Heroes of the Korean War: Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris

Basic Information

• Name: William W. Harris
• Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
• Born: 1902
• Battlefield: Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, CCF Spring Offensive
• Date: Sept. 1950 – June 1951

Background

The American territory of Puerto Rico has a long and valiant history of providing soldiers to fight in every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the present day War On Terror.  However, despite Puerto Rican soldiers making steep sacrifices and showing exceptional valor in all these conflicts, one war rises above all the rest in terms of its deadliness and the bravery shown by the Puerto Ricans and that was the Korean War.  No conflict in Puerto Rican history had soldiers receive more combat honors and claim the lives of even more Puerto Ricans than the Korean War.

The origins of Puerto Ricans fighting for the United States began in 1899 when an act of Congress was passed to create a military force to defend Puerto Rico in peace time after the US gained possession of the territory following the Spanish-American War.  This fighting force was officially formed in 1901 and composed entirely of locals and called the “Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry”.  During World War I this unit saw its first deployment when it was sent to secure the Panama Canal Zone from any enemy attack.  Following the war the unit was renamed the 65th Infantry Regiment in 1920.

At the start of World War II the regiment was once again sent to secure the Panama Canal Zone, however in 1944 the decision was made to deploy the regiment to North Africa and then eventually Europe where the 65th would see its first major combat operations.  When the unit arrived in France they interestingly enough relieved the primarily Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Regiment that was a highly decorated unit from the war that included Korean born Hero of the Korean War Captain Young-oak Kim.  During World War II the regiment would suffer 47 casualties and had two soldiers receive Silver Stars, and 22 more Bronze Stars.  In one battle during the Korean War the 65th Infantry Regiment would suffer more casualties and be recognized with more combat heroics than all of World War II.

Article from the December 9, 1950 Stars & Stripes newspaper that describes the history of the 65th Infantry Regiment.

Deployment to Korea

LTC Harris was a 1930 West Point graduate who had served in the European theater during World War II.  He assumed command of the 65th Infantry Regiment on July 26, 1949.  According to the book, Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953, LTC Harris at first was not happy with the assignment because he felt it was a career ending assignment due to the perception the military had of the 65th Regiment which was known as the “Rum and Coca-Cola” outfit.  To win the confidence of his men Harris rescinded an order that forbid the men of the 65th Regiment from speaking Spanish.  However, he did specify that all military communications would be in English.  Though LTC Harris was apprehensive at first of the assignment he soon came to enjoy the outstanding training available to his unit in Puerto Rico due to easy access to the training area in Vieques.  Eventually Harris felt that the 65th Regiment was as well trained as any unit he had been with.  It did not take the Pentagon long to notice this as well.

Due to an exceptional performance during a training exercise with the US 82nd Airborne & 3rd Infantry Divisions at Vieques, the Pentagon felt the 65th Infantry Regiment was ready for deployment to Korea despite being an understrength at the time. According to the book MacArthur’s War : Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero, the soldiers of the 65th Infantry Regiment were upset about being sent to Korea because they had enlisted with the promise that they would not be deployed from their home island any farther than the Panama Canal Zone.  Despite the protests, the Puerto Ricans set sail for Korea on August 25, 1950 and on their way to Korea the 65the Regiment’s ship passed through the Panama Canal, which was the area the Puerto Ricans had long defended through two World Wars.  However, the regiment didn’t just simply pass through the canal; in order to make up for their shortages the regiment stopped in Panama to be augmented with soldiers from the US Army 33rd Division stationed at Ft. Kobbe in Panama.  The 33rd’s commander augmented the Puerto Ricans with mostly blacks, Hispanics, and Asians he no longer wanted.

By the time the 65th Infantry Regiment left Panama it was composed of a motley crew of Puerto Ricans, black Virgin Islanders, African-Americans, Japanese, and Hispanics who manned three infantry battalion, one artillery battalion, and one tank company all under the command of non-Spanish speaking white officers led by Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris.

Article in the July 20, 1951 Stars & Stripes newspaper about the deployment of the 65th Infantry Regiment to Korea.

