Stories From the Front Lines
There’s nothing quite like old war stories. Sitting around listening to your grandparents talking about life in the trenches is a memory most people have. But what are the chances that, when they were invented in 1896, Tootsie Rolls ever expected to become part of those stories?
That’s exactly what happened during The Korean War. Believe it or not, Tootsie Rolls saved the lives of American troops during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.
Battle of the Chosin Reservoir
Patriotic Tootsie Rolls by Brandon Burke via Flickr
Troops were stationed at Chang Jin mountain reservoir. The Americans there had taken to calling it the Chosin Reservoir. As you might expect, the conditions left a lot to be desired.
The reservoir temperatures ranged from minus five degrees in the day to minus 25 at night. Everything froze. Food rations were difficult to impossible to warm up, and the artillery shells weren’t going off with any regularity.
The 15,000 troops were facing off against a division of 120,000 men. Strongly outnumbered, outgunned, and undersupplied, the troops weren’t sure what to do next.
One thing was clear—if they didn’t get a supply drop, they were goners. Nearly out of mortar shells, the troops called for an airdrop using the code name they’d established for artillery: Tootsie Rolls.
To their surprise, when the airdrop arrived, it was filled not with ammunition, but with actual Tootsie Rolls!
The Tootsie Roll Mix Up
1918 Tootsie Roll Advertisement
The chocolate flavored candies froze in the inhuman temperatures, but the great thing about Tootsie Rolls is that they’re edible even when they’re frozen.
The sugar boost turned out to be just the jolt the troops needed. Realizing that when the candy was warmed up, it became a kind of putty, the troops were hit with a brilliant idea. The chewed-up Tootsie Rolls would become pliable when warm, but they would quickly freeze again when exposed to the freezing wind.
The soldiers started using the putty-like-substance to patch bullet holes in vehicles, hoses, and other equipment.
With their equipment fixed, the men collected their injured and frostbitten comrades, punched a hole through the enemy lines, and retreated to safety. The men who survived the battle started calling themselves the “Chosin Few” in commemoration of this once in a lifetime experience.
As a Korean, I was not know about the Chosin survivors well but this story is very very heartfull. I appreciate the Korea war veterans.
really cool
3 comments lol
They’re Marines, not soldiers
marines a soldiers if you do not belvie me look it up
as a person who’s great grandfather was a soldier in the war i find this very heart warming.
I don’t believe this story, because nothing about it sounds remotely plausible.
I don’t find it at all believable that such an airdrop would happen. I don’t believe that everyone involved in such an operation, fully aware of the heavy combat that 1st MarDiv was engaged in, would go through everything it took to airdrop a bunch of candy.
“Send a bunch of Tootsie Rolls” is an utterly bizarre request if you don’t know that “Tootsie Rolls” is a code word for “mortar rounds”. If someone on the receiving end of such a request was confused at what was being requested, he would ask for clarification. Then when it came to every aspect of arranging this resupply, someone would have either been aware that “Tootsie Rolls” meant mortar rounds, or just noticed that a outnumbered and surrounded unit in combat probably has far greater priorities than getting a bunch of candy.
Lastly, I doubt the utility of a Tootsie Roll in automotive repair, whatever the temperature may be. However, this is the most plausible bit of this story – Tootsie Rolls already came in the field rations the Marines would have had, and already been available either as a snack or for whatever automotive repair functions they were capable of.
My Father a Naval officer in the Korean War. A Pearl srvivor. They we truly the greatest generation. Im proud of his service. I love this story, My son in law Shawn loves tootsie rolls, Im going to send this story with a bag of tootsie rolls for Christmas. I will always remember the story everytime I see a tootsie roll.