Page had jumped aboard another tank, manned the machine gun on top and order it forward. As the tank surged across the runway, the Marines behind stopped firing. They watched Page unbelievingly, and waited fearfully for a Red bullet to cut him down. None did. The Chinese surprised and frightened, wanted only to escape, to get away from this madman.

After that day they gave the airstrip at Koto-ri a wide berth, and Page and his men worked on doggedly, dynamiting, bulldozing, leveling. By December 6 the runway was ready. At once it was busy as a bus stand. Marine and Air Force transports took out huge loads of wounded and frostbitten men. In three days more than 700 men were flown south.

On December 7, Marine and Army elements from the north fought their way into Koto-ri with hundreds of new wounded. One day was set aside to evacuate the wounded and rest the exhausted troops who faced a tortuous 50 mile march to the sea.

The road that corkscrewed down the mountain from Koto-ri was treacherous. The column that went down there it would be exposed to ten miles of ambush. To survive, the file would have to keep moving. Once it stopped, the Chinese in the hills could overrun it.

The push began early in the morning of December 9, with Page in the column. All went well for the first half-mile; then the column stopped. A Chinese machine gun was hitting it from the top of the hill. Page leaped from his jeep and ran forward. He spotted the nest, climbed aboard a tank and rammed machine gun fire back at it. The column moved again. Page silenced the Reds, then ran forward to find Corporal Klepsig and his jeep.