Courtesy Photo | 25th Infantry Division prepares to leave Japan for Korea, July 1950.... read more read more
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by Fiona G. Holter, USAICoE Staff Historian
On July 19, 1950, Sfc. John F. Little, leader of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance (I&R) Platoon, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, led a motorized reconnaissance patrol near Yechon, South Korea. After being ambushed by enemy insurgents, Sergeant Little and Cpl. Hideo Nakama, an infantry reconnaissance scout, were killed. They were the first two soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division killed in the Korean War.
On July 10, 1950, the 27th Infantry, under the command of Lt. Col. John H. Michaelis, arrived in Pusan to assist U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) troops in holding the Pusan perimeter. After arriving, the regiment joined with the 8th Field Artillery Brigade to form the 27th Regimental Combat Team and immediately set out to support ROK troops in the northern region of the Pusan triangle. Headquarters Company, an artillery battery, and the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, moved north from Taegu into the mountains near Uisong, while the rest of the unit went to Pohang.
On July 19, 1950, the I&R Platoon from Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 27th Infantry, conducted a motorized reconnaissance patrol near Yechon, just north of Uisong, and soon found themselves surrounded by fifty North Korean soldiers. Sergeant Little, the 31-year-old platoon leader from Kentucky, ordered his men to dismount and take cover in a small ditch nearby. Pinned down by the insurgents, Corporal Nakama, also thirty-one and a native of Hawaii, jumped onto a jeep approximately fifteen yards from the enemy to return fire with the 50-caliber machine gun but was killed instantly.
Sergeant Little ordered the platoon to take out the enemy as he jumped onto the jeep to take Corporal Nakama’s place at the machine gun. Despite facing intense small-arms fire, Sergeant Little calmly remained at the gun returning fire and diverting enemy fire towards himself, while his team returned fire at the insurgents. His efforts allowed the platoon to wipe out the enemy’s position. Like Corporal Nakama, Sergeant Little was mortally wounded by enemy fire.
Because of Little and Nakama’s efforts, the platoon was able to rout the enemy, inflicting heavy losses. Sergeant Little was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his demonstration of courage and heroism against the enemy. Nakama was awarded a Purple Heart.
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2022 10:51 |
| Story ID: | 425197 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 83 |
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