Books: The Test of Great Events

PORK CHOP HILL (315 pp.)—S.L.A. Marshall—Morrow ($5).

In Korea one evening in April 1953, the light breeze brought from the enemy ridge line the faint sound of men chanting in strange and mournful chorus. Outposted on Pork Chop Hill, the handful of Americans and South Koreans listened, then finished their chow of steak and ice cream, and listened again. "What does it mean?" asked Pork Chop's commander, Lieut. Thomas V. Harrold (Easy Company, 31st Infantry). "They're prayer-singing," the interpreter said. "They're getting ready to die." Harrold felt uneasy. "Maybe we ought to be singing...