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Utah 213th and the Miracle at Gapyeong, 1951

 

 

 

Feature Documentary

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In late May of 1951, roughly 250 soldiers of the 213th Field Artillery Battalion (FAB) fought a critical battle against, and were nearly overrun, by an estimated 4,000 Communist Chinese soldiers in the Gapyeong (Kapyong) Valley, Korea.  More than half of the 213th were Utah guardsman from southern Utah, including the commander Colonel Dalley and his headquarters staff.  The men of the 213th fought fiercely and admirably to protect each other -- they were neighbors, family members and fellow members of their church from the same home towns.  Normally artillery units like the 213th would have operated behind the front line--out of direct contact with the enemy.  But in the pre-dawn hours of May 27th, 1951, the battle commenced at such great speed that elements of the 213th found themselves surrounded and behind enemy lines.  This was not an artillery dual, the men of the 213th fought with small arms, their personal weapons, as the Communist Chinese were “in the perimeter.”  The official report said 350 Chinese were killed and 831 captured, some estimated the deaths as high as 500.  Remarkably not a single soldier/national guardsman was lost during the battle.  It wasn’t the 213th’s first or last battle while deployed to the Korean conflict but later, after returning from deployment, the Utahns that comprised the 213th realized that they had all returned from deployment. It was the miracle of Gapyeong and they were the "Miracle Battalion" -- not one fatality!

 

In an effort to depict this story as accurately as possible we have collected images, letters, journals, and other documents. Some of these documents are available on our website for reference and research.

 

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Combat Films & Research is a production company that has shot and produced international stories. We have expanded to  also shoot everything between commercial, corporate and educational.

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