Marines of "How Company" were overwhelmed on Hill 1403 by waves of Chinese attackers and were eventually ordered to pull back by the commanding officer (CO), Lieutenant Colonel William Harris The battalion continued to fight on the hills around Yudam-ni for the next few days until 1 December when the 5th Marines and 7th Marines were ordered to fight their way back to the 1st Marine Division's main perimeter at Hagaru-ri. The 300+ remaining members of 3/7 provided the rearguard for the two regiments as they brok eout to Hagaru-ri and were the last Marines to leave the perimeter at Yudam-ni as it was being overrun by Chinese forces 3/7 consolidated with the rest of the division at Hagaru-ri and took part in the fighting breakout towards Koto-ri where, on 7 December, all of the 1st Marine Division's regiments were together for the first time since the landing at Wonsan in October Of note during the battle, on the morning before their arrival at the Koto-ri perimeter, the battalion's CO, who during the battle was described as "coming apart" and having an "emotional breakdown and collapse", disappeared and was never seen again. After the withdrawal from Chosin the 1st Marine Division was evacuated from Hungnam. During the rest of the war 3/7 took part in the fighting on the East Central Front and then the Western Front of the Jamestown Line. In October 1951 it performed the first battalion sized combat helicopter air assault in history in Operation Bumblebee. After the war the battalion participated in the defense of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, July 1953 to March 1955. Vietnam War The 3rd Battalion, along with the rest of the 7th Marines, was deployed to Vietnam from Camp Pendleton in late May 1965. The 3/7, under the command of LTC Charles H. Bodley, embarked on the amphibious ships , , and at Okinawa on 24–26 June and landed near the city of Qui Nhon on 1 July 1965. On 18 August 1965, the 3/7 took part in Operation Starlite, the first regimental size operation by US forces since the Korean War. The 3/7, along with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, and the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, made a combined amphibious-helicopter assault on fortified enemy positions on the Van Tuong Peninsula. The Marines landed behind enemy lines and, after seven days of fighting, drove the Viet Cong (VC) 1st Regiment into the