From the S&S archives:
Survivor thought ambush was all-out attack

SEOUL — One of two American survivors in the bloody North Korean ambush on Easter Sunday night near Panmunjom said Friday he thought the ambush was a prelude to an all-out Communist attack.

Pfc. Leroy R. Jacks Jr., 19, of Blackwell, Okla.. still nervous as he sat in a wheelchair at the 121st U.S. Army Evacuation Hospital, told newsmen details of what happened that night.

The moment the ambush started, "I saw flashes (of rifle muzzles) on the right side of the road. I thought I also heard them (gunshots), coming from the left side but I didn't even bother to look over there. Instead I laid down in the front seat of the truck," the boyish-looking soldier recalled.

The Communist attack came as six United Nations Command soldiers, four American and two South Korean, were driving the winding 3½ miles from their advance camp to the Panmunjom armistice conference site for guard duty.

Two Americans and the two South Koreans were killed and Leroy and a fourth American wounded in the ambush 1,000 yards short of their destination.

Jacks said, "Before I saw three different muzzle flashes coming from the right side, I was talking with Woody (Spec. 4 Larry M. Wood, 20, of Barstow, Ill.), who was one of those killed, about why I didn't get up for church on Easter morning.

"Woody said he woke me up. I said I didn't remember. I told him I got up but went back to sleep ..."

Jacks said they were nearing Daesung-Dong (Freedom Village, the only South Korean civilian community inside the Demilitarized Zone) about a half-mile from Panmunjom, when their truck was stopped by an explosion.

"My first reaction? I don't know ... I ... holy smokes!" he mumbled.

No sooner had grenades exploded than bursts of automatic weapons fire from both sides of the road began riddling the three-quarter-ton truck, he said.

Hit in initial burst of shooting were Wood and Jacks who were sitting in front with Sgt. James L. Anderson, 20, from Camp Springs, Md. Anderson was driving the truck for a fellow soldier driver who was sick that night.

"The firing stopped a minute and they carne up to us. I didn't see them but I heard them talking and everything. Anderson said 'Okay, we surrender' and that was when they just shot him and he fell over upon me," Jacks said.

"When they were talking to Andy, they were 10 to 20 feet away from the truck. I can't tell you how many attackers there were because I didn't see them.

"It took altogether two or three minutes ... not very long.

Jacks said he was conscious when a second truckload of U.N. Command guards approached. "I wanted to stop it. But I also wanted to motion it to go on because it might be fired upon," he said.

"The vehicle slowed down a moment and then was going as fast as it could. So I was just lying there in the front with Sergeant Anderson on lop of me.

"After they shot Andy ... I was just lying there bleeding hard. Then I could feel them pulling wood. I also could feel them pulling wood over me and down to the ground.

"They reached toward me and pulled my weapon (.45 cal. pistol) out of my holster. I tried not to move because they didn't want any prisoner and I can tell you that.

"If they knew I was still alive, they probably would have shot me here (pointing to his head). I heard mumbling of Korean talk. They left after another explosion shook the truck and another burst of machine gun fire.

"After the second vehicle went by, I began to hear tracked vehicles move.

"I thought it was Joe's (the Communists') tank or something. I thought the Joes cut us off to the south by tanks and our forces were not returning fire because they were worrying they might hit us.

"But as it got closer I could tell it was our APC (armored personnel carrier). They got a sound you can tell from tanks," Jacks concluded.

The U.N. Command later announced that the attackers stole two weapons from the dead and wounded men before they fled.

Jacks had slight gunshot and fragmentation wounds in the right leg and forearm. Doctors say he will spend four to six weeks in the hospital.