Originally published in June/July 1952, reissued in 1996 by Gemstone Publishing, 8 pages

It has been called the forgotten war, essentially a bloody epilogue to WWII and a doomful prologue to Vietnam. I knew men that fought in Korea; men who loved it, men who hated it, and men who were broken by it. A Platoon! is the story of one starlit engagement by a U.S. Army rifle platoon and a North Korean company of assault infantry. The detailed order of battle for the platoon seemed to be a primer on how to organize your army men for battle, and does a nice job of detailing the table of organization.

The Americans are depicted as a realistic mix of citizen soldiers going about their grim work with a mix of dread, panic and determination. It is not very propagandistic overall, but rather too enthusiastic about war for our contemporary taste. The North Koreans are depicted in a neutral, almost sympathetic, light. Their tactics and equipment are more representative of the Chinese, but in that, accurately depict the enemy the U.S. soldier was facing in 1952, which was predominantly Chinese.

The story itself focuses on Ed, a long serving career enlisted man who continually avoids promotion to sergeant. Just as he is explaining his reasoning behind not accepting this grim responsibility to a green soldier, the captain, his jeep, and all of the lieutenants and sergeants, who are discussing their advance, get hit by a mortar round. The enemy is about to launch one of its famed ‘human wave’ attacks across the scarred landscape and Ed’s reluctant ass is now in charge.