August 13, 2025 • 33 mins
The Chosin Reservoir was one of the most brutal battles of the Korean War, with overwhelming enemy forces and deadly weather. Into that fight came Captain Carl Sitter, a pudgy guy who wasn’t even supposed to be there. His inspiring leadership in the face of terrible odds came down to one thing: faith.
Episode's bibliography:
O'Donnel, Patrick K. “Give Me Tomorrow.” Grand Central Publishing, October 25, 2011.
https://www.amazon.com/Give-Me-Tomorrow-Greatest-Story/dp/0306820447.
Sterner, C. Douglas, Pamla M. Sterner, Dwight Jon Zimmerman, and Scott Baron. “Beyond Belief: True Stories of American Heroes that Defy Belief.” Independently Published, November 16, 2021. https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Belief-Stories-American-Heroes/dp/B09M57XDCV.
Hardy, Gordon. “Above and beyond: a history of the Medal of Honor from the Civil War to Vietnam by Congressional Medal of Honor Society.” Boston Pub. Co, May 3, 1985.
https://www.amazon.com/Above-beyond-history-Congressional-1985-05-03/dp/B01F820WNE.
Simmons, Edwin H. Frozen Chosin U.S. Marines at the Changjin Reservoir. USMCU, 2002.
https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Frozen%20Chosin%20US%20Marines%20at%20the%20Changjin%20Reservoir%20%20PCN%2019000410000.pdf.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Pushkin. A deadly winter storm whipped across the jagged Hill
in North Korea. It was the last day of November
nineteen fifty and it was more than twenty degrees below zero.
(00:27):
The marines of Company G tried to find a foothold
on the hill. It was pure ice. They kicked their
frozen guns, hoping to get them to work. They tried
to carve fox holes in the rock hard ground. They
searched for some way to shelter from what was coming,
(00:48):
and they had to do it fast. They heard the
sound of bugles and whistles. The Marines knew what that meant.
They were about to face an onslaught of enemy soldiers,
and they were totally and completely outnumbered. UN forces had
(01:08):
been trying to hold this ground for days. Many had
already been wounded or killed, and some had snuck off
the hill. They knew certain death when they saw it,
but not the men of Company G. There was something
that kept them going. It sure wasn't food. Their cans
(01:31):
or rations were frozen solid. It wasn't adrenaline either. It
was their captain, Carl Sitter. He moved from one position
to the other. He checked their guns, but mostly he
talked to them. He told them they could do it.
(01:51):
They could fight off the enemy, they could survive and
hold that hill. Secretly, in his heart, Carl believed that
he might not survive. In fact, he was pretty sure
he would never make it home, but he had faith
that his men would. I'm j R. Martinez and this
(02:21):
is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of
Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States,
awarded for gallantry and bravery in combat at the risk
of life, above and beyond the call of duty. Each
candidate must be approved all the way up the chain
of command, from the supervisory officer in the field to
(02:43):
the White House. This show is about those heroes, what
they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell
us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Carl Sitter
wasn't your typical marine. He was an amazing physical specimen,
all muscle and brawn. He was kind of pudgy, round
(03:07):
faced and kind. But he had a superpower, a talent
for taking care of his men, shepherding them through the
worst days of their lives, inspiring them. They knew for
sure he would never leave them behind. And here's the
crazy thing. Carl wasn't really supposed to be there. His
(03:31):
story of leadership is filled with crazy good luck and
crazy bad luck. His story is about fate and faith,
the kind of faith that can keep you alive against
impossible odds. When Carl Sitter got to Korea in nineteen fifty,
(04:06):
he wasn't supposed to be leading any marines at all.
He was supposed to be a Special Services officer. And
if you don't know what that is, it's the officer
in charge of equipment. In Carl's case, that equipment wasn't
guns or ammo. It was basketballs, footballs, and jockstraps. Not
(04:29):
exactly the job he'd wanted. Carl was only twenty seven,
but he was pretty out of shape, so out of
shape that his superiors had him in a desk job.
But Carl wanted to be on the front lines, so
he pushed and pushed. But Special Services was the most
(04:51):
the brass would give him. It was a demotion. Still,
Carl didn't complain. It was a job in the war,
and he took it for a second because right after
he got to the base in Japan with all that equipment,
a typhoon blew it into the water, all of it gone,
(05:17):
and that's how his career in Special Services ended. The
brass had no choice but to give him the job
he'd wanted in the first place, on the front lines,
so he was given command of Company G. When his
marines looked at him, they couldn't quite believe this dumpy
(05:37):
guy was going to be their leader. He didn't have
a six pack, but he had something that a lot
of other guys didn't experience. He had enlisted when he
was just seventeen years old, right out of high school.
He served in World War II, rising quickly through the ranks,
(05:57):
and by the time the Marines landed in Guama in
nineteen forty four, he was a lieutenant and had received
the first of what would be four purple hearts. But
he also picked up a habit wearing his pistol holstered
over his heart. Here's why. During one battle he felt
(06:20):
the slam of a bullet into the left side of
his chest. He thought, this is it. I'm going to die.
