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

November 1950, the Korean Peninsula: After General MacArthur ignores Mao's warnings and pushes his UN forces deep into North Korea, his ten thousand First Division marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by one hundred thousand Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge in the Nangnim Mountains. This choke point will need to be held open at all costs. The mission is handed to Captain William Barber and the 236 men of Fox Company, a courageous but undermanned unit of the Seventh Marine Regiment. Barber and his men are ordered to 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 the outfit will be overrun, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Davis, a fearless marine officer who is fighting south from the Chosin, volunteers to lead a daring mission that will seek to cut a hole in the Chinese lines and relieve the men of Fox Company. The Last Stand of Fox Company is a fast-paced and gripping account of heroism and self-sacrifice in the face of impossible odds. The authors have conducted dozens of first-hand interviews with the battle's survivors, and they narrate the story with the immediacy of classic accounts of a single battle like Guadalcanal Diary, Pork Chop Hill, and Black Hawk Down.

"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have set the standard for wartime accounts on the Korean conflict. Packed with fascinating personal accounts of courage and sacrifice on the part of a handful of marines assigned to keep thousands of Communist Chinese soldiers from breaking through the strategic Toktong Pass in 1950, this is a story that is almost too incredible to be true. Told largely in the words of the participants, The Last Stand of Fox Company deftly captures the spirit of the marine corps and its legendary tenacity on the battlefield." -- Dr. Charles P. Neimeyer
"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have written a paean worthy of one of the most extraordinary battles in marine corps history. You can almost feel Korea's biting cold, and hear the terrifying bugles in the dark. Most of all, they remind us that although the places and dates change, the valor of America's fighting forces remains the same. A magnificent book." -- Nathaniel Fick

Bob Drury is the author/co-author/editor of nine books, the last two in collaboration with Tom Clavin. His last solo book, "The Rescue Season", was adapted into a documentary by the History Channel. He has written for numerous publications, including "The New York Times", "Vanity Fair", "Men's Journal", and "GQ". He is currently a contributing editor and foreign correspondent for "Men's Health" magazine, and has reported from Iraq, Darfur, Liberia, Afghanistan, Sarajevo, and Belfast. He lives in Manasquan, New Jersey.

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