It should come as no surprise that such a motley crew as this began to call themselves the “The Borinqueneers” which is the combination of the words “Borinquen” (which was what the Tainos called the island before the arrival of the Spaniards) and “Buccaneers”.  When these Borinqueneers left Puerto Rico they fully expected to see heavy combat in Korea because the North Korean and United Nations forces were still engaged in a do or die conflict along the Pusan Perimeter.  However, when they arrived in Korea on September 22, 1950, the Incheon Landing Operation had already been executed followed by the capturing of Seoul.  Like many of the UN forces that arrived in the Port of Pusan during this time period it appeared that the war was nearly over and they would just see some mop up duty at best.

There is however a famous story that shortly after arriving at Pusan, Colonel Harris was approached by Eigth Army commander Lt. Gen. Walton Walker. The general asked LTC Harris, “Will the Puerto Ricans fight?”

“I and my Puerto Ricans will fight anybody,” replied Harris proudly.

Walker then pointed to a waiting northbound train and ordered, “Get on, and then go that way.”

And north they went, but not too far north because like most of the newly arriving units the Puerto Ricans were tasked with anti-guerrilla operations in southeast Korea. To cause further communications problems between the English speaking white officers and the mostly Spanish speaking soldiers, Korean Augmentees to the US Army (KATUSA) soldiers were added to the unit. According to MacArthur’s War : Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero, the 65th Regiment had even lower morale with the arrival of the Koreans, which many of the Puerto Rican soldiers felt were cowardly soldiers because of their reputation for running from the advancing North Koreans, while the Americans had to stand and fight in their place.  Whatever the truth may be one thing is for sure, there couldn’t have been a unit in the Korean War that was more difficult to command and control then what LTC Harris had to deal with commanding the 65th Infantry Regiment.

Early Operations In Korea

The first area the 65th Regiment was tasked to conduct anti-guerrilla patrols was around the city of Yongdong, which was believed to the be center of guerrilla activities in the southeast.  Some readers may remember that Yondong is where the highly controversial No Gun Ri incident occurred in July 1950 that continues to be a subject of controversy to this day.  It was in this area that the Puerto Ricans would suffer their first fatality only a week after arriving in Korea when on September 29, 1950 communist guerrillas ambushed a Borinqueneer patrol and killed one soldier and wounded three more.  By October 9th the 65th Regiment had suffered 17 fatalites in the Yongdong area, but had killed 105 guerrillas and captured 500 more.  Throughout the rest of the month of October the 65th Regiment continued to patrol the sector and twice repelled attacks by over 500 guerrillas against them.

By November the Borinqueneers were attached to the 3rd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Robert Soule, which served as the regiment’s higher headquarters unit. Soule was familiar with LTC Harris and his 65th Regiment since they had trained together back on the island of Vieques prior to their deployment to Korea.  The 65th Regiment crossed the 38th parallel via ship and entered North Korea.  By November 7th they were tasked to conduct patrols around the North Korean port city of Wonsan on the peninsula’s east coast in order to secure the port for the arrival of the 3rd Infantry Division.

The Borinqueneers were the first elements of the division to arrive at Wonsan.  The 65th Regiment held off a number of Chinese probing attacks around the city as they secured the port for the arrival of the rest of the division.  However, according to MacArthur’s War : Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero, LTC Harris was criticized by X Corps Commander General Ned Almond when he said that his 65th Regiment “had not been energetic in its movement west”.  Almond had tasked a battalion of the 65th Regiment to move west 50 miles across steep mountains with poor roads while being attacked by bands of North Korean guerrilla fighters to link up with advancing 8th Army units.  Harris would send another battalion to assist, but the best the 65th would do is make radio contact with the advancing 8th Army units to their west.  This is just one of many examples of how clueless the upper echelons of command were in regards to the situation that front line units found themselves up against in Korea.  This lack of appreciation for the terrain and enemy would ultimately lead to a massive defeat of the UN forces in North Korea.

Taskforce Dog & the Breakout From the Chosun Reservoir

As the Chinese intervention escalated the 3rd Infantry Division soon found themselves tasked to move north to assist the breakout of the US 1st Marine Division and the US 7th Infantry Division from the Chosun Reservoir after a massive Chinese military force surrounded the Marines and Soldiers deep within the mountains of North Korea.  General Soule needed to send a unit up into the valley towards the Chosun Reservoir to secure an avenue of retreat for the Marines and Soldiers still fighting their way out of the reservoir.  He chose the 2nd Battalion, 65th regiment augmented with the 999th Field Artillery Battalion and designated them as Taskforce Dog.

