On Hallowed Ground: The Last Battle for Pork Chop Hill
Written by Bill McWilliams and Robert W. Sennewald
Narrated by Danny Campbell
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
“Brilliantly reveals the extraordinary courage of those who fought the final, bitter, bloody, costly days of the Korean War” (Gen. Jack I. Gregory, USAF Ret.).
By the summer of 1953, the Korean War had long since reached a stalemate. As peace negotiations dragged on, units of the US 7th Infantry Division rebuilt the defenses of Hill 255, one of numerous outposts in front of the Main Line of Resistance extending across the peninsula. Better known by its nickname, Pork Chop Hill, the outpost had twice been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the spring. Now, the soldiers tasked with its rebuilding and defense hoped they would not be the last men to die in what had already become known as “the Forgotten War.”
On the night of July 6th, under the cover of a heavy monsoon rainstorm, forces of the Chinese 23rd Army attacked. For five hellish days, the opposing forces engaged in devastating artillery assaults, brutal hand-to-hand fighting, and round-the-clock attacks and counterattacks. Less than three weeks after the smoke on Pork Chop Hill cleared, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed.
On Hallowed Ground is the riveting story of this epic battle. Drawing on previously classified documents, interviews, and letters from survivors, author Bill McWilliams details the strategy and tactics behind the conflict and pays stirring tribute to the heroic soldiers and medics who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to hold “the Chop.”
Bill McWilliams
Bill McWilliams, a 1955 graduate of West Point and Air Force officer, flew 128 combat missions in Vietnam. A resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, he is also the author of A Return to Glory and numerous newspaper and magazine articles.
Related to On Hallowed Ground
Related audiobooks
The Last of the 357th Infantry: Harold Frank's WWII Story of Faith and Courage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Frozen Chosen: The 1st Marine Division and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iwo Jima: World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Battle Hardened: An Infantry Officer's Harrowing Journey from D-Day to V-E Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Foot Soldier for Patton: The Story of a "Red Diamond" Infantryman with the US Third Army Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Route 9 Problem: The Battle for Lang Vei Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5China Marine: An Infantryman's Life After World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5D-Day with the Screaming Eagles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In The Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat in Iraq Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Gunsight View of Flying with SOG Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hal Moore: A Soldier Once…and Always Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Miracle at Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Vietnam Wars, Volume 3: as told by still more veterans who served Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tank Killers: A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confederacy's Last Hurrah: Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5MiG Alley: The US Air Force in Korea, 1950-53 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holding the Line: The Naval Air Campaign In Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pegasus Bridge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War Journal of Major Damon 'Rocky' Gause Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With Their Bare Hands: General Pershing, the 79th Division, and the Battle for Montfaucon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invasion Diary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guadalcanal Diary: 2nd Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/540 Thieves on Saipan: The Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in One of WWII's Bloodiest Battles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story of Wake Island Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Every Mother's Son: 77 Days at Khe Sanh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman's Eye View of the Activities on the Island of Guadalcanal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Founding Mothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became WWII's Most Highly Decorated Spy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for On Hallowed Ground
10 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good tactical analysis of the signature closing action of the Korean War that doesn't slight the operational and strategic meaning of it all. My only real complaints are a number of what are style points. One is that McWilliams seems to buy into an almost romantic vision of leadership and gets a little too misty-eyed over the Long Gray Line of West Point; I'm not saying McWilliam's is wrong to take this tone, but it might grate if you're even the least bit cynical. Two, I do think the book's title is ghastly, as there was nothing "hallowed" about this particular battlefield, and I suspect that the men who risked life and limb for it could come up with some more pungent concepts.