into the Battle Of Chosin Reservoir two weeks earlier with 12,000 men and came out with 3000 dead, 6000 wounded and about 3000 able-bodied, but worn out, frost bitten, hungry Marines. Historians say we left approximately 30,000 dead Chinese soldiers behind us. With that, I have set the stage for a very interesting conversation, that day, which resulted in a hilarious outburst of laughter from that bunch of Marines. We had heard laughter up ahead and were amazed and curious as to what on earth could make our brothers in arms laugh in the midst of what military historians have said was one of the most ferrous battles in history. As we moved forward, we passed a wounded Marine, on a stretcher, who shouted to everyone within hearing, "Hey, guess what happened over there where you see that smoking pile of stuff. Some of our guys were so cold they went into a straw hut, sat down and set it on fire." ..... Another Marine shouted, "They did what?" A third Marine shouted, "Did they burn up in there?" The wounded Marine answers, "No, but the last two out had to be extinguished with snow." A hilarious uproar of laughter went up from that dirty, frozen, hungry, suffering and surrounded bunch of Marines.

War has such rare moments of knowing laughter. I love our fighting men and can never forget those I served with. RB