But wait a minute. He was definitely alive. So he
touched his chest and he felt warm blood, But he
also felt the cold steel of his pistol. It had
(06:42):
stopped the bullet. He would wear the pistol there for
the rest of his combat career. By the time the
war was over, Carl had a Silver Star and a
life in the Core. Sure, maybe he'd gotten little soft
since World War Two, but that didn't mean he wasn't
(07:04):
keen to fight in the next conflict Korea.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
On Sunday, June twenty fifth, Communist forces attacked the Republic
of Korea.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
That's President Harry Truman.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We know that the cost of freedom is high, but
we are determined to preserve our freedom no matter what
the calls.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
At first, it looked like the United Nations forces would
make quick work of this new war. General Douglas MacArthur
led them into South Korea, and they easily drove the
North Koreans back above the thirty eighth parallel. But then
MacArthur decided they should try for a second victory, this
(07:46):
time in the north. By the winter of nineteen fifty,
UN troops had landed in North Korea and were moving inland.
They went up treacherous mountain passes into a trap. They
didn't know that around four hundred thousand Chinese troops had
(08:08):
secretly crossed the Manchurian border. To aid the North Koreans.
Some were battle hardened veterans, and most were so called
volunteers who had been forced into combat. They didn't have
enough weapons, they were fed very little. But there were
so many more of them, and on the night of
(08:30):
November twenty seventh they attacked. Chinese soldiers surrounded the group
of Marines who had gotten the farthest into the mountains,
and the Americans realized they were outnumbered by the thousands.
General MacArthur ordered a hasty withdrawal, but then those withdrawing
(08:51):
troops got trapped. They were miles inland near the Chosen
or chang Jin Reservoir. There was only one road out,
and the Chinese forces captured it. They were hopelessly stuck.
Reporters were there to witness the mayhem.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Here, thousands of Marines and other United Nations forces are
trapped by overwhelming masses of Chinese reds who encircle them
near the chung Jin Reservoir.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Carl and Company G were in North Korea, but far
from the fighting. That didn't last long. Stephen Olmsted was
a young Marine private in Carl's company.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Then we got the word, you guys are going to
join up.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
With your parent the time. They were going to bring ammunition,
food and supplies to the trap marines.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
The people up around the reservoir desperately needed reinforcements, particularly
more tanks.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Most of the troops were near the UN force's last
best foothold, a town called hagarou Re. It had makeshift
hospital facilities and to have constructed airstrip. It was their
only hope to unite the separated groups of marines. Hagaroo
(10:12):
Reed had to be held at all costs. Carl's men
would have to fight their way there up the main
supply route, that dangerous mountain road. Then they would clear
the path for all the UN troops to retreat to
the port and get out of North Korea, and they
(10:35):
would be outnumbered ten to one. There's something important you
need to know about the Battle of the Chosen Reservoir.
It wasn't just the enemy that was deadly. It was
(10:57):
the weather. It was the cold this Korean winter in
one hundred years. Raymond Davis was there, like Carl. He
was commanding a group of marines.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
The snow came, the tempted to a drop of forty
below zero in the mountains. My Weather service said the
wind child was something like seventy below zero.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Weapons froze, shut truck batteries died.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Faces covered with the ice. Radios wouldn't work. They were
frozen food, frozen water, frozen. Terrible conditions.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And the men didn't have the right gear. After all,
everyone including leadership, had been sure they'd be home by Christmas.
Their coats were thin. On their feet, they wore something
called shoe packs. They weren't winter boots, just rubber soles
and a leather top. They made your feet sweat when
(11:58):
you marched and freeze when you stopped. Tons of men
got frostbite.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Anytime I find the marine down, I would get him
on his feet because he'd freeze to death.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
And now Carl and his men were going deeper into
the mountains. Carl's company had joined forces with Colonel Douglas
Drysdale of the British Royal Marines. On November twenty ninth,
they all set out for the un camp at Hagarouri.
(12:34):
Here's Stephen Olmsted again, that private in Carl's company.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
We boarded trucks and there was kind of like an
old Western movie going through what is later called Hellfire Alley.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Hell Fire alley is right. On one side of the road,
there were steep drop offs going down thousands of feet.
On the other side, Chinese fighters held the high ground.
They turned that mountain road into a shooting gallery.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
We're going to jump out and gauge them, drive them away,
and go and do it all over again.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Carl was focused and calm as they made their way
towards Hagarui. At one point they came under intense fire.
The Chinese had set up a roadblock up ahead, and
Company G were sitting ducks. Unless they got out and
cleared it, their trucks would explode where they stood.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
We don't have access to recordings of Carl, but he
was interviewed many times during his life. Our editor and
good friend of the podcast, Ben Nadaf Haffrey, is going
to read his words here. This is what Carl told
Leatherneck Magazine in nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
I yelled for everybody to get off the trucks, and
it's it seemed like anybody close to me was getting shot,
like I was protected by an invisible shield and I
wasn't being hit.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Carl didn't have time to marvel at his survival as
the bullets rained down. He raced to the front of
the convoy. He had to check in with Drysdale, but
when he got there, he discovered that Drysdale had been shot.
He could no longer lead the group. He gave command
to Carl. In case all of this action has wiped
(14:31):
your memory, let me remind you Carl wasn't even supposed
to be on the front lines, and he certainly wasn't
supposed to be leading this group of men on this
deadly mission. But he didn't question it. He had a
sense that if he was there, it was for a reason.
(14:53):
By this point it was night. The surviving Marines cleared
the roadblock and jump back in the trucks. They rattled
forward through the dark, unsure of how far they had
come and how much further they had to go. Tracers
and explosions lit up the night as they inched towards Hagarouri.
