Korean War KIA PH/BSM

[Military_Curator]

In honor of Memorial Day, I'd like to share a set of posthumous medals that have always stood out to me in my collection belonging to Corporal James Cordie Rix of Georgia.

Screams echo out over the firing line as the Chinese close the gap. A young man fires his machine gun, attempting to keep his buddies safe from the attack. Yet as any combat veteran can attest to, you never hear the one that hits you. A mortar round slams into the gunner, ending the short life of James Rix.

 

James “Bunk” Cordie Rix was born on May 10th, 1932, in Laurens County, Georgia. When he turned 17, he convinced his mother to sign documents allowing her only child to enlist underage. On September 14th, 1949, Rix was sent to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for basic training before embarkation to Japan, arriving in February of 1950. Rix was assigned to Machine Gun Squad, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (2/7) and served as a machine gunner within the company. Rix was tasked with garrisoning Japan, keeping spit shined boots and making tactical incursions to the redlight districts of Tokyo. This was interrupted for the First Team, however, as on June 25th, 1950, North Korea invaded its southern counterpart to reunify the Korean Peninsula under Communist rule. The 1st Cavalry Division was the third American army division to be sent to Korea, with the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions going ahead of them, draining the 1st Cavalry Division of experienced junior officers and NCOs (noncommissioned officers). When the 7th Cavalry embarked for Korea, they were down to 2/3 total strength and woefully unprepared for the fight to come.

 

On July 18th, Rix and the 7th Cavalry, disembarked from transports onto the mud flats of Pohang-dong. A banner inscribed “Wellcome U.S. Army” flew overhead as the 7th Cavalry Regiment marched towards the ever-shrinking perimeter around Taegu, the temporary capital of South Korea. E Company and the rest of 2/7 moved to assist the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment (2/5) and the entire 8th Cavalry Regiment (1-3/8 ) as they tried to defend Hwanggan: a critical logistics hub 45 miles from Taegu.The men dug in on jagged hillsides outside the village of No Gun-ri on the night of July 25th. Then at 10 AM the next day, an 8th Army issued an order which stated, “no refugees will be permitted to cross battle lines at any time.” That morning, a column of up to 600 refugees came up the railroad tracks guarded by E Company and the rest of 2/7, unsure of what was to come. Women, children, and the elderly walked along the railroad track as American aircraft circled overhead. The refugees thought the planes counting their numbers, but then the planes dived down, unleashing rockets and machine gun fire. Rounds hit the earth and cut through oxen and man alike. Napalm tumbled down, incinerating those below. Oxen let out gurgled grunts of agony as they laid stricken and little children tried to wake mothers and fathers who laid lifeless. Hae-sook, a young girl caught in this hellscape, was temporarily blinded in one eye while completely losing the other. She was forced to rip out her own dangling eye straight from the socket before seeking cover. Many followed suit, diving for a culvert nearby. The cavalrymen emerged from their fox holes with bayonets attached to force the survivors into the tunnels a couple hundred yards away. Then, they continued the atrocity by firing machine guns, grenades, rifles, and mortars at the tunnels, forming human barricades five bodies deep and with heights growing by the hour. Three babies were born and killed during this disgusting act of barbarism by their mothers in hopes the Americans would simply stop killing them. By the end of the slaughter, 150-300 laid dead in or near the tunnels. The No Gun-ri Massacre lives on in the memories of those who survived it and those who perpetrated it; may it not be forgotten.

 

On August 1st, the entire division was ordered to retreat 75 miles to Kumchon and then again to go over the Naktong River, forming the infamous Pusan Perimeter. The NKPA launched five major assaults to try and capture Taegu, beginning on August 3rd. Rix was thrown into a pitched battle with the 10th NKPA Division at Yongpo between August 13th and 14th to hold the perimeter. Supported by the 77th Field Artillery Battalion, E Company and the rest of the 2/7 repelled the 10th NKPA Division, inflicting heavy casualties on the communist unit. Despite these defeats, the First Team prevented the fall of Taegu and blunted the Communist war machine. The Pusan Perimeter would stand for over two more weeks before the Marine Corps landed in Inchon and knocked the North Koreans off their balance, sending them into a full-on route back across the 38th Parallel. The 7th Cavalry was issued a simple order for the breakout: annulate all bypassed resistance. On September 18th, Corporal Rix would distinguish himself in combat, earning the Bronze Star Medal for valor. While advancing from Taegu, E Company was mopping up stragglers when they came under fire from North Koreans. Rix’s commanding officer ordered the company to fall back, but he stayed behind to cover the retreat. Rix laid down effective covering fire, ensuring his fellow troopers escaped before he himself returned to friendly lines.

