the enemy to come within 35-40 yards. The Company center, on which the Chinese were converging, was based upon a machihe gun, supported on either side by a BAR.
The lieutenant commanding stood close by the machine gun, which was supposed to open the action on his signal. When he yelled: "Fire!" the gun stuck, and the gunner yelled, "My gun's jammed." In turn, the lieutenant ordered each of the BAR men to fire, and both, on pulling the trigger, got no response and cried out about their difficulty.
The lieutenant then pulled on his carbine: the weapon wouldn't fire. As he put it, "I knew at that moment the Company was morally whipped on that ground."