(15:17):
Then they saw the distant lights of the marine encampment.
Carl breathed a sigh of relief. There were tents on
the side of the road. They had to be Americans,
they weren't. Chinese fighters jumped out of the tents and
the Marines were right back in the battle. Three of
(15:38):
the trucks went over the side of the road on fire,
lost for good, and the rest of the convoy hit
the gas and made it out of the ambush, and
at nine pm they finally reached Hagarouri. The twelve mile
journey had taken twelve hours. Of the nine hundred men
(16:03):
who started out that morning, one hundred and sixty nine
were killed, one hundred and fifty nine were wounded, and
three hundred and twenty one were missing or captured. That
left them with less than a third of their fighting force.
(16:23):
Once they got to camp, Carl told his men to
get some rest. They would have to sleep on the
frozen ground.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Half the people didn't have sleeping bags. I didn't have one.
I gave my nup.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
When they woke up the next morning, they were covered
in snow.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
You could see all these holes where people had melted
through the snow while they slept.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
They were freezing and exhausted. But if the un troops
ever wanted to leave the chosen reservoir, Carl and his
marines would have to fight again. They had to take
East Hill. East Hill rose about five hundred meters above
the valley floor. It was the high ground whoever controlled
(17:10):
East Hill controlled that one road in and out of Hagarui. Plus,
if the Chinese took East Hill, the Marines would never
be able to finish the airfield. That means they would
never get more supplies. They wouldn't be able to bring
out their wounded, and they're dead.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
If we had not controlled it, physically controlled it, first
Marine division in all likelihood put them in annihilated.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Carl would be going to relieve Major Reginald Myers. Myers
had been fighting on East Hill for two days. He
and his men were just barely hanging on. Myers needed
help badly. Here's what interests me as a leader. Myers
(18:02):
was the opposite of Carl Sitter, a tough marine with
an old school way of leading his men. If he
felt they weren't moving fast enough, he just well, I'll
let him tell you.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
You kicked them and you shot at them.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Rather you pulled your pistol out and you.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Fired the sh in the air and did everything you
could to get him removed. Basically, you treated your men
like cattle, which is how a lot of guys treated soldiers.
But let's be honest, that didn't always work. A lot
of Meyer's men had gotten off the hill as quickly
(18:41):
as they could. They took wounded soldiers down to the
aid station and somehow never managed to go back up.
And now Myers was down to just seventy five men.
So on the morning of the thirtieth, Carl and his
marine started up that icy hill, slipping and crawling, passing
(19:04):
the bodies of fallen soldiers as they made their way higher.
The Chinese machine guns kicked up dirt and shards of
ice around them, but finally they got to the top,
they began to dig in. They tried to carve out
fox holes in the ice, but their tools snapped like magsticks.
(19:27):
They knew the counter attack was coming, and at ten
point thirty that night it did. A Chinese illumination grenade
went off, and the sky turned to a sickly green,
and the dim light the Marines could see the hill
below them. There were so many men climbing up it
(19:49):
looked like the ground was moving. The sound of their
bugles and whistles cut through the icy air. Carl told
the Richmond Times Dispatch in nineteen ninety three that it
was the scariest sound in the world.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
If you're not afraid, you're stupid. I think everybody was afraid.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Carl's men looked up at him with hopelessness. They were
so outnumbered, but Carl knew what his job was, not
to force them like myers, not even just lead them,
but to motivate them by understanding what they were going through.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Those people were depending on me, and when they depend
on you, you have to live up to their expectations.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And soon enough the enemy soldiers were right on top
of them.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
It was hand to hand grenades that night. You're all
hepped up and the bugles screaming and people screaming. It
seemed to me they kept coming and coming.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It was a free for all, everyone shooting at close range,
and when the bullets ran out, they hit each other
with helmets, ab them with bayonets. Carl was hid in
the face and chest by grenade fragments, but he kept
shooting back with that pistol he kept holstered on his heart.
The blood froze on his wounds, but against those crazy odds,
(21:15):
Carl's men held the line. They held that hill all night.
Once the sun came up, Carl had a view across
the valley, and what he saw was awful bodies everywhere,
(21:37):
and about a thousand more Chinese troops forming up to
get back into the hills. He knew they would return
that night, and he knew he didn't have enough men
to take them. So he had a crazy idea. He
called down to the bottom of the hill and asked
for any able body man to be sent up East Hill.
(22:02):
Cooks and supply people and engineers answered the call. This
ragtag crew made their way up to join Carl and
his marines. Carl was already an improbable leader, and now
he was leading men who weren't even supposed to be fighting.
But if anyone could inspire them, it was Carl. In
(22:25):
nineteen ninety nine, he told a Richmond Times Dispatch reporter
that he had total faith in those men, even if
he wasn't sure he would survive.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
I had no doubt we were going to get out
of there, but I didn't know if I personally would
make it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
As darkness descended again, the enemy returned in full force,
just as Carl had feared. The hill was rocked with
mortar fire. The Chinese soldiers attacked, and group after group,
their numbers seemed endless. All through that long night, Carl
(23:05):
exposed himself to fire again and again, just so he
could take care of his guys. He went from foxhole
to foxhole, adjusting machine guns, telling his men to stay
strong and hang on. Once again, he was wounded, hit
(23:25):
with shrapnel in the face, chest and arms, but he
would not leave. All of his other officers had been
hit or evacuated or killed. He felt it was his
duty to stay.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
They knew that I wouldn't leave them, and when they
believe in you, then things can get done that maybe
under normal conditions would never get done. These were abnormal conditions,
and people had faith in themselves and their units in
the core, That's what all boils down to.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
And then just before dawn, the attack slowed as the
sun rose. It was quiet. They were alive. Carl Sitter
had led his team of supply guys, cook somebmarines through
the darkest night. He had believed in them, and so
they had believed in themselves. Carl and his marines would
(24:40):
spend one more night on East Hill, but the attacks waned.
