HISTORY [CONTINUED FROM PAGE 61]
1st Class Isaac Baker. Three others were wounded.
Battle of Majori-ri Changnim-ni was the first of several important battles fought by the 2nd Ranger Infantry Company. On Jan. 14, 1951, the unit spearheaded an at- tack on the village of Majori-ri. The resulting firefight was vicious, but the Rangers managed to take part of the village and repulse an enemy coun- terattack. What was left of a Chinese battalion eventually left the village, with casualties numbering 100. But that wasn’t the end. An-
other American infantry company that had bypassed the village was ambushed by the parent regiment of the Chinese battalion while walking through a pass. The 2nd Rangers were ordered to attempt a breakthrough but ultimately were unsuccessful. Running low on am- munition and facing a counterat- tack, they withdrew under pressure, instructing the trapped company to withdraw through their covering fire. When it was over, eight Rang- ers had been killed. “The battalion we were attached to got clobbered,” says retired Army Lt. Col. Albert Cliette of Fayetteville, N.C. “It should have been one of those things that was expected. You don’t pursue an enemy through a known area where it’s perfect for an ambush. We lost several men, and both the company commander and one of our platoon leaders were wounded.” On March 23, members of the
2nd Ranger Company, attached to the 2nd Battalion, 187th Regimen- tal Combat Team (Airborne), made military history by being among the first African-Americans to make a parachute assault in combat — in Operation Tomahawk. The 2nd Rangers successfully engaged the enemy several times over the next
four days, with limited casualties, gaining control of Hill 151. “We got what every paratrooper
wants: a combat jump. And we took our objective,” says Dias of their battle for Hill 151. “That was one of my proudest moments.”
Fight for Hill 581 Next up was the battle for Hill 581, an engagement just as brutal as the battle for control of Majori-ri. The 2nd Rangers led the 32nd Regiment attack, ascending the hill under an artillery barrage designed to confuse the enemy. When the Chinese finally realized what was happening, a vi- cious firefight ensued. The Rangers took the hill and
prepared for a counterattack. They repelled the first Chinese assault with machine guns, hand grenades, and automatic rifle fire, but low ammuni- tion forced them to withdraw during the second charge. The Rangers re- grouped and counterattacked, driving the Chinese off the hill with artillery fire. When the smoke cleared, 60 Chi- nese soldiers had died. Ranger losses included one dead and 18 wounded. “I fired my BAR [Browning Au-
tomatic Rifle] so much during that fight that the barrel felt red hot,” says Monte. “Everyone really got into the battle there. I think we were out- numbered maybe 10-to-1. The enemy was close enough that we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to hold the hill, and our executive officer, [Army] Lt. James Queen, had to call in artillery fire very close to our positions. But we kept the hill.” Hill 581 was a major victory for
the 2nd Rangers, but they had little time to celebrate. They immediately moved to relieve elements of the 7th Marines, taking Hill 545 much the same as Hill 581. Between May and June 1951, the
2nd Rangers moved regularly be- tween regiments, spearheading nu- merous attacks.
[CONTINUES ON PAGE 80]
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