The Bornqueneers underneath Taksforce Dog were dubbed Taskforce Childs because they were commanded by Lt. Col. George Weldon Childs, the 65th Infantry regimental executive officer.  Task Force Childs was given the mission of defending the town of Maijong-Dong, clearing the division main supply route of enemy forces from Maijong-Dong to Sudong-ni and protecting the withdrawal of the 1st Marine Division from Hagaru-ri.

Taskforce Dog fought their way through light Chinese resistance to the village of Chinhung-ni with the assistance of their attached field artillery battalion.  Once at Chinhung-ni the Borinqueneers secured the village which allowed Marine elements already at the village to launch a counterattack up the ridgelines along Funchlin Pass to clear it of Chinese to allow the trapped US elements further up the valley at Koto-ri to withdraw to Chinhung-ni and then ultimately to the waiting boats at Hungnam.  It must have been some sight back then for the Marines & soldiers who spent days in heavy combat against the Chinese to cross into friendly lines and be greeted by the motley crew of the US 65th Infantry Regiment.

Taskforce Dog continued to hold the village and once all the trapped US forces had retreated through the hamlet they moved down the valley themselves and took up positions around the coastal plains that surrounded the city of Hungnam.  With the port secured by the 3rd Infantry Division and their attached 65th Regiment, the exhausted Marines and soldiers who had been trapped in the Chosin Reservoir were able to conduct an orderly amphibious withdrawal from Hungnam that included the evacuation of thousands of North Korean refugees.  Before the Borinqueneers departed Hungnam an award ceremony was held to honor the various heroes of Taskforce Dog that had helped evacuate the Marines & soldiers from the Chosun Reservoir.  One of those awarded was Lieutenant Colonel William Harris.  He was pinned with the Silver Star by X Corps Commander General Almond.  LTC Harris is reported to have said that he wished he could break the Silver Star apart and give a piece of it to every Borinqueneer dead or alive that had made the evacuation of Hungnam such a success.  The unit would also be awarded the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal for their part in the evacuation of Hungnam.

General Ned Almond Pins Lieutenant Colonel William Harris with the Silver Star.

Here is an amazing conversation from the book Honor and Fidelity: The 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953 that General Almond had with Harris that really shows how the men of the 65th Infantry Regiment changed the perceptions that many senior leaders had at the time of colored soldiers:

The Borinqueneers ultimately ended up being the last unit to evacuate the city with LTC Harris being the last American to board a outbound boat.  When their ship left Hungnam the port and the city was shelled by the US Navy to where it would be of no use to the advancing communist forces.  When the 65th Regiment arrived in Pusan, here is how one company commander from the unit described the combat actions of the regiment:

Capt. George F. Ammon of Vicksburg, Miss. who has commanded a compny of the 65th for two years, said the youngsters “crowned themselves with glory and proved themselves a well trained combat unit” in their baptism of fire on the frozen northeast coastal front.  “They were a well-disciplined outfit with that devil may care attitude.”

Capt. Ammon said, “When they were sent to drive back the Chinese they moved out aggressively and carried the fight to the enemy every minute.  When they were on the defensive they stayed in their foxholes even when their positions were over run and picked off the commies with the cooolness and precision of season veterans.”

The Puerto Ricans had made a name for themselves for their actions in North Korea and they would have plenty more combat action to come as the new 8th US Army Commander General Matthew Ridgway was determined to end the massive UN retreat that was threatening to end the war as a US defeat.  Ridgway had taken over for General Walton Walker who had been killed on December 23, 1950 in an auto accident just south of Uijongbu.  He had plans on how to turn the tide of the war in the favor of the UN forces and the 65th Infantry Regiment would go on to be a key part of this plan’s success.

The Borinqueneers On the Offensive

In the first three months of 1951, the 65th Infantry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris was kept busy as it spearheaded a number of division operation to include in early February, when its 1st and 2nd battalions conducted the last battalion-sized bayonet assault in U.S. military history, leading to the capture of P’ajang-ni, a fortified hilly village south of Seoul.

South Korea, Feb. 2, 1951 Puerto Rico’s 65th U.S. Infantry Regiment. The battle portrayed in the painting was the last recorded battalion-sized bayonet attack by the U.S. Army. The painting by J. Andrea was done in 1992, was commissioned by the National Guard Heritage Foundation.

