Regarding your web tribute to soldier Burt Hafkin, who died 18 Oct 1951 in Korea, member of the 21st Reg, 24th Infantry Division, which was not on Heartbreak Ridge.
The 24th ID was fighting in Operation Nomad-Polar, east of the Punchbowl/Heartbreak Ridge. They were trying to take Hill 770 and other peaks south of Kumsong the day he was killed. After the Allies broke the enemy in the Iron Triangle earlier in the summer, the Chinese had shifted their main operations eastward to Kumsong, which became one of the Chinese' main supply routes. Operation Nomad, although overlooked by most historians, was a brutal battle lasting from 13 - 22 October 1951. The daily average casualty rate was higher than either Heartbreak or Bloody Ridge.
Because Heartbreak was much in the news -- and overlapped Operation Nomad by two days -- it was a common mistake for newspapers to report casualties of Nomad as being part of Heartbreak Ridge, which was carried out primarily by the 2nd Infantry Division.
Merry Helm
Researcher: Operation Nomad-Polar
Remembering the Men Who Paid For Our Freedom. Nutley, New Jersey.
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