Captain Warren G. Reed was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 15th Infantry on 17 September 1951 and participated in Operation CLEANUP II and Operation COMMANDO in the taking of Hill 487. Colonel Thomas A. O’Neil (26 June1951 – 26 October 1951) was the Regimental Commander, and Lt Colonel Jack R. Gates was the 2nd Battalion Commander. During this period, the 2nd Battalion, 15th Infantry was assigned the vital mission of seizing the strongly defended enemy stronghold one thousand yards west of Hill 487 (called Objective SWIPE I) near Chorwon, Korea.

During a brief lull in the battle, Captain Warren G. Reed assumed command of Company G in the late afternoon of 2 October 1951. In the very early hours of 3 October 1951, “Company G, 15th Infantry, spearheads the initial drive on the high ground west of Hill 487, attacked resolutely and courageously through a deluge of falling enemy grenades, mortar and artillery fire to again and again storm the bitterly defended enemy trenches and emplacements until finally, after suffering heavy losses, the objective was won at the points of fixed bayonets.” The quotation marks are from Lt Colonel Jack R Gates’ “Letter of Commendation,” 16 October 1951.

Company G was considerably under-strength at the time of the attack on Hill 400 (that was what the ridgeline was called at the time) because of the casualties sustained during Operation CLEANUP II and Operation COMMANDO.

Captain Reed wrote at the time, “I was amazed to see the courage that the men of Company G showed in charging up that hill. They did it three times! And each time during the first two assaults they were cut with machine gun, mortar and grenade fire. A mortar round would land and a number of the men would jump into the crater that it created, only to be blown away by the next round. A heavy machine gun had been tunneled to the forefront of the enemy’s parapets and cleverly concealed where it was able to deliver devastating fire into our flanks as the attacking platoons advanced up the hill.”

Company G and Company F reorganized approximately 200 yards back for the final assault on the ridge. SFC Lyle B. Penfold--the senior noncommissioned officer present--reported to Captain Reed that there were only nineteen men remaining in Company G to make this third assault on Hill 400.

“A coordinated barrage from mortar, artillery and close support weapons descended on the objective…. When the firing ceased, Co F signaled the charge, and both companies, with fixed bayonets stormed the trenches. Seriously depleted and exhausted from the violent assault, Co F and Co G were halted and the momentum of Co E was injected into the attack.” Source: Colonel Edwin K. Adam’s MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD, 12 May 1996, Subject: Battle for Ridgeline between Hill 487 and 477 – 3 October 1951, Co F, 2-15, Korea.

Indeed, Company G suffered heavy losses in the fracas. Seventy-six of the officers and men became casualties. Killed in action in taking the Chinese positions were: 1ST LT Edward Robertson, Jr., PFC Charles W. Allen, CPL Samuel Banks, PFC Walter G. Burns, PVT Clarence Chambers, CPL James A. Fike, CPL George Gallo, PFC Frederick W. Hallett, PFC George W. Hammond, PFC Robert W. Heckman, PFC Eugene O. Houle, PFC William L. Howell, PFC Seiki Kimura, SFC Harry A. Krauss, and PFC Gail R. Teegarden. Some sixty-one of the officers and men were wounded in action, and another ten men were unaccounted for.

Letter of Commendation from the Commanding Officer,Second Battalion
15th Infantry Regiment, 16 October 1951