We all fanned out facing the Chinese trenches with the Bofors rounds coming right over our heads. We were so close we could feet the heat from the explosions. The Lieutenant and I were at centre with the one section to the right, one to the left, and one behind, all laying on our bellies facing up the hill. The Lieutenant called out to radio "switch targets" and immediately everything lit up as five rounds landed right on us. One of the operators radioed stop the Bofors! Too late, another five rounds landed and killed both radiomen and almost everyone on the right section. The younger operator took a hit right through his radio and his screams were awful.

A soldier in front of me that I remember only as "Izzy" stood straight up and said he wanted a cigarette, saying he couldn't see anything. I had to grab him and hold him down and try to sweet-talk him out of standing up. Finally, we got everyone calmed down and organized for defence from an attack from above but thank God those Chinese must have been so far down in their bunkers that they didn't know we were there.

After several minutes and some hasty head counts we decided that we had to get off that mountain. Everyone that wasn't badly wounded had to carry either a body or a wounded man down off the hill. I half carried and half-dragged Izzy all the way back to our hill and all the way we talked and I told him to just hang on. He kept saying over and over that he couldn't see but he wanted a smoke. One of our corporals was a big tall guy, I can't remember his name, might have been Collins, took up the tail end of our group, sure that the Chinese would be on us at any minute. He carried most of the weapons left by the dead and wounded. Somehow we got across to our lines with everyone, both dead and alive. All accounted for and all our weapons safe.

Those of us who were all right returned to our bunkers in shock. Someone told me that Izzy had died just after we got him back. It haunts me some because I don't recognize his name on the list of dead from that action. The problem is that I don't know his surname, I just know that he was well liked by everyone. Did I mention that Izzy was black? He was from Nova Scotia and I often wonder how they broke it to his parents. I am real sorry to say that Corporal Schwenneker made it to Pusan as he knew he would.

We sat around for about an hour drinking coffee. We were told that our other platoons were listening on the radios when we were hit and some got their weapons and went after those gunners. I still don't know if they forgot to increase their range when they switched targets or is it possible we were laying right on "Betty target". Anyway, they moved out of there before there was any trouble.

While sitting there with our coffee someone asked my why I was rubbing the back of my right leg. I said I must have been hit by a clump of dirt, as there was a big swelling about half way between my buttock and my knee. After dropping my pants I found there was a little break in the skin in the centre of the lump and right there I figured I better go to the regimental aid post. A medic looked at it and put me into an ambulance. At the first field casualty clearing station another medic put me into another ambulance. Same thing happened at the rear field casualty clearing station and I was on my way to Normash, Norwegian Mobile Surgical Hospital. After waiting there four or five hours and watching U.S. helicopter and ambulances bringing in lots of wounded American soldiers, they took me into surgery and removed a piece of shrapnel and the next thing I was on an ambulance plane to Japan.

One thing I didn't mention was when I went to our regimental aid post, the Colonel was waiting to talk to me. "What happened out there Sergeant?" he said. "The Bofors landed ten rounds on us, sir" I said. His face dropped and he said, "That's not what happened. You must be in shock. It was Chinese electrically operated mines." I said, "We know what it was and furthermore, when we called 'Stop the Bofors', the last five rounds were on the way but immediately the gun stopped firing." He nearly turned purple and said, "Don't you ever say that" and stomped away.

In Japan, it was an eerie feeling to be back in civilization and hardly even thinking about our poor dead buddies. It seemed like a completely different world to be laying in sparkling clean sheets knowing the rest of our guys were still in the line, the lucky ones that is.

As I was wheeled into the ward, guess who was the first of our guys to greet me? Dockendorff! He was just being discharged. I still had his jump boots and guess what? He wanted them! That meant that when I got out it would be back to the old black boots and puttees - if I could find any!

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