Soon the airport at hagaroo Ree was opened. Reinforcements and
supplies were finally on their way. Carl had survived only
ninety of his men walked off that hill with him.
(25:03):
He took no personal credit for the victory. Maybe he thought,
this is why he had that invisible shield around him
on the road to Hagaruri, this is why God had
saved him when so many others had fallen. Carl's grandfather
(25:23):
was a Presbyterian minister. Religious faith was core to the family,
and I think that faith helped Carl feel like he
could do what he needed to do. The UN forces
fought their way back down those mountain passes towards the port.
The men must have all been shell shocked by that point, exhausted,
(25:48):
but Carl's leadership didn't waver. He made sure that his
men knew that they mattered and that he would not
leave a single person behind. Stephen Olmsted remembers it well.
Speaker 7 (26:04):
I felt that if I were hit, killed, or badly
wounded my fellow marines, the guys on my right on
my left would get me.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
On the hill and take care of my Friday, and
that meant a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
On December eleventh, the last American forces reached the port
of hung Na, where ships were waiting to take them home.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
Company G was decimated, badly, shattered, men and men frostbitten
beyond belief in the terrible cold, are put aboard planes
for a safe harbor.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Carl had survived, but the battle had changed him. It
had shown him how fleeting life was, how fragile we are.
There was something else that struck him that all the
men noticed. As bad as it had been for the Americans,
the Chinese soldiers had it even worse. They had been
(27:03):
cannon fodder. It seemed like no one in their leadership
expected them to survive. Here's Raymond Davis again.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
They didn't have our children, didn't have air. We found
whole Chinese units frozen to death, tennis shoes and rose shades.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Carl's heart went out to those enemy fighters. Even after
what he had faced, he felt sympathy and respect for them.
He saw their humanity. Carl eventually returned to the States.
He got promoted again, and then he got the call
(27:42):
to go to his commanding general's office. He was going
to be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman.
Carl and Reginald Myers, the major who had started the
battle on East Hill, both received the medal at the
White House. Reporters were there to film it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Two marine officers received from the President's hands the nation's
highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Major Reginald Myers
is joined in the occasion by his family.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Both he and.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Major Carl Sitter were cited for their heroic conduct during
the disastrous retreat from the chung Jin Reservoir a year
ago in Korea.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
But Carl didn't believe he did anything particularly special or hard.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
I had the easy job because as commanding officer, you're
worried about the troops and hoping your past training and
everything will give you the knowledge to go ahead and
do the right thing, and you hope the mission will
be completed. The hardest position was some private down there
in a hole, and the only thing he knows is
someone's coming.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Carl stayed in the Marine Corps for a total of
thirty years. He had a full life, a family, two
boys and a girl, and after he retired from the survey,
he and his wife, Ruth, settled in Richmond, Virginia. Karl
worked with the Department of Social Services. He retired again,
(29:11):
but he had spent the decades since Korea thinking about
why he had been spared when so many others had
died he wondered what God wanted from him, was fighting
in war is really what he was put on this
planet to do.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
What war does is destroy people on both sides, and
it takes many years to get back what we destroyed.
We don't really win anything by war, And.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So he dug into his faith. What he found there
was a core lesson.
Speaker 6 (29:44):
God says we're to love everybody.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
So in nineteen ninety seven, when he was seventy four
years old, he decided to get a master's degree in
Christian education. He knew he was too old to be
a minister. His plan was to volunteer to help the elderly,
but then his friend Bill Crawford passed away. Crawford was
a Medal of Honor recipient from Pueblo, Colorado. Carl had
(30:11):
grown up in Pueblo too, so Carl flew out to
the funeral. It was a cold and windy day, but
Carl insisted on joining the procession to the cemetery, standing
outside for the service, braving the elements, being there to
honor his friend's heroism and service. After all, he stood
(30:33):
out in far worse weather than that. When he got home,
Carl came down with the cold the cole turned to pneumonia.
He died three weeks later at the age of seventy seven.
What I love about Carl's story is how grounded it
(30:54):
is in faith. Not faith in higher power necessarily, though
he's certainly had that. I'm talking about faith in the
potential of others. Carl's men had faith in him, and
he had faith in them. It was a virtuous circle,
(31:14):
and that circle made them all stronger. It inspired them.
That was Carl's superpower. It's an amazing way to lead,
and more than that, it's a beautiful way to live.
(31:44):
Medal of Honor. Stories of Courage is written by Meredith
Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins and Jess Shane. Our
editor as Ben Nadaf Hoffrey, sound design and additional music
by Jake Gorsky. Our executive producer is Constanza gayardro fact
checking by Arthur Gomperts and original music by Eric Phillips.
