"As we climbed up the narrow trail, we saw that it was lined with the bodies of dead GIs, they had been laid head to foot as you might line a path with logs. All around, the mountain was littered with dead Koreans and Chinese, hundreds of them lying everywhere. Seeing the enemy dead did not bother me, but every time I looked at a dead GI, I got a lump in my throat and a knot in my stomach. I noticed a rifle stock that had something carved on it. I bent over and picked it up and it read 'Hail Mary, full of grace, Have mercy on us snipers in this our hour of death.' Now, one of the dominant aspects of daily life for an infantryman is the smell of death, of rotting flesh. This is the most repulsive, nauseating, and sickening of odors. About 2 or 3 feet from the edge of our hole was a dead North Korean who I would judge to have been there a week. There were other bodies all around us, and the mountain top reeked with the odor of death, but none were so close or so ripe as this one, and the aura of him night and day was almost more than we could bear. We had reached the point of desperation that led us to using our empty C ration cans to scoop dirt from the bottom or sides of our hole to try to bury him. We never got the job done.
I have eliminated some of the most gruesome parts, but it still makes you feel glad that you are not here. Real war is not frivolous." - Sgt. 1st Class Bill Wilson, Company I, 23rd Regiment, 2nd Division, Heart Break Ridge, Sept 27th, 1951.#zerofoxtrot #war #korea #reality