It was during this timeframe that the LTC Harris’ 65th Regiment was augmented with the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) because it was mistakenly believed the Filipinos spoke Spanish.  LTC Harris had a growing feud with the PEFTOK commander Lieutenant Colonel Mariano Azurin.  Ultimatey LTC Harris was able to get LTC Azurin replaced with fellow Hero of the Korean War LTC Dionisio Ojeda.  Harris and Ojeda would go on to be a formidable leadership team for the 65th Regiment.

The victory of the US 23 Infantry Regiment at Chipyong-ni in February 1951 led by fellow Heroes of the Korean War Colonel Paul Freeman & Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar opened the door to a peninsula wide 8th Army offensive that by mid-month, the 65th Regiment had become the first United Nations unit to reach the Han River.  By mid-March, it had become the first element to re-cross the Han in the 8th Army’s final drive north. The motley crew of the 65th Regiment received the ultimate accolade for their battlefield performance when Douglas MacArthur’s said, “Give me Puerto Rican soldiers like those of the 65th and I will invade China.”

Stopping the Chinese Spring Offensive

It would seem strange at first that soldiers from a tropical island in the Caribbean would find themselves become battled hardened warriors in the frozen mountains of Korea, but that is exactly what happened.  The Borinqueneers soon found themselves advancing north of Seoul and took up positions on the western front near the village of Yoncheon.  When the Chinese Spring Offensive began on 22-30 April 1951, the 65th  Regiment with their attached Philippine battalion were located between the British 29th Brigade to the west and the Turkish Brigade to the east that was just recovering from heavy losses inflicted on the unit by the Chinese during the Battle of Kunu-ri a few months prior.

Directly opposite of the 65th Regiment’s positions were four Chinese division numbering about 40,000 men. The 65th Regiment did not receive contact from these Chinese units until just after midnight on April 23rd. The Chinese opened their attack with a heavy artillery barrage before advancing on the regiment in the darkness of the night, which they preferred to fight in. Once the artillery barrage ended it was clear an assault on the regiment’s positions was coming because of the loud noises from the Chinese’s bugles, gongs, and drums that they used to communicate between their units.  There was even a report that the Chinese may have initiated the attack by releasing water from a dam up river that allegedly killed many Puerto Ricans.

During the massive Chinese assault on the east side of the 65th Regiment the Chinese were able to push the Turkish Brigade from their positions and began to envelope the eastern flank of the Filipino battalion.  The situation only got worse as the 65th Infantry Regiment began to fallback from the Chinese attack on their exposed flank because of the withdrawal of the Turks. The Chinese attackers had gone behind the PEFTOK’s lines and attacked the Borinquneers. LTC Harris had his men fall back to reconsolidate another defensive line to fight the Chinese from.  As they fell back the Chinese then turned their attention once again towards the Filipinos. Lieutenant Colonel Ojeda and his men were able to hold out against the Chinese attacks on the ridgeline they controlled.  Due to the withdrawal of both the Turks and the Puerto Ricans, the Filipinos found themselves trapped on their hill top fortress and surrounded by the Chinese.

Like Ojeda’s Fighting Filipinos another unit attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, the Belgian battalion was likewise trapped north of enemy lines and the 3rd ID commander General Robert Soule decided their was only one unit that could get them out, the Borinqueneers.   General Soule ordered the 65th Regiment augmented with tanks from the 64th Tank Battalion to counterattack north and link up with the Filipinos and Belgians and then conduct a fighting withdrawal south.  By mid-day on April 23rd, LTC Harris moved his men north and took up blocking positions on the north side of the Hantan River.  Once in position the Filipinos and the Belgians counterattacked south through the Chinese lines and linked up with LTC Harris and his men.  The 65th Regiment then covered the withdrawal of both units as they moved south to link up with the British 29th Brigade.

Once the 65th Regiment linked up with the 29th Brigade they were tasked to fill in holes along the Brigade’s front line in the vicinity of Kamak Mountain while other brigade elements tried to extract the trapped British Gloucestershire Regiment that was commanded by Hero of the Korean War Lieutenant Colonel James P. Carne.  By the night of April 24th the 29th Brigade was still unable to extract the Glosters and thus turned to the 65th Regiment to help.