(32:05):
Production support by Suzanne Gabber. The rest of the team
includes Carl Catl Greta Cone, Christina Sullivan, Sarah Nix, Nicole Optenbosch,
Eric Sandler, Morgan Ratner, Jordan McMillan, Keira Posey, Owen Miller,
Amy Haggerdorn, and Jake Flanagan. Special thanks to the Congressional
(32:28):
Medal of Honor Society and the Korean War Legacy Foundation.
This is our last episode of this second season, but
we want to keep hearing from you, so please send
us your personal story of courage or highlight someone else's bravery.
Email us at Medal of Honor at pushkin dot fm.
(32:50):
You might hear your stories on future episodes of Medal
of Honor, or see them on our social channels at
Pushkin Potts. I'm your host, j R. Martinez
Pushkin. A deadly winter storm whipped across the jagged Hill
in North Korea. It was the last day of November
nineteen fifty and it was more than twenty degrees below zero.
(00:27):
The marines of Company G tried to find a foothold
on the hill. It was pure ice. They kicked their
frozen guns, hoping to get them to work. They tried
to carve fox holes in the rock hard ground. They
searched for some way to shelter from what was coming,
(00:48):
and they had to do it fast. They heard the
sound of bugles and whistles. The Marines knew what that meant.
They were about to face an onslaught of enemy soldiers,
and they were totally and completely outnumbered. UN forces had
(01:08):
been trying to hold this ground for days. Many had
already been wounded or killed, and some had snuck off
the hill. They knew certain death when they saw it,
but not the men of Company G. There was something
that kept them going. It sure wasn't food. Their cans
(01:31):
or rations were frozen solid. It wasn't adrenaline either. It
was their captain, Carl Sitter. He moved from one position
to the other. He checked their guns, but mostly he
talked to them. He told them they could do it.
(01:51):
They could fight off the enemy, they could survive and
hold that hill. Secretly, in his heart, Carl believed that
he might not survive. In fact, he was pretty sure
he would never make it home, but he had faith
that his men would. I'm j R. Martinez and this
(02:21):
is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of
Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States,
awarded for gallantry and bravery in combat at the risk
of life, above and beyond the call of duty. Each
candidate must be approved all the way up the chain
of command, from the supervisory officer in the field to
(02:43):
the White House. This show is about those heroes, what
they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell
us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Carl Sitter
wasn't your typical marine. He was an amazing physical specimen,
all muscle and brawn. He was kind of pudgy, round
(03:07):
faced and kind. But he had a superpower, a talent
for taking care of his men, shepherding them through the
worst days of their lives, inspiring them. They knew for
sure he would never leave them behind. And here's the
crazy thing. Carl wasn't really supposed to be there. His
(03:31):
story of leadership is filled with crazy good luck and
crazy bad luck. His story is about fate and faith,
the kind of faith that can keep you alive against
impossible odds. When Carl Sitter got to Korea in nineteen fifty,
(04:06):
he wasn't supposed to be leading any marines at all.
He was supposed to be a Special Services officer. And
if you don't know what that is, it's the officer
in charge of equipment. In Carl's case, that equipment wasn't
guns or ammo. It was basketballs, footballs, and jockstraps. Not
(04:29):
exactly the job he'd wanted. Carl was only twenty seven,
but he was pretty out of shape, so out of
shape that his superiors had him in a desk job.
But Carl wanted to be on the front lines, so
he pushed and pushed. But Special Services was the most
(04:51):
the brass would give him. It was a demotion. Still,
Carl didn't complain. It was a job in the war,
and he took it for a second because right after
he got to the base in Japan with all that equipment,
a typhoon blew it into the water, all of it gone,
(05:17):
and that's how his career in Special Services ended. The
brass had no choice but to give him the job
he'd wanted in the first place, on the front lines,
so he was given command of Company G. When his
marines looked at him, they couldn't quite believe this dumpy
(05:37):
guy was going to be their leader. He didn't have
a six pack, but he had something that a lot
of other guys didn't experience. He had enlisted when he
was just seventeen years old, right out of high school.
He served in World War II, rising quickly through the ranks,
(05:57):
and by the time the Marines landed in Guama in
nineteen forty four, he was a lieutenant and had received
the first of what would be four purple hearts. But
he also picked up a habit wearing his pistol holstered
over his heart. Here's why. During one battle he felt
(06:20):
the slam of a bullet into the left side of
his chest. He thought, this is it. I'm going to die.
But wait a minute. He was definitely alive. So he
touched his chest and he felt warm blood, But he
also felt the cold steel of his pistol. It had
(06:42):
stopped the bullet. He would wear the pistol there for
the rest of his combat career. By the time the
war was over, Carl had a Silver Star and a
life in the Core. Sure, maybe he'd gotten little soft
since World War Two, but that didn't mean he wasn't
(07:04):
keen to fight in the next conflict Korea.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
On Sunday, June twenty fifth, Communist forces attacked the Republic
of Korea.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
That's President Harry Truman.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We know that the cost of freedom is high, but
we are determined to preserve our freedom no matter what
the calls.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
At first, it looked like the United Nations forces would
make quick work of this new war. General Douglas MacArthur
led them into South Korea, and they easily drove the
North Koreans back above the thirty eighth parallel. But then
MacArthur decided they should try for a second victory, this
(07:46):
time in the north. By the winter of nineteen fifty,
UN troops had landed in North Korea and were moving inland.
