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Short Synopsis
From the bestselling authors of Halsey's Typhoon comes the true story of a Marine company's heroic last stand during America's "Forgotten War."

Full Synopsis
November 1950, the Korean Peninsula. After General MacArthur ignores Mao's warnings and pushes his UN forces deep into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge in the Nangnim Mountains. It will need to be held open at all costs. The mission is handed to Captain William Barber and the 246 Marines of Fox Company, a courageous but undermanned unit of the First Marines. Barber and his men are ordered to climb seven miles of frozen terrain to a rocky promontory overlooking the pass. The Marines have no way of knowing that the ground they occupy—it is soon dubbed "Fox Hill"—is surrounded by 10,000 Chinese soldiers. As the sun sets on the hill, and the temperature plunges to thirty degrees below zero, Barber's men dig in for the night. At two in the morning they are awakened by the sound—bugles, whistles, cymbals, and drumbeats—of a massive assault by thousands of enemy infantry. The attack is just the first wave of four days and five nights of nearly continuous Chinese attempts to take Fox Hill, during which Barber's beleaguered company clings to the high ground and allows the First Marine Division to battle south. Amid the relentless violence, three-quarters of Fox Company's Marines are killed, wounded, or captured. Just when it looks like the outfit will be overrun, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Davis, a fearless Marine officer who is fighting south from Chosin, volunteers to lead a force of 500 men on a daring mission that cuts a hole in the Chinese lines and relieves the men of Fox Company.

The Last Stand of Fox Company is a fast-paced and gripping account of heroism and self-sacrifice in the face of impossible odds. The authors have conducted dozens of firsthand interviews with the battle's survivors, and they narrate the story with the immediacy of such classic accounts of single battles as Guadalcanal Diary, Pork Chop Hill, and Black Hawk Down.

"Bob Drury and Tom Clavin have set the standard for wartime accounts on the Korean conflict.... This is a story that is almost too incredible to be true." ---Dr. Charles P. Neimeyer, director of the U.S. Marine Corps History Division

"A paean worthy of one of the most extraordinary battles in Marine Corps history.... A magnificent book." ---Nathaniel Fick, New York Times bestselling author of One Bullet Away

"[A] riveting narrative [that] combines drama, military strategy and human interest." ---Kirkus

"Michael Prichard's...solid narration respectfully conveys these soldiers' heroism in the face of impossible odds and heightens listener interest throughout this impressive work." ---Library Journal Starred Audio Review

"A gut-clenching and meticulously detailed account." ---USA Today
Library Journal Audio

The Last Stand of Fox Company

A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

Author Tom Clavin, Bob Drury

Narrated by Michael Prichard

Publication date Mar 30, 2009

Running time 12 hrs

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