The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

by Tom Clavin and Bob Drury

Book Overview

November 1950, the Korean Peninsula: After General MacArthur ignores Mao s warnings and pushes his UN forces deep into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge that will need to be held open at all costs. The mission is handed to Captain...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871139936
• ISBN13: 9780871139931
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The Most Famous Last Stand You've Never Heard Of

The Korean War is justly termed America's "Forgotten War", but even those who haven't forgotten may not remember or may never have heard of the events chronicled in this book. If you remember the First Marine Division's dramatic breakout of Chinese encirclement in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir, you are doing better than most, but this is the story of the little battle that made the bigger battle possible: the stubborn and heroic defense of a hill overlooking a narrow pass that kept the road open for the rest of the division to use in their breakout. Drury and Clavin have done an excellent job of putting you right there among the freezing marines of Fox Company, aided by the memories and written accounts of those who survived. It would make a Hell of a movie,... if Hollywood made these sorts of movies anymore. Defects? Not much that can fairly be laid to a prepublication copy: annoying typos and a lack of photos, presumably to be corrected upon publication, and more detailed maps would be nice. This is a gripping and very moving account of a forgotten battle that should no longer be forgotten. At least the Marines didn't forget; this is one of the four signature U.S. Marine Corp battles deemed worthy of recreating in their national museum.

Better than Fiction

What a book! An outstanding story of an often overlooked period in our history. The writing style feels like a novel. What these men went through seems almost unbelieveable even more so considering this happened just 50 years ago. Everyone should read this book and give thanks to those Korean War vets and our soldiers in the Middle East today. One wonders if our younger generation has any idea what these men did and the conditions they had to endure. This was real sacrifice and done without whining. Too many people today feel entitled to all sort of benefits because they believe themselves victims of some sort of injustice. Read this story and remember these men and the sacrifices they made, much like our soldiers overseas today. Thank you, Rob

A slow start but don't let that deter you (a history teacher's review)

Although I am a history teacher I have to admit that I am woefully under-informed on the Korean War - at least when compared to our other wars. Sadly, I am not alone in this fact - there's a reason why the Korean War is called "The Forgotten War". Drury and Clavin start off slowly, in part because there is no context as to why the soldiers are marching around in the subzero weather in northern Korea. However, once they explain the purpose of this particular campaign in the war as a whole and show the reader a few maps I got a lot more comfortable with how they were telling the story and appreciated it a lot more. This is not a fancy history - it is told from the ground level perspective of the the Marines on the hill and is full of tales of bodily fluids, men too young to actually join the Marines, frozen toes, poor equipment and a command structure that not only failed to realize the Chinese Army had entered the war, but failed to realize that a few thousand Marines were up against tens of thousands of those same Chinese soldiers. Recommended for those who enjoy a "Band of Brothers" type perspective on the war. This book is not a general history but I'd suggest it as a companion to any general history in order to get that gritty feel of the front line perspective - the point of view of the men who actually fought the war.

"Will You Look At Those Magnificent Bastards"

Wow! What a book, what a story, what incredible heroism, undaunted courage and grim will against all odds. This book tells the story of 246 U.S. Marines and Naval Corpsmen (medics) who fought and died for seven days on a God-forsaken frozen and icy hilltop in North Korea in November & December, 1950. Outnumbered literally 10-1 by the unforeseen involvement of several divisions of the Chinese Army, these brave men fought in inhuman conditions and, in the words of the authors, "dispatched more than three-quarters of the enemy [they] had faced". The authors do a very admirable job detailing not only the week-long battle on Fox Hill, but also the events leading up to that fateful week, the involvement of other units in the area, and the return of the survivors to the base camp at Hagaru-ri. The action is fast-paced and amazingly detailed. But included with the military history is a wonderful portrayal of the personal stories of many of these men - their lives before the war, as well as afterwards. These personal stories serve to make the men of Fox Company very real and very human to the reader, increasing the sense of awe and admiration for the "uncommon valor" that these "common men" displayed. As another reviewer stated, I, too, was left completely humbled by this story and these men. We as a nation should never, EVER forget the sacrifices that these men, and so many others like them, have made in our history. More than a military history of an incredible battle, this is the story of a brotherhood & compassion shared by men thrust into the most difficult and challenging of times. I highly recommend it.

Breathtaking

I read this book in two days. I would have managed it in one had I not started so late in the day, thanks to being near the end of the mail carrier's route. In a word, it is breathtaking, as compelling an account of small unit action as I've ever read. As an account of a heroic stand it ranks right up there with Charles B. MacDonald's "Company Commander" or Harold G. Moore's "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young." The soldiers who fought on Fox Hill are brought to life in the narrative and you find yourself identifying with them, rooting for them, hoping they will make it. The book is, however, not without deficiencies, albeit, most of them minor. One error is the famous M1 Garand being referred to as the "Garland" M1, a rather more festive but inaccurate name. Hopefully this and other minor errors of omission and comission will be corrected in the published version of the book. My uncorrected proof did not have any of the 16 pages of black and white photos, but it did have the 15 maps and these vary in quality. The second map, "Chosen Reservoir Campaign" is identical to the third map, "Toktong Pass and Fox Hill", the only difference being that the third map is cropped. This third map, which is supposed to illustrate the movements of Fox Company, does not do justice to the narrative. The authors mention as the company's objective, Toktong-san, a mountain, but this mountain appears nowhere on the map and I had to read a ways into the book to find out where the mountain was in relation to Fox Hill (north, south, east, or west). We are told that this area is a bottleneck but the map gives no clue as to the terrain (we know only that it is mountainous). Ironically, the authors comment on the inferior maps provided to the marines; perhaps they took this to heart and wished to make us feel like we are there. Another small gripe while I'm at it: We are also told that Toktong-san is "a southeastern spur of the ancient Taebaek mountain range", which makes you wonder just which mountain ranges the authors would consider not ancient. I'm probably not alone is not knowing of any new mountain ranges. The maps do improve; for example, the next map, "Fox Company's Defensive Perimeter" is actually pretty nice in that it shows us where individual marines mentioned in the narrative were, but it stubbornly refuses to give us a hint as to the terrain. In a general history, maps can be deficient in this way, but military history has higher standards. Armchair generals want to see what the terrain looked like. After all, how can you follow the decision-making of the men on the ground if you can't see the basis for their decisions? In a campaign in which terrain played so vital a part, you'd think the authors would want to at least give us a peek. "Fox Company's Re-Formed Perimeter" map finally gives us some contours but since the first perimeter map lacked these, you cannot easily flip back and forth to see exactly where the changes took place, and why. On the larger