They went up treacherous mountain passes into a trap. They
didn't know that around four hundred thousand Chinese troops had
(08:08):
secretly crossed the Manchurian border. To aid the North Koreans.
Some were battle hardened veterans, and most were so called
volunteers who had been forced into combat. They didn't have
enough weapons, they were fed very little. But there were
so many more of them, and on the night of
(08:30):
November twenty seventh they attacked. Chinese soldiers surrounded the group
of Marines who had gotten the farthest into the mountains,
and the Americans realized they were outnumbered by the thousands.
General MacArthur ordered a hasty withdrawal, but then those withdrawing
(08:51):
troops got trapped. They were miles inland near the Chosen
or chang Jin Reservoir. There was only one road out,
and the Chinese forces captured it. They were hopelessly stuck.
Reporters were there to witness the mayhem.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Here, thousands of Marines and other United Nations forces are
trapped by overwhelming masses of Chinese reds who encircle them
near the chung Jin Reservoir.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Carl and Company G were in North Korea, but far
from the fighting. That didn't last long. Stephen Olmsted was
a young Marine private in Carl's company.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Then we got the word, you guys are going to
join up.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
With your parent the time. They were going to bring ammunition,
food and supplies to the trap marines.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
The people up around the reservoir desperately needed reinforcements, particularly
more tanks.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Most of the troops were near the UN force's last
best foothold, a town called hagarou Re. It had makeshift
hospital facilities and to have constructed airstrip. It was their
only hope to unite the separated groups of marines. Hagaroo
(10:12):
Reed had to be held at all costs. Carl's men
would have to fight their way there up the main
supply route, that dangerous mountain road. Then they would clear
the path for all the UN troops to retreat to
the port and get out of North Korea, and they
(10:35):
would be outnumbered ten to one. There's something important you
need to know about the Battle of the Chosen Reservoir.
It wasn't just the enemy that was deadly. It was
(10:57):
the weather. It was the cold this Korean winter in
one hundred years. Raymond Davis was there, like Carl. He
was commanding a group of marines.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
The snow came, the tempted to a drop of forty
below zero in the mountains. My Weather service said the
wind child was something like seventy below zero.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Weapons froze, shut truck batteries died.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Faces covered with the ice. Radios wouldn't work. They were
frozen food, frozen water, frozen. Terrible conditions.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And the men didn't have the right gear. After all,
everyone including leadership, had been sure they'd be home by Christmas.
Their coats were thin. On their feet, they wore something
called shoe packs. They weren't winter boots, just rubber soles
and a leather top. They made your feet sweat when
(11:58):
you marched and freeze when you stopped. Tons of men
got frostbite.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Anytime I find the marine down, I would get him
on his feet because he'd freeze to death.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
And now Carl and his men were going deeper into
the mountains. Carl's company had joined forces with Colonel Douglas
Drysdale of the British Royal Marines. On November twenty ninth,
they all set out for the un camp at Hagarouri.
(12:34):
Here's Stephen Olmsted again, that private in Carl's company.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
We boarded trucks and there was kind of like an
old Western movie going through what is later called Hellfire Alley.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Hell Fire alley is right. On one side of the road,
there were steep drop offs going down thousands of feet.
On the other side, Chinese fighters held the high ground.
They turned that mountain road into a shooting gallery.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
We're going to jump out and gauge them, drive them away,
and go and do it all over again.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Carl was focused and calm as they made their way
towards Hagarui. At one point they came under intense fire.
The Chinese had set up a roadblock up ahead, and
Company G were sitting ducks. Unless they got out and
cleared it, their trucks would explode where they stood.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
We don't have access to recordings of Carl, but he
was interviewed many times during his life. Our editor and
good friend of the podcast, Ben Nadaf Haffrey, is going
to read his words here. This is what Carl told
Leatherneck Magazine in nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
I yelled for everybody to get off the trucks, and
it's it seemed like anybody close to me was getting shot,
like I was protected by an invisible shield and I
wasn't being hit.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Carl didn't have time to marvel at his survival as
the bullets rained down. He raced to the front of
the convoy. He had to check in with Drysdale, but
when he got there, he discovered that Drysdale had been shot.
He could no longer lead the group. He gave command
to Carl. In case all of this action has wiped
(14:31):
your memory, let me remind you Carl wasn't even supposed
to be on the front lines, and he certainly wasn't
supposed to be leading this group of men on this
deadly mission. But he didn't question it. He had a
sense that if he was there, it was for a reason.
(14:53):
By this point it was night. The surviving Marines cleared
the roadblock and jump back in the trucks. They rattled
forward through the dark, unsure of how far they had
come and how much further they had to go. Tracers
and explosions lit up the night as they inched towards Hagarouri.
(15:17):
Then they saw the distant lights of the marine encampment.
Carl breathed a sigh of relief. There were tents on
the side of the road. They had to be Americans,
they weren't. Chinese fighters jumped out of the tents and
the Marines were right back in the battle. Three of
(15:38):
the trucks went over the side of the road on fire,
lost for good, and the rest of the convoy hit
the gas and made it out of the ambush, and
at nine pm they finally reached Hagarouri. The twelve mile
journey had taken twelve hours. Of the nine hundred men
(16:03):
who started out that morning, one hundred and sixty nine
were killed, one hundred and fifty nine were wounded, and
three hundred and twenty one were missing or captured. That
left them with less than a third of their fighting force.
