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Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Brower, Richard Eugene (Dick), BT1.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Canton, OH
Last Address Canton, OH
Casualty Date Oct 21, 1952
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Korea
Conflict Korean War
Location of Interment Marlboro Cemetery - Marlboro, Ohio
Wall/Plot Coordinates Plot: Section W, Lot 195 ,Grave 3
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Korean War/Second Korean Winter (1951-52)
From Month/Year
November / 1951
To Month/Year
April / 1952
Description As 1951 drew to a close, a lull had settled over the battlefield. Fighting tapered off to a routine of patrol clashes, raids, and bitter small-unit struggles for key outpost positions. The lull resulted from Ridgway's decision to halt offensive operations in Korea, because the cost of major assaults on the enemy's defenses would be more than the results could justify. Furthermore, the possibility of an armistice agreement emerging from the recently reopened talks ruled out the mounting of any large-scale offensive by either side. On 21 November Ridgway ordered the Eighth Army to cease offensive operations and begin an active defense of its front. Attacks were limited to those necessary to strengthen the main line of resistance and to establish an adequate outpost line.
In the third week of December the U.S. 45th Division, the first National Guard division to fight in Korea, replaced the 1st Cavalry Division in the I Corps sector north of Seoul. The 1st Cavalry Division returned to Japan.
In the air, U.N. bombers and fighter-bombers continued the interdiction campaign (Operation STRANGLE, which the Far East Air Forces had begun on 15 August 1951) against railroad tracks, bridges, and highway traffic. At sea, naval units of nine nations tightened their blockade around the coastline of North Korea. Carrier-based planes blasted railroads, bridges, and boxcars, and destroyers bombarded enemy gun emplacements and supply depots. On the ground, the 155-mile front remained generally quiet in the opening days of 1952. Later in January the Eighth Army opened a month-long artillery-air campaign against enemy positions, which forced the enemy to dig in deeply. During March and April Van Fleet shifted his units along the front to give the ROK Army a greater share in defending the battle line and to concentrate American fire power in the vulnerable western sector.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1952
To Month/Year
April / 1952
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Assigned to TE 95.20 on 11 October, Lewis and RoK PC 706 carried out anti-shipping patrols between Wonsan and Hungnam and warned neutral shipping such as Japanese fishing boats out of the coastal defense zone. Two nights later, Lewis took fire from a radar-controlled enemy gun battery, observing 28 air bursts and 56 water splashes during the duel, some of which exploded as close as 20 yards while others bracketed the evading destroyer out to 12,000 yards. In return, the destroyer escort fired 178 high explosive and 36 white phosphorus rounds, observing one direct hit on a gun emplacement followed by a secondary explosion and fire. The following day, 14 October, Lewis spotted five sampans off Cha Ho and drove them ashore with radar-directed long range gunnery. A week later, on 21 October 1952, Lewis came to the aid of two RoK minesweepers under fire in Wonsan harbor. As she approached, at least four enemy batteries opened up on the destroyer escort. Lewis returned fire and laid down a smoke screen to cover the minesweepers retreat. Shortly thereafter the destroyer escort took two 75mm shell hits, the first plowed into the forward fire room and pierced the No. 1 boiler â?? killing six fire and boilermen outright and mortally wounding a seventh. The second hit exploded on the main deck, port side, lightly wounding one sailor. Following hull and machinery repairs at Yokosuka in mid-November, the destroyer escort sailed for home on 17 November, arriving in San Diego via Pearl Harbor on 2 December.