The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

by Bob Drury, Tom Clavin

Overview

A "gut-clenching and meticulously detailed" (USA Today) account from the Korean War and how Captain William Barber led 246 courageous Marines of the Seventh Marine Regiment in the perilous defense of Fox Hill.

November 1950, the Korean Peninsula: After General MacArthur ignores Mao’s warnings and pushes his UN forces deep into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge that will need to be held open at all costs. The mission is handed to Captain William Barber and the 234 Marines of Fox Company, a courageous but undermanned unit of the First Marines. Barber and his men climb seven miles of frozen terrain to a rocky promontory overlooking the pass, where they will endure four days and five nights of nearly continuous Chinese attempts to take Fox Hill. Amid the relentless violence, three-quarters of Fox’s Marines are killed, wounded, or captured. Just when it looks like they will be overrun, Lt. Colonel Raymond Davis, a fearless Marine officer who is fighting south from Chosin, volunteers to lead a daring mission that will seek to cut a hole in the Chinese lines and relieve the men of Fox. This is a fast-paced and gripping account of heroism in the face of impossible odds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802144515
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/03/2009
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	64,984
Product dimensions:	5.76(w) x 8.24(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

Tom Clavin, a contributing writer for the New York Times for fifteen years, is the author of seven books, including Dark Noon: The Final Voyage of the Fishing Boat Pelican and Raising the Rainbow Generation.

Bob Drury is a contributing editor and foreign correspondent for Men's Health magazine and the author, coauthor, or editor of seven nonfiction books, including The Rescue Season.

Michael Prichard has recorded well over five hundred audiobooks and was named one of SmartMoney magazine's Top Ten Golden Voices. His numerous awards and accolades include an Audie Award and several AudioFile Earphones Awards.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have set the standard for wartime accounts on the Korean conflict.... This is a story that is almost too incredible to be true." —-Dr. Charles P. Neimeyer, director of the U.S. Marine Corps History Division

Editorial Reviews

The authors of the bestselling Halsey's Typhoon do a fine job recounting one brutal, small-unit action during the Korean War's darkest moment. In November 1950, as General MacArthur's troops were advancing deep into North Korea, China warned that it would intervene if armies approached its border. U.S. troops were scattered through mountainous terrain at the onset of a freezing winter. Using extensive interviews with survivors, the authors tell the story of one 234-man company ordered to secure a rocky promontory overlooking the legendary Chosin Reservoir. Abundant and detailed maps enable readers to track the vicious week-long battle almost minute by minute as the men fought off repeated assaults by overwhelming Chinese forces until another marine unit arrived to rescue the few survivors. The authors draw no great lessons from Fox Company's ordeal, but deliver a precise, technically accurate account of the fighting. Although aimed at military buffs, the closeup views of individual marines tested to their limits will engage any reader curious to learn how brave men fought a conventional 20th-century war. 100,000 announced first printing; 12-city author tour.(Jan.)

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Publishers Weekly

Drury and Clavin (coauthors, Halsey's Typhoon) provide a gripping, firsthand account of one U.S. Marine company's dramatic, bloody combat during the Korean War, taking listeners on a journey through the harrowing, life-and-death struggle that defined the battle. Michael Prichard's (How Doctors Think) solid narration respectfully conveys these soldiers' heroism in the face of impossible odds and heightens listener interest throughout this impressive work, which successfully communicates the realities of war. Similar in approach to Linda Granfield and Russell Freedman's I Remember Korea and sure to appeal to students of history, specifically those interested in the Korean War. [Audio clip available through www.tantor.com; the Atlantic Monthly hc was described as "a strong narrative of military valor against overwhelming odds," LJ 10/15/08.—Ed.]—Dale Farris, Groves, TX

Library Journal

Engaging account of an important, sometimes overlooked battle of the Korean War. Drury and Clavin (Halsey's Typhoon, 2007, etc.) have mined archival material and conducted extensive interviews with veterans who participated in the Battle of Fox Hill, during which a Marine rifle company held Chinese troops at bay for five days. Facing enemies who were better equipped in temperatures reaching 30 degrees below zero, the Marines fought south through the Toktong Pass in North Korea's Nangnim Mountains. The company's leader, Capt. William E. Barber, was shot and severely wounded in the leg; refusing to be evacuated, he commanded his troops from a stretcher and was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery. The authors are thorough, but they don't overwhelm readers with minutia in this riveting narrative, which combines drama, military strategy and human interest. They provide a palpable sense of place by including interesting background material, such as accounts by missionaries who explored the terrain in the 1600s. The book's best sections, however, paint vivid verbal pictures of the fighting: "A concussion grenade exploded in the slit trench and kicked [Pfc. Harrison] Pomers into the wall. Another bounced off his helmet and exploded just outside the trench, nearly knocking him out. He could move nothing but his left arm. He wiped his head, saw the blood on his left hand and, frantically reached for his helmet." This approach offers a fine example of historiography examining war at the micro level. Those looking for a big-picture treatment of the war should consult David Halberstam's masterful and elegantly written The Coldest Winter (2007). Drury and Clavin's prose, bycontrast, is rather pedestrian, but those who persevere will find the effort worthwhile. Substance trumps style in a book that will appeal to military history buffs and veterans. First printing of 100,000. Agent: Nat Sobel/Sobel Weber Associates

Kirkus Reviews

"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have set the standard for wartime accounts on the Korean conflict.... This is a story that is almost too incredible to be true." ---Dr. Charles P. Neimeyer, director of the U.S. Marine Corps History Division

From the Publisher

Give Michael Prichard a great book to narrate, and you'll hear him at his best. He tells the gripping story of a company of U.S. Marines defending a mountain pass in North Korea during the outbreak of the war in 1950. Under the worst hardships imaginable a few men hold off thousands of Chinese soldiers, fight bitter cold, and have little to eat, while being supplied by air with grenades that don't work and ammunition for weapons they don't have. Prichard takes full advantage of the colorful writing: "The commanding officer's voice could have scoured a stove." He makes the dire circumstances so real one can feel the emotions of the men dying to fight Communism in a frozen valley no one ever heard of. J.A.H.

© AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2009 - AudioFile