Latest news with #OperationRipper
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
This soldier gave his last full measure of devotion on a hill in Korea
Since the North Korean invasion of the South on June 25, 1950, United Nations forces had managed to reverse the situation by September, retaking the capital of Seoul and driving a routed Korean People's Army (KPA) back into its home territory. The newly established communist China, however, could not tolerate a united pro-Western Korea on its Manchurian border, and in late October, the so-called People's Volunteer Army (PVA) intervened in the conflict, crossing the Yalu River into Korea. By mid-November the PVA had thrown the U.N. forces back, retaking Seoul and giving the North Koreans a chance to regroup. In February 1951, however, the Chinese supply lines were overextended and recovering U.N. forces brought their offensive to a halt in the Battle of Chipyong-ni on Feb. 13-14 and Operation Killer nearly a week later. On March 7, the U.N. launched another offensive, dubbed Operation Ripper, conceived by Gen. Matthew Ridgway to flank Seoul and destroy the PVA and KPA. Ridgway achieved the first objective, with his troops advancing an average of 30 miles of frontage, flanking Seoul and encountering virtually no opposition as the South Korean capital changed hands for the fourth — and last — time on March 15. By the declared conclusion of the offensive on March 23, the communist armies suffered thousands of casualties, but a well-executed fighting retreat kept them intact for the fighting yet to come — which for the next two years would see even greater casualties but no decisive battles on either side. It was at the very beginning of Operation Ripper that Sfc. Nelson Brittin experienced the sort of savage hill fighting that became the norm for the rest of the Korean War. Nelson Vogel Brittin was born in Audubon, New Jersey, on Oct. 31, 1920, and was drafted into the U.S. Army on July 7, 1942. Brittin served in Italy during World War II and discharged in 1946. He briefly attending the University of Florence, Italy, before deciding to reenlist in 1948, serving in the occupation forces in Japan. He had risen in rank to sergeant first class when he was shipped to the Republic of Korea with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 19th Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was wounded in December 1950 and February 1951, but had returned to his unit in time for Operation Ripper. On March 7, 1951, U.N. forces on either side of Seoul crossed the Han River, encountering small, often stubborn pockets of Chinese resistance whose sole purpose proved to be slowing down the U.N. offensive while the bulk of their armies withdrew northward to more defensible ground. Near Yonggong-Ni that day, I Company crossed the Han and encountered a pocket of resistance in the form of fortified machine gun positions on a hill. Brittin volunteered to lead a squad to secure the hill and due to the meager cover it afforded, he ordered his men to cover him while he moved up alone. He threw a grenade at the first enemy position he engaged, but the enemy returned it in kind with a grenade of their own, which knocked him down and wounded him. Refusing medical attention, Brittin replenished his grenade supply, which he hurled at several enemy positions until their occupants abandoned them and he shot them as they fled. As he approached one defensive position, Brittin's rifle jammed, but without hesitation he leaped into the hole and killed all its occupants using his bayonet and his rifle butt. At that point, Brittin noticed one of his squads pinned down by an enemy machine gun, so he rushed it from behind, threw a grenade into it, then ran around to the front to kill the emerging three-man crew with his rifle. As they resumed their climb, Brittin and his squad had not advanced 100 yards before coming under fire with what his citation described as a 'camouflaged, sandbagged machine gun nest well-flanked by supporting riflemen.' As his citation continued, 'Brittin again charged this new position in an aggressive endeavor to silence this remaining obstacle and ran directly into a burst of automatic fire which killed him instantly. In his sustained and driving action, he had killed 20 enemy soldiers and destroyed four automatic weapons, the conspicuous valor, and noble self-sacrifice displayed by Sfc. Brittin enabled his inspired company to attain its objective.' Brittin's body was returned home in November 1951 and buried at Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey. On Jan. 16, 1952, his parents received a posthumously awarded Medal of Honor from then-Defense Secretary Robert Lovett. The roll on/roll off Military Sealift Command cargo ship ESB-4, built in 2002, is named Nelson V. Brittin in his honor.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
On This Day, March 14: FBI's 'Most Wanted Fugitives' list debuts
March 14 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1794, Eli Whitney was granted a patent for the cotton gin. In 1812, the U.S. government authorized the issue of America's first war bonds -- to pay for military equipment for use against the British. In 1950, the FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" list appeared for the first time. In 1951, Seoul was recaptured by U.N. troops during the Korean War as part of Operation Ripper, also known as the Fourth Battle of Seoul. In 1964, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby was convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Ruby was sentenced to death but the conviction was overturned and he died of cancer while awaiting a new trial. In 1973, Navy pilot John McCain -- the future U.S. senator from Arizona -- and 107 other American prisoners of war were released by North Vietnam. He spent more than five years in a prison camp after his plane was shot down. In 1991, scientists reported the discovery of the gene that triggers colon cancer. In 1991, citing fresh evidence, a British appeals court overturned the convictions of the so-called Birmingham Six, who were sentenced to life in prison for the bombings of two pubs in 1974, the bloodiest assault by the Irish Republican Army on the British mainland. The false conviction of the six men, who were released, is seen one of the worst miscarriages of justice in modern British history. In 2004, Vladimir Putin easily won re-election as president of Russia. He won a third term in 2012. In 2009, Australian authorities said a 230-ton oil spill from a Hong Kong-registered freighter caused an environmental disaster along nearly 40 miles of beach off the Queensland coast. In 2012, the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands, in its first verdict as a permanent war crimes tribunal, found Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of using children in war. In 2013, Xi Jinping began his 10-year term as president of China. In 2023, a Russia fighter jet collided with an unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone, causing the unmanned military craft to crash into the Black Sea.
