"At the time I enlisted in the Marine Corps, we were known as the ‘Old Breed.’ As survivors of the Chosin we are known as the ‘Cold Breed.’ Compared to Tarawa, Chosin was worse because we had the weather to contend with, plus the fact that we were not invading an island, but were on the defensive–completely surrounded by six Chinese Communist divisions. That fact alone, I believe, puts Chosin in a class all by itself.
We all have our memories of buddies killed, of the hordes of Chinese assaulting our frozen lines and the long, dangerous walk out, but I truly believe the uppermost thought in our minds, when we think of that campaign, is the cold!
The water in our canteens froze. We had to work the operating handles on the breechblocks of our M-1 rifles every now and then so they wouldn’t freeze shut. Beads of ice formed in our beards and in our nostrils, and some of the men had to get the corpsmen to chip the ice out of their noses.
In 1965, I visited Lt. Gen. Lewis B. ‘Chesty’ Puller at his home in Virginia, and the first thing he said to me as we shook hands was, ‘Have you thawed out yet, Sarge?’ After 15 years, the first thing he mentioned was the cold.
I recall seeing a Marine captain, blinded in one eye, one leg in shreds, supporting himself with a mortar aiming stake, as he led his men. I also remember a young Marine who had been hit in the face with shrapnel. As the corpsman was giving him first aid, a Chinese machine gun opened up, and the snow and dirt flew all around the two of them. That wounded Marine just shook his fist at the hillside and yelled: ‘**** it! If you’re going to kill me, then kill me, but stop trying to scare me to death!’ If you go through something like that with men like that, you develop strong bonds. They are the finest people I know." Ssgt. Lee K. Bergee, E. Co. 2nd BN, 1st Marines (WW2, Korea) #stayzero