S3: This section contains accounts of very competent brigade and battalion leadership under immense pressure. Choose a leader from this section and write about how their example contributed to the success of their unit in the action discussed in Chapters 22-24. Leaders include COL Freeman, LTC Faith, LTC Ray Murray (USMC).

Having participated in a Chipyong-Ni Staff Ride, I chose not to write or research about COL Freeman and his smashing of the Chinese. Reading about LTC Murray, I felt that Fehrenbach did the man justice, devoting the majority of the chapter on the Marines. I settled upon LTC Don Faith. I felt that Task Force Faith deserved more research.

Being deemed medically unfit, Don Faith was denied entrance to the United States Military Academy. While attending Georgetown during WWII, he was again deemed medically unfit, this time by the draft service. He fought and overturned their ruling; subsequently, after graduating, he attended OCS. Through WWII he served in the 82d Division, making every combat jump and earning two bronze stars.

At the outbreak of the Korean War, LTC Faith was the battalion commander of 1-32 IN, stationed in Japan. Falling under 7ID they paired with 1st Marine Division and turned the tide of the war at Incheon: X Corps entered the war and turned the tide. Fast forward to December, 1-32 IN stood on the frontier of freedom–miles short of the Yalu River, the last geographic barrier that separated Korean democratic aspirations and hundreds of millions of communists.

Fehrenbach describes 1-32’s initial contact and a moving scene of LTC Faith throwing a recently awarded Silver Star into a snowbank. When darkness fell that night, “Task Force Faith began another night of battle… after more than one hundred hours of incessant combat Task Force Faith dissolved. Colonel Faith was killed by a hand grenade.” I found this account very brief compared to his Medal of Honor Citation which reads in part:

“When the enemy launched a fanatical attack against his battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Faith unhesitatingly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire as he moved about directing the action. When the enemy penetrated the positions, Lieutenant Colonel Faith personally led counterattacks to restore the position. During an attack by his battalion to effect a junction with another U.S. unit, Lieutenant Colonel Faith reconnoitered the route for, and personally directed, the first elements of his command across the ice-covered reservoir and then directed the movement of his vehicles which were loaded with wounded until all of his command had passed through the enemy fire. Having completed this he crossed the reservoir himself. Assuming command of the force his unit had joined he was given the mission of attacking to join friendly elements to the south. Lieutenant Colonel Faith, although physically exhausted in the bitter cold, organized and launched an attack which was soon stopped by enemy fire. He ran forward under enemy small-arms and automatic weapons fire, got his men on their feet and personally led the fire attack as it blasted its way through the enemy ring. As they came to a hairpin curve, enemy fire from a roadblock again pinned the column down. Lieutenant Colonel Faith organized a group of men and directed their attack on the enemy positions on the right flank. He then placed himself at the head of another group of men and in the face of direct enemy fire led an attack on the enemy roadblock, firing his pistol and throwing grenades. When he had reached a position approximately 30 yards from the roadblock he was mortally wounded, but continued to direct the attack until the roadblock was overrun.”

A broader account of Task Force Faith can be read in <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>East of Chosin</span>. Don Faith’s discipline with sleeping bags kept his men awake and alive. He disregarded the promises of “Chinese remnants” and led his men south as they were encircled and overwhelmed. His personal courage in a frozen wasteland kept terrified and exhausted men moving south to safety. He bled to death in a jeep, where his driver left him as he escaped south. His body’s remains were identified and interred at Arlington in 2012.