The 23rd Infantry remained with the 2nd Infantry Division at Ft. Lewis until August 1950 when it departed for Korea.
“In Korea the 23rd Infantry Regiment served initially as the “fire brigade type unit” and was moved to counter enemy thrusts. Just after the 2nd Infantry Division relieved the 24th Infantry Division along the Naktong River, the communists attempted to overrun the Naktong Line. The attack was stopped in the Changyong-Yongsan sector in a battle, which lasted from the 1st to the 15th of September.
Company C was overwhelmed by a North Korean Division and ninety percent of the Company was killed, wounded, or captured. The 23rd Infantry Regimental Combat Team joined the other Combat Teams of the 2nd Infantry Division and made a phenomenal break out of the perimeter against determined resistance and chased the communists north and west. During the drive north, the 23rd Infantry Regiment helped to
liberate many of the prisoners’s of war at Namwon Prison. Moving north in November, the Division had advanced to within 50 miles of the Manchurian border when the Chinese Communists entered the fight. Hoping to trap the Eighth Army northwest of the Chongchon River, the Chinese attacked by the thousands. The mission of the 23rd Infantry Regiment was to keep the withdrawal route open over the Chongchon
River and protect the right rear flank of the Eighth Army. As the rear guard of the 2nd Infantry Division, the Regiment suffered casualties amounting to nearly one-third of their strength but performed its mission enabling the Eighth Army to withdraw in order.
The Chinese winter offensive was halted at Wanju. From Kunu-ri to Wonji the 23rd Infantry experienced 84 consecutive days of enemy contact, the longest stint of combat of any regiment during the Korean War. On 11 December, a French Battalion, Le Batallion De Coree, was attached to the 23rd Infantry Regiment, for the battles of Twin Tunnels and Chipyong. In the epic battle of Twin Tunnels, the 23rd
Infantry Regimental Combat Team routed the enemy at bayonet point and defeated two regiments of the 125th Chinese Communist Division. At Chipyong-Ni, five enemy divisions attacked the 23rd Infantry Regiment. Surrounded and outnumbered, the Tomahawks defeated the Chinese, inflicting 5,000 casualties. The battle marked a turning point in the war and was the first major defeat suffered by the Chinese.
In April and May, the 2nd Infantry Division located on No Name Line halted the communist spring offensive. Following a spectacular defensive struggle against 10 enemy divisions the 2nd Infantry fought for 30 days before they secured the ridge. The communist attack to retain control of Heartbreak Ridge lasted until the end of the following month, when finally the Division was relieved for a well-earned
rest.
