Tejon Massacre

The Tejon Massacre discussed in the Jocko Podcast episode refers to a harrowing event during the Korean War. On September 20, 1950, around 60 American prisoners were taken into the prison yard in groups of 14, with their hands wired together, and forced to sit in hastily dug ditches before being shot at point-blank range by North Korean troops using American M1 rifles with armor-piercing ammunition. Most were killed immediately, but two were seriously wounded, and only one survived. This sole survivor, Sergeant Kerry H. Winnell, later testified about the massacre at a congressional hearing.

Sergeant Winnell recounted his narrow escape by feigning death after being shot and subsequently being buried alive with others in a mass grave. His remarkable survival story exemplifies extreme resilience and the will to live even in the direst circumstances 1.