Seventy-three years ago this month, a U.S. infantry offensive designed to trap Chinese and North Korean soldiers worked well, but it left its supporting Utah National Guard artillery unit unprotected in the rear.
When 4,000 enemy soldiers tried to escape the trap, they stumbled upon the 240 Utah artillerymen and launched a middle-of-the-night surprise attack. Outnumbered 16-1, the Americans fought for their lives. One soldier manned a 50-caliber machine gun that he fired until the barrel melted. Others were thrust into hand-to-hand combat.
A new, inspirational short film about the battle compares the miraculous story of the southern Utah National Guard unit to the Book of Mormon story of the 2,000 sons of Helaman, who fought an enemy to protect their families, their freedom and their faith without the loss of a single life.
The 11-minute film is designed to be used in youth lessons, devotionals and family gatherings, said Brad Taylor, who wrote the script. Taylor served in Korea as a young missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then served as president of the church’s Korea Seoul Mission from 2018-21.
“The Miracle at Gapyeong” tells the remarkable true story of a surrounded, outmanned army unit that won a stunning victory in 1951 without the loss of a single soldier. For their bravery, the unit received the Presidential Unit Citation from U.S. President Harry Truman.
Two senior Latter-day Saint leaders contributed to the making of the film because they knew the soldiers of the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, which was made up of men from Utah — St. George, Cedar City, Richfield, Beaver and Fillmore.
“These young men you’re about to see were from my home area in southern Utah, just a bit older than I,” President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, says in the video’s introduction. “When I was 10 years old, they were shipping off to Korea. And I couldn’t have imagined what they were about to face in that war-torn country. None of us could. But we are so grateful for what they did.”
President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, served in the National Guard in Provo, Utah, and his unit trained with the 213th Artillery Battalion. He did not serve in Korea, but the men of the 213th told him about Gapyeong, and he spent decades afterward interviewing them and collecting stories and documents that he provided to the filmmakers.
The 213th was comprised of young men generally between the ages of 18 and 22 who were chiefly Latter-day Saints. Before they left for Korea, they were invited to a meeting in the St. George Utah Temple, where temple president Harold Snow promised them that if they were faithful to God and kept the commandments, God would watch over and preserve them.

On May 26, 1951, the 213th was assigned to provide artillery support for an offensive by the 21st Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division. The regiment’s mission was to trap Chinese and North Korean forces.
But when the infantry moved out, the artillery battalion’s 240 men were left unprotected. During the middle of the night, they found themselves under attack by 4,000 enemy soldiers trying to escape the U.S. infantry trap.
Elements of the 213th successfully fought to maintain its line while its artillery guns continued firing missions to support the infantry units in the distance.
When dawn broke, the Chinese and North Korean attack eased. Capt. Ray Cox organized a combat patrol of 18 men to launch a counterattack centered around a self-propelled 105mm howitzer that the patrol used like a tank.
For hours, Capt. Cox’s small band — outnumbered 220 to 1, rolled through the valley, taking out enemy machine-gun emplacements. Finally, the Chinese and North Korean soldiers attempted to flee up the slopes surrounding the valley. The 213th unleashed an artillery barrage that caused 830 enemy soldiers to surrender. Another 350 enemy soldiers died in the battle.
Some members of the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion were wounded, but none were killed. The presidential citation issued seven months later praised the unit for its “unshakable determination and gallantry.”
“The extraordinary heroism displayed by the members of these units reflects great credit on themselves and upholds the highest traditions of the military service of the United States,” the citations says.
The sons of Helaman, also known as the 2,000 stripling warriors, have been an example to Latter-day Saint youth since the Book of Mormon was published in 1830. The book of scripture tells the story of a people who converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and covenanted with God to never to take up arms again.
When a foe later threatened them and the people who protected them, they considered breaking the covenant, but Helaman feared they would lose their souls. Their 2,000 sons, not under that oath, volunteered to fight and chose Helaman as their commander. They supported a larger army and fought valiantly, and although some were wounded, none of the young men died.
“The lesson that we can take from the ‘Miracle at Gapyeong’ is that when we are true and faithful to the Lord, miracles of all different shapes, sizes and timing will happen in our lives,” President Holland says at the end of the film. “To our remarkable youth of today, I say, please, please be faithful. Please be courageous and obedient. Please trust in the Lord with all your heart. I promise that He will direct you for good.”

The story has been told before in videos by Saint at War and the Utah National Guard, but it had been largely forgotten and was virutally unknown to Korean Latter-day Saints. Taylor said he never heard it while serving his mission in South Korea as a young man and didn’t learn about it until he received a letter while serving there as a mission president.
Taylor shared the story with his missionaries and they visited the Gapyeong Monument in October 2020. Gapyeong contributed a stone monument to a Korean War Memorial in Cedar City, Utah. The two memorial parks have matching statues of an American soldier.

