31st Infantry Regiment
I AM THE 31ST INFANTRY--THE POLAR BEAR! PRO PATRIA!
A tribue to Polar Bears past and present, by Karl Lowe, Colonel, US Army (retired, Vietnam and Cambodia)
Please see link below for the 31st Infantry Regiment Association, where you can read the poem in its entirety.
"Born anew in '46, I took my place in the land of the morning calm.
Again from the north, the war cry rang, coming ominously on a chill wind as I patrolled Korea's hills.
"In 48', I left that place to occupy the defeated land of my former tormentor.
At Camp Crawford on Hokkaido, I warily watched restless Red Armies gathering strength across the sea of Japan.
I shouted, do not provoke me...I am the Polar Bear!
But provoke me they did and I returned.
At Inchon, I turned the North Korean flank, raced into burning Osan, and closed the invader's back door.
As the cold winter winds began to blow, I went ashore at Iwon and marched toward the Yalu.
Across a hundred miles of icy hills, I fought, I froze, and finally I retreated as China's masses descended from Manchuria.
At bloody Chosin, two of every three would fall, but I survived to fight again.
Beware the wounded Polar Bear!"
31st Regiment Association