On the Road to Hungnam, North Korea

The Hoquiam PF-5 has just been commissioned. For the next month, she will undergo Sea Trials and crew training to prepare her for war. The Captain receives orders cutting short his training schedule, to report to Commander Task Force 90, and escort them to Wonsan, North Korea, where the US Marines will disembark to chase the North Korean Army and Marines northward until they are killed or captured. The Captain expects to be there for about two weeks before returning to Yokosuka or Sasebo, Japan. Instead, the Hoquiam is transferred to Commander Task Force 96 and will support landing operations all the way to the Manchurian border with North Korea. They act as "Gate Guard" (Harbor Entrance Control Vessel---HECV) at Iwon, Hungnam, Songjin, and Chongjin, North Korea. Meanwhile, she is assigned to duties chasing down sampans or junks moving south to South Korean ports. Urgent dispatches indicate the Chinese Communists are entering the fray. The Hoquiam is urgently dispatched back to Hungnam as HECV and then into the Inner Harbor to support the Naval Facility Activity as the Port Commander. They tie up next to the Port Commander and were resting there when the Army ands Marines arrived from their long walk from the Chosin Reservoir. The crew watched as these exhausted troops boarded LCVPs and LCMs for rides to Hospital ships, Cargo ships, ands Attack Transports. Some were moved aboard the Hoquiam for a ride to South Korea. The crew watched as at least one hundred ships moved out of Hungnam on Christmas Eve loaded with all the troops, their equipment, and some civilians.