Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:59 | He wasn't even eighteen, but after seeing The Sands Of Iwo Jima, Archie Parrish and his pals tried and failed to enlist in the Marine Corps. But the Navy recruiter next door told him how to hide his real age and he set off to boot camp. This allowed him to escape his strict brother, who was overcompensating for a missing father.
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Hospital Corpsman Archie Parrish did not care for his first assignment following boot camp, helping deliver babies in the Dependents Ward. He was told he could always volunteer for the Fleet Marine Force. Despite not knowing exactly what that was, he was soon integrated with the 2nd Marine Division training at Camp Lejeune. The mission of the Corpsman? To have as many Marines as possible firing as many guns as possible for as many days as possible.
When the Korean War broke out, Hospital Corpsman Archie Parrish had been training with the Marines for two years at Camp Lejeune. His Warrant Officer discovered that he lied about his age to enlist and implied that all would be well if he volunteered to go to Korea. So off he went with a hastily assembled division that combined seasoned veterans with raw recruits.
The landing at Inchon was anything but typical and was the brainchild of Douglas MacArthur, who was determined to counter the surprise push by the invading North Koreans. Hospital Corpsman Archie Parrish was part of the massive effort and describes how his friend got a million dollar wound while taking out a machine gun nest.
Inchon was a great victory for Douglas MacArthur, but the Chosin Reservoir waited for him just a few months away. After moving the Marine field hospital from Inchon Harbor to Seoul, Corpsman Archie Parrish began operating with different detachments in the area. Soon, he would be a pawn in a game between MacArthur and Harry Truman, which led to the absurdity of men dying to take same territory repeatedly.
They were ordered to push to the Yalu River and the Manchurian border. Encountering only light resistance, the Marines moved deep into the mountains. Archie Parrish was with them and he recalls how Douglas MacArthur said that the Chinese would never attack. Colonel Chesty Puller knew better, and General Oliver P. Smith also knew that they were being drawn into a trap. Part 1 of 4.
One day they were having a quiet Thanksgiving meal and the next day all Hell broke loose with waves of Chinese coming at them. The Marines had set up three bases at the Chosin Reservoir and all three were surrounded. Helping them resist the overwhelming odds were the 41st Royal Commandos, the most professional warriors that Hospital Corpsman Archie Parrish had ever seen. Part 2 of 4.
At first, the field hospital at Hagaru-ri was getting fire from the surrounding hills as the Chinese Army swarmed into the Chosin Reservoir area. Eventually, those hills were retaken, but Corpsman Archie Parrish felt so targeted that he removed the Red Cross from his uniform. He recalls the agony of a Marine with a severe head wound and reveals why he could not be given morphine. Part 3 of 4.
They were not hurting for supplies. The problem was being outnumbered ten to one by the Chinese. When they began "advancing in a different direction," Corpsman Archie Parrish remembers destroying a lot of material so the enemy would not get it. As they approached Koto-ri, he had to dive from an exploding ambulance onto the frozen ground, where he had a chance encounter that would change his life. Part 4 of 4.
