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The Marines of Autumn
by James Brady
Korea's coldest fight finally done justice
James Brady, the Parade Magazine writer and columnist, draws from his experience as a Marine in the Korean War and the story of those with whom he served to bring this riveting tale of survival in the frozen mountains of North Korea.
It's November 1950 and the U.S.-led United Nations force commanded by General Douglas MacArthur has pushed the North Korean army back to the Taebek Mountains with the goal of crushing the enemy at China's border on the Yalu river and having "the boys" home by Christmas. However, ego and greater ambitions have blinded MacArthur and his chief of intelligence, General Ned Almond, to the possibility of Chinese intervention and he dangerously divides his force with the Army's Eighth Corps on the west of the Taebek range and the X Corps to the east. The Marines, attached to X Corps in the drive north, have their doubts about the Army's insistence China won't get involved and call Captain Thomas Verity back to active duty.
Verity, an assistant professor of Chinese culture at Georgetown University, recently widowed and a single father of three-year-old Kate, speaks half-a-dozen Chinese dialects fluently. His father was a businessman working in China, where Tom was born and spent the first 15 years of his life. When the U.S. entered WWII, Tom dropped out of Yale a few semesters shy of graduating to enlist in the Marines and fought as an infantryman in the steamy jungles of Guadalcanal. After passing Officer Candidate School, Verity commanded a platoon as a lieutenant on Okinawa. With WWII over, Verity went back to China to intervene between Chang Kai-Shek's national army and Mao Tse Tseung's Communist revolution.
Back at home, Verity is recalled from the reserves and reluctantly agrees to go to Korea for a month to listen to the radio for Chinese military activity. With the help of the career-minded Gunnery Sgt. Tate as communications specialist and the rascally Pvt. "Mouse" Izzo as driver, Verity links with the 1st Marine Division at the port city of Hamnung, North Korea and joins the Marines on the march north to the Chosin Reservoir. Along the way, the Marines' fears of Chinese intervention are confirmed as Verity reports hearing military activity on the radio. As the Marines soon discover, MacArthur's bold drive to the Chinese border went right into the Chinese army's trap. Twelve Chinese divisions smashed through the Eighth Corps and surrounded the Marines' three regiments on a single, narrow road that wound through snow-covered mountains.on
Verity, Tate and Izzo find themselves caught in the middle of battle and have to fight alongside the Marines to get back to the safety of the sea at Hamnung.on
James Brady goes all out in chronicling the Marines' infamous march back to the sea. The research was meticulous in depicting the chain of events, the frigid conditions the Marines lived in, the intensity of the combat, and the diverse personalities of the Marine leaders from the scholarly General Oliver P. Smith, who commanded the First Marine Division, to the colorful Brig. General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, who led the First Marine Regiment, and like his other work of fiction on Marines in Korea, 2003's The Marine, Brady doesn't pull any punches in attacking MacArthur's ego-based decisions. Then again, MacArthur was never really popular among Marines.on
Brady, who led a Marine platoon in the Korean War, speaks from experience about combat: the underlying fear of death and maiming, and the amazing ability to keep fighting under duress. He also admits he drew Verity's character from his real-life company commander, former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense the late John Chafee.on
The Marines of Autumn is a lasting tribute to the Marines of the Korean War and, specifically, the Chosin Reservoir campaign. It ranks as one of the finest books on the Korean War tht I have ever read and is an absolute must read for any military history enthusiast.
Title: The Marines of Autumn
Author: James Brady
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0312262000
Review written by: John Neal
Reviewer's Rating:9.5
Reader's Rating: 4.00
Reader's Votes: 2
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