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Walter Cord ©Stars and StripesKorea, June 21, 1952: Soldiers from the 1st Colombian Infantry Battalion line up for a photo before the start of a coordinated assault on a Chinese-held hill that commanded a view of the United Nations forces' front. Second Lt. Mario Bernal, at center rear with his arms folded, led the savage attack that ended an hour and a half later with the hill captured at a cost of two Colombians killed and 15 wounded (against 28 enemy dead). More than 5,000 Colombian infantrymen (attached to the U.S. 7th Infantry and 25th Infantry Divisions) and 300 sailors served with the U.N. Command from 1951 to 1954. Eighteen Silver Stars, 25 Bronze Stars with "V" for valor and two Presidential Unit Citations (one each from the U.S. and South Korea) were awarded to troops from the only Latin American country to join the U.N. effort in the Korean War.

RELATED MATERIAL: Stars and Stripes' 1952 story about the Colombian Battalion's assault on Hill "X."