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Colonel Douglas B. Drysdale, KM - marines.mil

Drysdale, who now foresaw amore limited role for his men as theprospects for further raids dimin-ished, revised the training of theRoyal marines with an increasedemphasis on conventional warfareskills rather than commando-typeoperations. Hoping to rejoin thefighting,Drysdaleinitiatedarequestthr oughRearAdmiralArleigh C. Burke, USN, who wasthen Vice Admiral Joy's deputychiefofstaff,thattheRoyalMarinesbe attachedtotheirAmerican counterparts at the earli-est possible moment. While it wastoo late to add the Commando tothe landings at Wonsan, AdmiralBurke sent the following messageto General Smith:"British41stRoyal Marine Commandos avail-able and anxious to join in "9 General Smith eagerly wanted thetroops,although there was noreplyfor10daysasGeneralAlmond, miffed at being bypassedin the chain-of-command, with-held finalapproval.

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur A. Chidester, the assistant division logistics officer and the senior Marine officer caught in the cut off column, ordered the vehicles unable to proceed to turn around

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Transcription of Colonel Douglas B. Drysdale, KM - marines.mil

1 Drysdale, who now foresaw amore limited role for his men as theprospects for further raids dimin-ished, revised the training of theRoyal marines with an increasedemphasis on conventional warfareskills rather than commando-typeoperations. Hoping to rejoin thefighting,Drysdaleinitiatedarequestthr oughRearAdmiralArleigh C. Burke, USN, who wasthen Vice Admiral Joy's deputychiefofstaff,thattheRoyalMarinesbe attachedtotheirAmerican counterparts at the earli-est possible moment. While it wastoo late to add the Commando tothe landings at Wonsan, AdmiralBurke sent the following messageto General Smith:"British41stRoyal Marine Commandos avail-able and anxious to join in "9 General Smith eagerly wanted thetroops,although there was noreplyfor10daysasGeneralAlmond, miffed at being bypassedin the chain-of-command, with-held finalapproval.

2 Eventually,after the intervention of AdmiralBurkeandtheBritishnavalattach , Commander John "Jock"M. D. Gray, RN, X Corps, gavegrudging approval. Smith was anx-ious to employ Drysdale's MarinesColonel Douglas Burns Drysdale was horn inHampstead,a suburb of London, on 2 spent the majority of his youth inArgentina, where he developed a life-long passion forhorsemanship, polo playing, and a subaltern in September 1935 in theRoyal marines , he was given charge of HMS Renown cMarine detachment. lie remained on hoard the Renownduring the first three years of World War II. During theoccupation of Iceland, lieutenant Drysdale served as thestaff officer of "Force Fork," the combined force consist-ing of the 2d Battalion, Royal marines , and a coastal bat-tery.

3 He was promoted to captain in June 1942 andassigned to the staff of the British Admiralty Delegation,Washington, Here, Captain Drysdale had his first con-tacts with marines when he was attached toHeadquarters United States Marine Corps as a liaisonofficer until 1943 when he became brigade major of 3 SpecialService Brigade. He remained with the brigade forthe rest of World War September 1945, during the Burma campaign, 3 Special Service Brigade was assigned to carry outOperation Zipper, an amphibious operation that wascanceled when the war ended. Major Diysdale was toserve as the commanding officer of 44 Commando dur-ing that operation. For outstanding service in that theater,the British government appointed Drysdale a Member ofthe British Empire (MBE).

4 After the war, Major Drysdaleserved on the staff of the British army staff college atCamberley. He then joined the staff of the Officer'sSchool where he was promoted to acting lieutenantcolonel and assigned to cotntnand 41 IndependentRoyal Marine command of 11 Commando in Korea was to he thehighlight of a distinguished career. For his actions at theChosin Reservoir,as well ashisleadership of:1 1 Commando, lieutenant Colonel Drysdale was awardedtwo Silver Stars and a Distinguished Service Colonel Drysdale led 41 Commando untilINational ArciuVes ?floto (LSN) 8O-O-425jlate1951, when he was relieved by lieutenant ColonelFerris N. Grant. He then served as the Royal Marine rep-resentativeat the Marine Corps Schools, Quantico,Virginia, from 1952 to 1954.

5 After leaving Quantico,Drysdale was appointed Commandant of the RoyalMarine's Noncommissioned Officers School. He wasthen assigned to the staff of the Commandant General ofRoyal marines , where he was promoted to Colonel in June1961. He was selected to command 3 CommandoBrigade prior to his medical retirement in January moved to Norfolk, England, in 1975, where he diedon 22 June 1990 at the age of Douglas B. Drysdale, KMas a reconnaissance force in unisonwith the division's ReconnaissanceCompany to protect the division'sflanks. On 16 November 1950, 41 Commando set sail from Yoko-suka, Japan, on board the USSP resident Jackson (T-APA 18) tojoin the1st Marine Division atHungnam, North Korea. The RoyalMarines and their American coun-terparts were about to participate inone of the fiercest and most mem-orable actions in their respectiveinstitutional ,Drysdale's 41 Commando arrived atHungnam and prepared to enterthe lines alongside the 1st MarineDivision at the Chosin a brief period of cold-weatheracclimation, the Commando joinedthe division as an attached unit.