(16:23):
Once they got to camp, Carl told his men to
get some rest. They would have to sleep on the
frozen ground.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Half the people didn't have sleeping bags. I didn't have one.
I gave my nup.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
When they woke up the next morning, they were covered
in snow.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
You could see all these holes where people had melted
through the snow while they slept.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
They were freezing and exhausted. But if the un troops
ever wanted to leave the chosen reservoir, Carl and his
marines would have to fight again. They had to take
East Hill. East Hill rose about five hundred meters above
the valley floor. It was the high ground whoever controlled
(17:10):
East Hill controlled that one road in and out of Hagarui. Plus,
if the Chinese took East Hill, the Marines would never
be able to finish the airfield. That means they would
never get more supplies. They wouldn't be able to bring
out their wounded, and they're dead.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
If we had not controlled it, physically controlled it, first
Marine division in all likelihood put them in annihilated.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Carl would be going to relieve Major Reginald Myers. Myers
had been fighting on East Hill for two days. He
and his men were just barely hanging on. Myers needed
help badly. Here's what interests me as a leader. Myers
(18:02):
was the opposite of Carl Sitter, a tough marine with
an old school way of leading his men. If he
felt they weren't moving fast enough, he just well, I'll
let him tell you.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
You kicked them and you shot at them.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Rather you pulled your pistol out and you.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Fired the sh in the air and did everything you
could to get him removed. Basically, you treated your men
like cattle, which is how a lot of guys treated soldiers.
But let's be honest, that didn't always work. A lot
of Meyer's men had gotten off the hill as quickly
(18:41):
as they could. They took wounded soldiers down to the
aid station and somehow never managed to go back up.
And now Myers was down to just seventy five men.
So on the morning of the thirtieth, Carl and his
marine started up that icy hill, slipping and crawling, passing
(19:04):
the bodies of fallen soldiers as they made their way higher.
The Chinese machine guns kicked up dirt and shards of
ice around them, but finally they got to the top,
they began to dig in. They tried to carve out
fox holes in the ice, but their tools snapped like magsticks.
(19:27):
They knew the counter attack was coming, and at ten
point thirty that night it did. A Chinese illumination grenade
went off, and the sky turned to a sickly green,
and the dim light the Marines could see the hill
below them. There were so many men climbing up it
(19:49):
looked like the ground was moving. The sound of their
bugles and whistles cut through the icy air. Carl told
the Richmond Times Dispatch in nineteen ninety three that it
was the scariest sound in the world.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
If you're not afraid, you're stupid. I think everybody was afraid.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Carl's men looked up at him with hopelessness. They were
so outnumbered, but Carl knew what his job was, not
to force them like myers, not even just lead them,
but to motivate them by understanding what they were going through.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Those people were depending on me, and when they depend
on you, you have to live up to their expectations.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And soon enough the enemy soldiers were right on top
of them.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
It was hand to hand grenades that night. You're all
hepped up and the bugles screaming and people screaming. It
seemed to me they kept coming and coming.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It was a free for all, everyone shooting at close range,
and when the bullets ran out, they hit each other
with helmets, ab them with bayonets. Carl was hid in
the face and chest by grenade fragments, but he kept
shooting back with that pistol he kept holstered on his heart.
The blood froze on his wounds, but against those crazy odds,
(21:15):
Carl's men held the line. They held that hill all night.
Once the sun came up, Carl had a view across
the valley, and what he saw was awful bodies everywhere,
(21:37):
and about a thousand more Chinese troops forming up to
get back into the hills. He knew they would return
that night, and he knew he didn't have enough men
to take them. So he had a crazy idea. He
called down to the bottom of the hill and asked
for any able body man to be sent up East Hill.
(22:02):
Cooks and supply people and engineers answered the call. This
ragtag crew made their way up to join Carl and
his marines. Carl was already an improbable leader, and now
he was leading men who weren't even supposed to be fighting.
But if anyone could inspire them, it was Carl. In
(22:25):
nineteen ninety nine, he told a Richmond Times Dispatch reporter
that he had total faith in those men, even if
he wasn't sure he would survive.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
I had no doubt we were going to get out
of there, but I didn't know if I personally would
make it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
As darkness descended again, the enemy returned in full force,
just as Carl had feared. The hill was rocked with
mortar fire. The Chinese soldiers attacked, and group after group,
their numbers seemed endless. All through that long night, Carl
(23:05):
exposed himself to fire again and again, just so he
could take care of his guys. He went from foxhole
to foxhole, adjusting machine guns, telling his men to stay
strong and hang on. Once again, he was wounded, hit
(23:25):
with shrapnel in the face, chest and arms, but he
would not leave. All of his other officers had been
hit or evacuated or killed. He felt it was his
duty to stay.
Speaker 6 (23:43):
They knew that I wouldn't leave them, and when they
believe in you, then things can get done that maybe
under normal conditions would never get done. These were abnormal conditions,
and people had faith in themselves and their units in
the core, That's what all boils down to.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
And then just before dawn, the attack slowed as the
sun rose. It was quiet. They were alive. Carl Sitter
had led his team of supply guys, cook somebmarines through
the darkest night. He had believed in them, and so
they had believed in themselves. Carl and his marines would
(24:40):
spend one more night on East Hill, but the attacks waned.
Soon the airport at hagaroo Ree was opened. Reinforcements and
supplies were finally on their way. Carl had survived only
ninety of his men walked off that hill with him.
