Sleep At The Frozen Chosin? Yes, One Eye Open And One Ear Up

We could not sleep when the Frozen Chosin snow

white battles began, each night, in North Korea.

After a day's fight attacking the frozen heights

We chipped out foxholes for the coming nights 

Then we saddled down on the frozen ground,

Straining not to make a "here we are" sound,

We lay our weary brains on our frozen rubber boots,

Awaiting the ChiCom nightly concert of tinny toots.

Hugging our 30 below cold 30 cal. guns ...no oil dry,

Lest they freeze, as we waited, one ear up, one open eye.

Half in, half out of our half sleep cold-weather bags,

We cuddled our C-Rat cans, ammo clips, and mags.

Gunny would say, "Look Hard and Listen Loud 

We are Marines and we're Marine Corps proud".

So another sleepless night the fights would rage

Till the dawn's air support drove them off the stage.

At sunup we half slept carrying casualties down hill

Then ferried supplies back up half sleeping still.

Yes, we slept, working, looking, and even talking.

The last few miles out of Chosin, I slept walking,

after much of the firing had stopped, but remembered

nothing of events or time it took. Yet no one noticed.

I must have been doing my job whether asleep or just 

blacked out, I do not know.  Rayburn Blair USMC