Company G, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines 1st Marine Division

14. Litzenberg Confers with General Smith

Here Colonel Homer L. Litzenberg confers with Major General Oliver P. Smith. "Blitzen Litzen" as they called him, commanded the Seventh Marines. A boot in 1922 at Parris Island he had come a long way. Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller commanded the First Regiment and a "light colonel" Lieutenant Colonel Raymond L Murray commanded the Fifth. These three Colonels would make the difference in the months to come when the First Division met their supreme test to come in the "Frozen Chosin" in winter of 1950. Major General Smith acted on two simple principles. The first was to be prepared for the worst, and the second to be optimistic when it came.