The Miracle at Gapyeong — 240 LDS Soldiers Defeat 4,000 Enemy Troops Without a Single Casualty (1951)

On May 26, 1951, during the Korean War, 240 soldiers of the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion found themselves surrounded and vastly outnumbered. Composed primarily of Latter-day Saints from southern Utah (including men from St. George, Cedar City, Richfield, Beaver, and Fillmore), the unit suddenly faced direct combat against approximately 4,000 Chinese and North Korean troops.

The odds were devastating: a 16-to-1 enemy numerical advantage. Yet the small band of young men fought valiantly, and miraculously, not a single soldier was killed in the battle. Some members were wounded, but despite being surrounded and outmanned, the unit held its ground and ultimately prevailed.

For their extraordinary bravery and the improbable nature of their victory, the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion received the Presidential Unit Citation from U.S. President Harry Truman—one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a military unit.

The remarkable survival of this unit drew immediate parallels to the Book of Mormon account of the 2,000 sons of Helaman, who fought to protect their families and their faith without losing a single soldier (Alma 57). In 2024, filmmaker Brad Taylor, a former missionary and mission president in Korea for the Church, created an 11-minute documentary titled "The Miracle at Gapyeong," explicitly drawing these parallels.

President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, contributed to and provided the introduction for the film, saying: "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 Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, had trained with the 213th Artillery Battalion in the National Guard in Provo, Utah, and spent years interviewing the soldiers and collecting their stories and documents for the historical record.

The Miracle at Gapyeong stands as one of the most recent and historically documented miracles in Church history, representing the continued divine protection of faithful members in the modern era and validating the Nephite precedent recorded in the Book of Mormon itself.