Combat· Korean War
Hungnam Evacuation
Once down from the mountains and concentrated in the Hungnam-Hamhung area, the division and the rest of X Corps were evacuated by sea in one of the largest amphibious withdrawals in American history.
Rather than abandon the perimeter in disorder, the Marines and the Navy ran an orderly, fighting embarkation, the troops manning a steadily shrinking beachhead while ships loaded men, equipment, and tens of thousands of Korean refugees, all under the cover of massive naval gunfire and air support. The Marines, having borne the hardest of the reservoir fighting, were among the units lifted out to be reconstituted in the south. The enemy was held off until the last men were aboard and the port's remaining stocks were destroyed. Hungnam turned what could have been a catastrophe into a deliberate redeployment, the division emerging battered but intact, ready to fight again within weeks.
Record no. 622