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		THE 674th FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION AT WONJU, KOREA
		Major Harry Lambert was the Commanding Officer of the 674th F.A. Bn. in mid December 1950 when the Communist Chinese Forces (CCF) offensive started pushing the entire United Nations forces back toward the 38th Parallel.  In spite of U.N. air superiority and relentless air strikes that devastated the enemy, there were countless small unit skirmishes, as the enemy began to re-supply, regroup and prepare for a large scale attack.
		The 674th F.A. Bn. had firing batteries attached to battalions and scattered over a wide area with Infantry units and had to contend with roads crammed with traffic, vehicles, hand carts, and South Koreans all moving south.
		“B” Battery had been displacing in successive moves, until it reached Wonju, S. Korea, where it inflicted heavy damage on the CCF as they tried to overrun the 187th ARCT paratroopers confronting them.  The 69th Field Artillery Bn. fired their 8 inch howitzers point blank into the enemy, which would only momentarily stop their advance.  When great holes were blown into the advancing enemy, the Chinese simply closed the gaps and kept on coming.
		Wonju was the focus here; Harry Lambert once told me, he wanted to write an article for the Lt. Vincent J. McDonald Chapter newsletter, on the importance of those battles in convincing the Communists that the Americans had every intent of winning the war.  Since Harry had never written it, an article in the Rakkasan Shimbun by Colonel William Weber (USA Ret.) who was the Commanding Officer of K-Company 187th ARCT in the battles for hills, 340, 341 and 342 stated that he considered “Wonju” “The Chinese Gettysburg” which if the truth were known, it was.
		C-Battery was in support of the 3rd Bn. 187th ARCT at Wonju and provided pre-planned artillery concentrations that helped K-Company hold hill 342.
		When General Bowen (commanding General of the 187th ARCT) said, “the 187th would hold Wonju because the Regiment was committed to stopping the Assault by two hundred thousand Chinese.”  K-Company was on Hill 339; their objective became Hill 342 which was several hundred yards away, with the Turks on their right flank, as they pushed off at 1600 hours Feb. 13, 1951.  Platoon wedge formations with marching fire, crossed the three ridges with the Chinese retreating.  The troopers charged the hills with blazing machine guns, rifle, mortar and artillery fire, as the UN air strikes were raining napalm on the enemy positions.  The Chinese were well dug-in on Hill 340, where fixed bayonets were used to clear them out of their foxholes.  The hill side was covered with snow and many troopers were firing, while they slide down hill 341 on their seat.
		As K-Company stopped at a flat spot around 1900 hrs, the Chinese fire penned them down and the CCF infiltrated in the valley between them and Hill 342.  A UN air strike came in and napalmed the infiltrators around 2000 hrs.  At that time K-Company had taken Hill 342, but the Chinese had no intention of giving it up and counter-attacked throughout the night, causing K-Company to withdraw to Hill 342 to reorganize.
		During the engagement, the Rakkasans of I-Company moved ammunitions to the K-Company positions.  When the Chinese broke off their attacks at dawn to fortify and defend Hill 342, K-Company counter-attacked and drove the CCF soldiers off the peak.  G-Company sent a patrol to Hill 342 to make a flanking run and hit attack on the CCF, which was not successful, but it let the Chinese know that the 187th ARCT was there to stay.
		At noon on February 15, 1951, G-Company attacked up toward the northeast ridgeline of Hill 342 and after intense fighting took the peak.  “In the final analysis, three airborne rifle companies, of 150 troopers each took control of hills held by more than 2,000 Peoples Volunteers of the Benevolent Communist controlled 66th CCF Field Army.”  (J.D. Coleman)
		Note:  Some of this information was received from several named or others who were involved as well as from the book by J.D. Coleman, titled “Wonju,” did not exactly fit some the concepts of the battles or the numbers.
		After X Corps took over on the 28th of February, the entire 187th ARCT moved to Taegu where they prepared for the Parachute Assault on Munsan-Ni, where many CCF soldiers surrendered to the American Forces after their Air Assault, on Good Friday March 23, 1951.
		Courtesy of “The Lt. Vincent J. McDonald Chapter” a quarterly published Newsletter
		Editing provided by Leo Kocher  C-187th ARCT