(25:03):
He took no personal credit for the victory. Maybe he thought,
this is why he had that invisible shield around him
on the road to Hagaruri, this is why God had
saved him when so many others had fallen. Carl's grandfather
(25:23):
was a Presbyterian minister. Religious faith was core to the family,
and I think that faith helped Carl feel like he
could do what he needed to do. The UN forces
fought their way back down those mountain passes towards the port.
The men must have all been shell shocked by that point, exhausted,
(25:48):
but Carl's leadership didn't waver. He made sure that his
men knew that they mattered and that he would not
leave a single person behind. Stephen Olmsted remembers it well.
Speaker 7 (26:04):
I felt that if I were hit, killed, or badly
wounded my fellow marines, the guys on my right on
my left would get me.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
On the hill and take care of my Friday, and
that meant a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
On December eleventh, the last American forces reached the port
of hung Na, where ships were waiting to take them home.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
Company G was decimated, badly, shattered, men and men frostbitten
beyond belief in the terrible cold, are put aboard planes
for a safe harbor.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Carl had survived, but the battle had changed him. It
had shown him how fleeting life was, how fragile we are.
There was something else that struck him that all the
men noticed. As bad as it had been for the Americans,
the Chinese soldiers had it even worse. They had been
(27:03):
cannon fodder. It seemed like no one in their leadership
expected them to survive. Here's Raymond Davis again.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
They didn't have our children, didn't have air. We found
whole Chinese units frozen to death, tennis shoes and rose shades.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Carl's heart went out to those enemy fighters. Even after
what he had faced, he felt sympathy and respect for them.
He saw their humanity. Carl eventually returned to the States.
He got promoted again, and then he got the call
(27:42):
to go to his commanding general's office. He was going
to be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman.
Carl and Reginald Myers, the major who had started the
battle on East Hill, both received the medal at the
White House. Reporters were there to film it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Two marine officers received from the President's hands the nation's
highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Major Reginald Myers
is joined in the occasion by his family.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Both he and.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Major Carl Sitter were cited for their heroic conduct during
the disastrous retreat from the chung Jin Reservoir a year
ago in Korea.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
But Carl didn't believe he did anything particularly special or hard.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
I had the easy job because as commanding officer, you're
worried about the troops and hoping your past training and
everything will give you the knowledge to go ahead and
do the right thing, and you hope the mission will
be completed. The hardest position was some private down there
in a hole, and the only thing he knows is
someone's coming.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Carl stayed in the Marine Corps for a total of
thirty years. He had a full life, a family, two
boys and a girl, and after he retired from the survey,
he and his wife, Ruth, settled in Richmond, Virginia. Karl
worked with the Department of Social Services. He retired again,
(29:11):
but he had spent the decades since Korea thinking about
why he had been spared when so many others had
died he wondered what God wanted from him, was fighting
in war is really what he was put on this
planet to do.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
What war does is destroy people on both sides, and
it takes many years to get back what we destroyed.
We don't really win anything by war, And.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So he dug into his faith. What he found there
was a core lesson.
Speaker 6 (29:44):
God says we're to love everybody.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
So in nineteen ninety seven, when he was seventy four
years old, he decided to get a master's degree in
Christian education. He knew he was too old to be
a minister. His plan was to volunteer to help the elderly,
but then his friend Bill Crawford passed away. Crawford was
a Medal of Honor recipient from Pueblo, Colorado. Carl had
(30:11):
grown up in Pueblo too, so Carl flew out to
the funeral. It was a cold and windy day, but
Carl insisted on joining the procession to the cemetery, standing
outside for the service, braving the elements, being there to
honor his friend's heroism and service. After all, he stood
(30:33):
out in far worse weather than that. When he got home,
Carl came down with the cold the cole turned to pneumonia.
He died three weeks later at the age of seventy seven.
What I love about Carl's story is how grounded it
(30:54):
is in faith. Not faith in higher power necessarily, though
he's certainly had that. I'm talking about faith in the
potential of others. Carl's men had faith in him, and
he had faith in them. It was a virtuous circle,
(31:14):
and that circle made them all stronger. It inspired them.
That was Carl's superpower. It's an amazing way to lead,
and more than that, it's a beautiful way to live.
(31:44):
Medal of Honor. Stories of Courage is written by Meredith
Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins and Jess Shane. Our
editor as Ben Nadaf Hoffrey, sound design and additional music
by Jake Gorsky. Our executive producer is Constanza gayardro fact
checking by Arthur Gomperts and original music by Eric Phillips.
(32:05):
Production support by Suzanne Gabber. The rest of the team
includes Carl Catl Greta Cone, Christina Sullivan, Sarah Nix, Nicole Optenbosch,
Eric Sandler, Morgan Ratner, Jordan McMillan, Keira Posey, Owen Miller,
Amy Haggerdorn, and Jake Flanagan. Special thanks to the Congressional
(32:28):
Medal of Honor Society and the Korean War Legacy Foundation.
This is our last episode of this second season, but
we want to keep hearing from you, so please send
us your personal story of courage or highlight someone else's bravery.
Email us at Medal of Honor at pushkin dot fm.
(32:50):
You might hear your stories on future episodes of Medal
of Honor, or see them on our social channels at
Pushkin Potts. I'm your host, j R. Martinez
Host
Malcolm Gladwell
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