6 Itsstrength upon arrival was 14 officersand 221 enlisted. On 23 November,thedivisionissuedOperationsOrde r 23-50, directing the Com-mando to "conduct operations tolocate and destroy enemy forces intheHagaru-ri,Samdae-pyong,Koto-ri area," coordinating its activ-ities with the 1st and 7th days later,the order wasmodified to move the Commando toYudam-ni to prepare for operationsin the direction of Sinpo-ri (eightmiles southwest of Yudam-ni) toprotect the division's left flank incoordination with the 7th latter order would never becarried at Hungnam, 41 Commandomovedoutbytruckon28 November for Koto-ri,itsstoresincluding heavy weapons still incrates. Progress was slow as theconvoy climbed the 4,000 feet toFunchilin Pass over the narrow,twisting road cut out of the rockyhillside.

7 Arriving in late afternoon,each troop was ordered to take updefensive positions on the Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller,the commanding officer of the 1stMarines, who informed Drysdalehis unit would continue its journeyon the morrow and that he wouldtake command of a combat taskforce to open the road to at Koto-ri on the afternoonof the 28th, elements of the 79thand89th CCF Divisionshadslammed into the Marine's perime-ter at Yudam-ni during the night enemydivision, the 59th, then completedan end sweep to the southeast andmoved against the 14-mile stretch ofroad south to Hagaru-ri. Road-blocks were established betweenYudam-ni and Hagaru-ri, and alsobetween Hagaru-ri and were blown along theroute. The enemy now threatenedthe very lifeline of the 1st MarineDivision.

8 What was to have been anadministrativemovefor41 Commando now became a by Marine andArmy units, Drysdale's force wasto clear the enemy from the roadand surrounding terrain betweenKoto-ri and Hagaru-ri, and thenreinforce the marines at force had three primary objec-tives to seize before the final in the lead, the firstobjective was to seize the hill eastof the road just outside second was to permit 's Company G, 3dBattalion,1stMarines, 'sCompany B, 31st Infantry ( ) following inreserve,topass through and strike out againstHill 1236 further north. The thirdobjective was to seize Hill 1182,10which was three miles north ofKoto-ri on the east side of theroad. These three units, togetherwith the subsequent addition of 24tanks equipped with 90mm gunsfromthedivision's1stTankBattalion, and five tanks from theAntitank Company attached to the1st marines , made up the fightingcomponent of the task force.

9 Inaddition to the combat portion ofthe force, there were detachmentsfrom Headquarters Battalion; 1stSignalBattalion;7thMotorTransportBatt alion;ServiceCompany, 1st Tank Battalion; mil-itary police; and other groups andindividuals from the1st MarineDivision. Also attached tothissmall but powerful force was aplatoon from 's377th Truck Battalion, commandedby lieutenant Alfred ,USA. Named Task Force Drysdale, the composite unit set about tobreak through enemy lines thathad cut the main road leading toHagaru-ri. "It will not be a walk inthe sun," Drysdale said at the endof his pep talk to the marines ofCompany years before, Marinesand Royal marines had foughttogetherduringtheinfamousBoxer Rebellion of 1900. Now theyprepared to do the same against,strangely, the same enemy, 0930 on the cold and snowymorning of 29 November, TaskForce Drysdale set out from Koto-ri with a 800-man force, of which235 were from 41 Commando, 205from Company G, 3d Battalion, 1stMarines, 190 from Company B,31st Infantry, and more than 150service, headquarters, and miscel-laneous troops.

10 Trucks of the 7thMotor Transport Battalion suppliedtransportation for the marines ofCompany G, while the Army's377th Transportation Truck Com-panycarriedthesoldiersofWhile waiting to join the 7th marines at Yudam-ni where theywould conduct reconnaissance patrols on the division's leftflank, the Royal marines were billeted for afew days with theNational Archives Photo (USMC) 127-N-A53201st Engineer Battalion at Hamhung. While there, they tookover some of the night security B, and the vehicles ofthe1st Tank Battalion's ServiceCompany hauled 41 Drysdale's task force movedout,a massive artillery barragebegan while Marine and Navy air-craft plastered enemy troop con-centrations in the hills surroundingthe road north of Koto-ri with frag-mentary bombs and napalm.


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