 

The 1st Cavalry Division raced north, retaking lost ground rapidly. E Company operated in the ridges of Korea behind the most forward troops, continuing their mopping up orders. The 7th Cavalry Regiment linked up with the 7th Infantry Division in Osan, just south of Seoul, encircling thousands of Communist regulars as well as securing the Inchon beachhead. In early October, the division moved north of Osan, and planned to cross the Imjin River. By October 8th, the entire UN army was ready to advance north, holding their ground as their higher ups decide on if they were to cross over. Rumors of Chinese intervention had been cast upon the UN commanders, but this did not stop MacArthur as on October 9th, he gave one simple order: continue the attack. On the advance, the 1st Cavalry Division was ordered to take the city of Kumchon, north of Kaesong. The 7th Cavalry Regiment was deployed to flank and cut off Kumchon while the 8th Cavalry Regiment assaulted it from the south and the 5th Cavalry Regiment engaged from the east. The 7th Cavalry Regiment seized the rail line connecting the town to Pyongyang, effectively cutting off the North Korean retreat and taking the town. E Company, with the rest of 2/7, was then ordered to take the town of Namchonjom. Resistance was fierce as the unit advanced up the single-track rail line before being repelled by stiff resistance. After an airstrike, they attacked the following day and took the town. On October 19th, the 1st Cavalry Division added another honor to their legacy as they were once again the first entering a prized objective. First Manila, then Tokyo, and now members of the 5th Cavalry Regiment were the first in Pyongyang. On October 21st, the 7th Cavalry Regiment was ordered to capture the port town of Chinnampo. Chinnampo was a vital port, providing much of North Korea and Pyongyang coal. In a single day, the port was secured with immense enemy stores seized. Pyongyang and Chinnampo were suspected to be the final battles of the war, with many in the 1st Cavalry hoping to be back in Japan by Christmas. Yet in the shadows, the Chinese were preparing to make their grand entry into the war. The entire UN army would finally heed their ignored warns in a small village north of Pyongyang: Unsan.

 

The Battle of Unsan was fought between the Chinese and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (and a small contingent of the 5th Cavalry Regiment) and was the bloodiest battle the 1st Cavalry Division fought in Korea, suffering nearly 500 killed and 1,000 more wounded. During the battle, the 7th Cavalry Regiment was rerouted from a division reserve area to act as a rear guard for the division as the First Team fled south. Rix would patrol silently on the outskirts of Unsan in search of any survivors, bringing them back to friendly lines. On November 22nd, the 7th Cavalry Regiment was rotated to a rear reserve area, afforded a break to enjoy a hot Thanksgiving meal in relative safety. However, Eighth Army was forced to move the regiment north to prevent a Chinese break in the line. Rix was sent to the village of Sinchang-ni, 12 miles east of Sunchon.

 

In the early morning hours of November 29th, the ROK 6th Division was routed by an intense Chinese attack, and it became clear that their goal was to break the Americans next. The South Koreans fled through the American lines, with refugees following behind. Chinese infiltrators mixed with the refugees as well, one of whom killed First Lieutenant John Sheehan, the commander of E Company. Sergeant Snuffy Gray of G Company recalled one of his fellow troopers shouting to him “hey look Snuff! That goddamned road is turning black!” The road was filled with columns of Chinese soldiers marching south, ready to engage the 2nd Battalion head on. The first wave crashed against the 7th Cavalry Regiment’s line, pushing the Americans back and bowing the line. The 2nd Battalion CP was almost overrun in this first assault before machine gunners, one of which may have been Rix, drove them back. The commander 2/7, Lieutenant Colonel Gilman “Whiskey Red” Huff, took his jeep towards the front line and began calling in artillery fire, shouting coordinates into his radio while, putting it kindly, plastered. The Chinese breached the 2nd Battalion line in multiple places and men fought tooth and nail, resorting to bayonets and fists as the battlefield descended into madness. Artillery rained down from the American side and mortars from the Chinese, tracers lit the sky like the fourth of July, and the screams of the dying filled the air. One of the mortar rounds fired that night claimed the life of Corporal James Rix. While manning his machine gun, a mortar round scored a direct hit on the solider, killing him instantly and severing both of his legs off of his body.

 

On December 2nd, Rix was buried in the UN military cemetery outside Pyongyang, but this fell into Communist hands the next day. He laid in the North Korean soil until 1954, when Operation Glory took place. During the signing of peace, it was decided to repatriate the war dead to their respective countries, with all the war dead brought to the DMZ and transported out via rail. 4,200 UN and over 14,000 Communist remains were repatriated over the course of two months. The American war dead were transferred to temporary storage in Japan before being buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. Rix was among the unidentified bodies returned to America, designated as X-16680 and remained unaccounted for until 2017. Researchers with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) disinterred X-16680 and after two years of analysis identified the remains as Rix’s. On May 4th, 2019, Rix was finally brought to rest in the little town in Georgia he had left almost seven decades prior. Soldiers from nearby Fort Stewart served as pallbearers and current members of the 7th Cavalry Regiment attended the funeral. He was laid to rest beside his mother, as Scott B. Thompson, Sr wrote:

 

 “Joining his momma in his heavenly home for a Saturday night supper of fried chicken, sweet, iced tea, and chocolate cake, “Bunk” is now home.”

 

[Military_Curator]

The color photo is of Cpl. Rix prior to military service. The next photograph is of Cpl. Rix's mother, Georgia Rix, receiving his posthumous Purple Heart. Lastly is a US Army photograph of one of two machine gun squads from E Company in August, 1950. While I cannot prove it, it is a 50/50 chance it is Rix on the machine gun.

[frank2far]

Thank you for sharing.