This event has always bothered
me, and partly illustrates why there were such
high casualties among Machine Gunners. The squad
had been informed by local citizens that a party
of North Koreans had been seen entering this
tunnel, so the Marines were only making sure they
had gone on through.
Truman and his cabinet had
virtually turned the United States Marine Corps
into a police force for the Navy. The Pusan
Perimeter was saved and the assault at Inchon
possible only because the Reserves were called
up, once Truman realized his mistake. These
Marines might have been in the Reserves, driving
buses or pumping gas only two months before being
thrown into an infantry company and facing and
defeating NK veterans here in Seoul. But they did
defeat them, and continued to face and defeat
them at the Han and at Seoul. And they went on to
face 12 Chinese divisions at Chosen.
Still, the M1919A4 Light Machine Gun
although slightly off-set from the tunnel axis,
is vulnerable to whatever firepower the enemy
left to delay pursuit. The Marine throwing a
grenade into the entrance should have thrown it
before any troops exposed themselves to
fire from within.
