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NIGHT PATROL NEAR THE HAN
Sergeant Thomas takes his men on a routine but perilous job
At night in Korea the war creeps on with the silent beckon of the patrol leader and the lonely, stealthy tread of his scouts. Even under the brightest moons, small groups of U.N. infantrymen file out through the shadowy ravines into the enemy country. They look for living targets for the U.N. mortars and artillery waiting behind them, for enemy stragglers in the villages and Red raiding parties coming in for supplies of rice. The yapping of a scared dog might give away their position, or they might suddenly have to slip away in the face of a Chinese battalion moving up for a dawn attack.
Carrying on the sullen night war, Sgt. William Thomas of Company A, 19th Regiment, 24th Division, took out a 10-man patrol to scout a village near the Han Valley. Equipment such as canteens and cartridge belts that would rattle or clink dangerously as the men walked was left behind. Even their dog tags were rimmed in rubber cushions. The patrol stole across a frozen stream to its objective. There it was confronted only by a blank and eerie stillness. This time it would be an easy report for Sergeant Thomas to make to his lieutenant. But the next time, on the next night, the silence could erupt.
PATROL LEADER THOMAS WAVES HIS MEN F'ORWARD ON NIGHT RECONNAISSANCE OF ENEMY COUNTRY
UNDER A CLOUDED MOON SERGEANT THOMAS' PATROL HEADS SILENTLY THROUGH SNOW AND GRASS TOWARD THE VILLAGE WHICH THEY MUST RECONNOITER
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