Combat· Korean War
Outpost Yoke (Hill 159)
Outpost Yoke, also known as Hill 159, was one of the forward combat outposts the Marines manned in front of their main line of resistance, and it became the focus of the heaviest fighting during a coordinated Chinese assault timed to a propaganda anniversary.
A small garrison held the exposed position when the enemy struck, enveloping the outpost and pouring intense supporting fire onto its forward slopes as assault troops rushed the defenders. The Marines of the holding battalion fought to keep the position, the action around Yoke proving by far the sharpest of several simultaneous attacks against the battalion's outpost line. The defense exacted a heavy toll on the attackers even as the small garrison absorbed serious losses of its own. Yoke was a representative episode of the outpost war, a contest for a single hill in no-man's-land where a platoon-sized garrison could find itself the target of a far larger enemy force.
Record no. 637