Combat· Korean War
Treadway Bridge
The descent of Funchilin Pass was the last great obstacle of the breakout, and the Chinese had blown the bridge over a deep gorge where the road crossed the penstocks of a power station, leaving a gap no vehicle could pass.
Without a crossing, the division would have to abandon its trucks, guns, and tanks on the mountain. The answer was an engineering feat under fire: sections of portable steel Treadway bridge were dropped by parachute to the Marines below, hauled to the chasm, and assembled across the gap while the surrounding heights were cleared and held. With the span in place, the entire column, vehicles, wounded, and all, rolled across and continued down toward the coastal plain. The bridging of the Funchilin gorge, accomplished in bitter cold with the enemy pressing on every side, was the capstone tactical achievement that made the breakout complete.
Record no. 620