The 65th Regiment was tasked to scale the ridgelines of Kamak Mountain and clear it of Chinese in order to help rescue the trapped Glosters at first light on April 25th.  However, before the 65th Regiment could launch their attack, the 29th Brigade Commander General Tom Brodie decided to send the PEFTOK battalion augmented with a British tank platoon to advance up a narrow valley to link up with the Glosters in a last gasp effort to rescue them.  This effort ended up being a failure because the ridgelines were filled with hardened Chinese soldiers firing down on the Filipinos.

During this fight General Brodie was informed that the allied leadership had decided to pull the UN forces’ frontline further south so all the allied units could reorganize their frontlines. Due to this, any attack to clear Kamak Mountain by the 65th Infantry Regiment was called off and only one platoon of tanks from the regiment was assigned to try and breakthrough to the Glosters, which ended up being a failure as well because approximately an entire Chinese division had moved into the valley by this time. On the western side of the ridgeline a combined US-ROK assault had also failed to reach the trapped unit but they were able to rescue a few stragglers that were able to evade the Chinese when they overran their position.  Ultimately the Glosters were completely destroyed with only a 67 men able to make it off the mountain that day with the rest of the 700 man unit either dead or captured to include their commander LTC Carne.

Aftermath of the Chinese Spring Offensive

Overall the Chinese Spring Offensive was a failure and the allies ultimately reclaimed the lost territory with an offensive operation that Lieutenant Colonel William Harris’ 65th Regiment participated in. After the battle the allies estimated that 75,000 enemy soldiers died during the Spring Offensive with 50,000 of them dying in the Seoul corridor where the Battle of the Imjim occurred.

The Chinese would never truly recover from this defeat and after their failed second spring offensive two weeks later the communists initiated ceasefire negotiations after even more heavy losses. The ceasefire negotiations caused the war to turn into a hill top war for the next two years until a final ceasefire had been declared. Without the heroic fighting of the 65th Regiment along with the rest of the allied forces that fought tenaciously in the Seoul corridor, the ceasefire may have come much sooner with the communist controlling Seoul and in a position of strength to dictate the terms of the ceasefire. As history turned out the position of strength the allies ended up negotiating from during the ceasefire negotiations was in part due to the actions of the fighting Borinqueneers.

Remembering the 65th Infantry Regiment

Following the Chinese Spring Offensive the first batch of soldiers that composed the 65th Infantry Regiment were rotated out to include their commander LTC Harris.  When the 65th Regiment entered the war, many leaders questioned the combat abilities of this motley crew of soldiers from around the world.  However, after their actions in North Korea and along the Imjim River there was no doubt that this unit had become one of the best of all the United Nations forces deployed to Korea.

Article from the June 21, 1951 Stars & Stripes newspaper describes LTC William Harris’ Change of Command on June 20, 1951. 

LTC Harris, told them in 1951 after he changed command, “there were many who under-rated you when you first came to Korea. I can assure you now that there is no one who does not agree that you have proved yourselves as fine combat soldiers. You are damn good and I’m proud of you.”

In a total of three years of fighting in some of the toughest battles of the Korean War, the 65th earned two U.S. Presidential Unit Citations, two Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations, two U.S. Meritorious Unit Commendations and the Greek Gold Medal of Bravery. Four of its soldiers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor.  In total Puerto Ricans that served in the Korean War were awarded 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 256 Silver Stars, and 606 Bronze Stars.  This is far more than the 24 medals awarded to Puerto Ricans during World War II.  However, the 65th Regiment soldiers that would follow LTC Harris and his men never quite lived up to the heroics of that first group.  In fact 95 65th Regiment soldiers were court martialed in 1952 for cowardice after losing key positions to the Chinese in the Chorwon Valley.  The 65th Regiment would go on to redeem themselves in 1953 for exceptional combat actions during the Battle of Outpost Harry.

An article in the March 3, 1953 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper describes how non-Puerto Rican replacements would be assigned to the 65th Regiment for the first time.

In all, some 61,000 Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, the bulk of them with the 65th Infantry Regiment. Some 743 were killed and 2,318 wounded.  In 1954 the 65th Regiment returned to Puerto Rico and lives on today as the Puerto Rican National Guard.

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