The Frozen Chosen is an account of the breakout from the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea by the 1st Marine Division from November to December 1950, following the intervention of Red China in the Korean War. Fought during the worst blizzard in a century, it is considered by the United States Marine Corps to be "the Corps' finest hour." Fourteen Medals of Honor, a record for any American battle, and eighty-five Navy Crosses--many awarded in lieu of an original nomination for the Medal of Honor--attest to the intensity of the battle.

Based on first-person interviews from...