1,400 Filipino soldiers versus 40,000 communist Chinese
They faced 40,000 Chinese soldiers with only rifles, machine guns, mortars and howitzers to stop the enemy. They also have 2 light tanks, a few bazookas which didn’t work and not of all them had winter clothing. The communist attack was so overwhelming that the British and the Puerto Ricans retreated but the Filipinos stayed and kept fighting.
They were greatly outnumbered 40 to 1 so the clerks, drivers and cooks joined the fight. They held the line, preventing the Chinese to take more land from Korea. The Chinese army lost 7,000 troops while the Filipinos lost 24 with 26 more wounded.
When the Americans came there were a lot of littered clothing all over the area. An American officer asked a Filipino machine gunner what those “rags” were. He replied, “Those are dead Reds, sir”.
The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea), supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), at one time supported by the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. It was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean Peninsula was ruled by the Empire of Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of the Empire of Japan in September 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel, with U.S. military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces occupying the northern half. (Wikipedia)
The Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) was the Philippine Army contingent of the United Nations forces that fought in the Korean War. The unit arrived in Korea in August 1950. It was composed of 7,500 Filipino soldiers, and was the fourth largest force under the United Nations Command.
The PEFTOK took part in the Battle of Yultong Bridge and the Battle of Hill Eerie. The unit operated with the United States 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division, and 45th Infantry Division. Among the Filipino soldiers who fought during the Korean war was 2nd Lt. Fidel Ramos who would later become president of the Philippines.