Korean War Stories: Tales from an Icy Hell of Fire and Blood

Introduction

On June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea, starting a war that would involve the entire world. Our president, Harry Truman, authorized sending troops to assist the South Korean Army, referring to the conflict as merely a police action. He was sharply criticized for this comment by much of the public. But by using this definition, Truman was able to bypass Congress and send troops to a foreign country without a Congressional Declaration of War.

It’s helpful to look back in time to gain perspective in understanding the political and military events leading up to the Korean War. Korea had become a Japanese protectorate in 1905 as a result of Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese and Russo Japanese wars, which were fought in large part over control of Korea. Japan had entered the twentieth century as a significant military power in Eastern Asia and was interested in Korea's iron and coal resources. Russia had been interested in Korea as a location for warm weather seaports. China's interest in Korea had been its strategic proximity to Japan. The United States saw little strategic importance in Korea and made no attempt to interfere with the Japanese aggression even though the US had promised to aid this small country as a provision of the 1882 Treaty of Tientsin.

Throughout the forty years of Japanese occupation, the Koreans maintained a strong sense of nationalism. They never gave up hope that they would one day gain their independence. A Korean citizen who would one day be president, Syngman Rhee traveled to the United States in 1904, earning a BA degree from Harvard and a PhD from Princeton University.

Later he returned to Korea for a short time opposing the Japanese occupation and then returned to the United States to live in exile. During that time, he fervently worked to influence political forces in Washington, DC, to promote his desire for a unified, independent Korea.

The aftermath of World War II resulted in the division of territories once occupied by Germany and Japan among the various allies. Russia was willing to accept a proposal made by the United States to divide Korea at the 38th parallel, with Russia occupying the country north of the parallel and the United States occupying the southern portion. This eventually led to the creation of North and South Korea.

Syngman Rhee felt he had been betrayed by the United States as a result of that decision. He persisted in proclaiming his desire to drive the communists out of North Korea. Long after he was elected President of South Korea with the blessing and cooperation of the United States government.

The United States adopted Syngman Rhee's objective of unification, rather than the post-World War II acceptance of a divided Korea. This has led to the conclusion by most historians that the Korean War ended in a stalemate. The cease fire agreement established a static military position approximating the original boundary of the partitioned country. In actuality, most of the new boundary is slightly north of the 38th parallel.

On June 25, 1950, the North Korean People's Army (NKPA), with a fast-moving, massive force of highly trained soldiers equipped with Russian T34 tanks, poured across the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. The South Korean Army consisted of poorly trained, inadequately equipped soldiers that looked more like a state police force than an Army.

There was an understandable reason for this inequality. During their period of trusteeship, the Russians trained the North Korean Army. They left much of their weaponry behind when they left Korea. The United States did almost nothing to equip or train the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army in the south due to severe cuts in our own military budget after World War II.

Korea did not have the strategic importance to justify the cost of investing in its defense. We had a mindset that since we had the atomic bomb, a nation would be out of its mind to attack the United States or any of its allies.

What never occurred to our government is that for decades, we sent the world a message that America would not come to Korea's defense if it were ever under attack. Our reluctance to build a strong ROK Army reinforced that impression. North Korea didn’t understand the American Cold War policy. It was based on the domino theory that America wouldn’t stand by and allow the expansion of communism by force no matter where it occurred.

The United Nations' response was to request that its members send aid to South Korea to end the aggression by the North. President Truman authorized our military, commanded by General MacArthur, to render assistance.

MacArthur's early assessment of the situation made him realize that naval and air support for the ROK Army would not be sufficient by itself to stop the aggressors. The Eighth Army had been stationed in Japan as an occupational force following the defeat of the Japanese in 1945. Most of the men had never been in combat and were enjoying the relatively soft life of occupation duty. They suddenly found themselves living in foxholes with insufficient equipment and supplies, confronting a formidable enemy.

Our military capability had been severely reduced after 1945. Due to a result of strict economic cuts and a conviction that American involvement in any war for the foreseeable future was unlikely.

There was no way MacArthur could introduce the necessary men and equipment in time to stop the invading North Koreans. His best hope was to fight a delaying action to slow the invaders down until reinforcements were available to prevent the NKPA from completely overrunning the entire peninsula.

Elements of the Eighth Army deployed to Korea in early July 1950. The first group was a battalion of about five hundred men from the Twenty-fourth Division, known as Task Force Smith after its leader, Lieutenant Colonel C. B. Smith. The battalion made first contact with the NKPA near Osan, a city about fifty miles south of Seoul.

The rest of the Twenty-fourth Division, followed by the Twenty-fifth Division and the First Cavalry Division, comprised the other first units trying to slow the onslaught of an enemy with a grossly underestimated capability. The retrograde movement turned into more of a rout than a strategic withdrawal. In the process, Lieutenant General William Dean, commander of the Twenty-fourth Division, was captured by the NKPA.

General MacArthur was named supreme allied commander of all military forces in the Far East Theater of operations. All UN fighting units in Korea, including the ROK Army, were under the command of the Eighth Army, led by Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker.

General Walker watched his Army disintegrate while falling back, taking heavy casualties. All the way from Osan to Taejon. Then to an area infamously referred to as the Pusan Perimeter. This area around the city of Pusan was defined by the natural defensive barrier of the Nakdong River.

General MacArthur formulated a plan to end the war by landing an invasion force at Inchon. A coastal city just west of Seoul, and driving east across the peninsula, liberating Seoul and isolating the enemy from its source of supply. The plan confronted several high-risk obstacles.

The first was convincing the skeptical Joint Chiefs of Staff. that the plan could be executed successfully during the typhoon season in a harbor with thirty-two-foot tides. The invading force would have to scale a high seawall while under fire from North Korean defenders.

After what must have been one of the most brilliant and emotional examples of salesmanship in recent history, MacArthur prevailed. On September 15, 1950, the X Corp commanded by MacArthur's chief of staff, General Edward M. Almond, along with the First Marine Division successfully landed at Inchon and experienced far fewer than the expected number of casualties.

The First Marine Division fought door to door, advancing into and securing Seoul. If MacArthur had been able to negotiate a surrender of all North Korean forces, the outcome then and the situation in Korea today may have been significantly better. But, to stop a General with the sight of total annihilation of the enemy within his grasp is no simple matter. MacArthur was also convinced that the Chinese would not enter the war.

In October, the Chinese did enter the war, crossing the Yalu with an Army of thousands of soldiers and forcing the Eighth Army to pull back to a line south of Seoul. The Tenth Corp consisted of the First Marine Division and the Army's Third and Seventh Divisions, boarded LSTs to make an amphibious landing at Wonsan. A port on the east coast, north of the 38th parallel and separated from the rest of the Eighth Army by a mountain range that divided the two sides of Korea.

From Wonson, the First Marine Division pushed north to the Chosin Reservoir while the Seventh Division advanced to the Northeast. The Seventh Regiment of the Third Division advanced to the northwest to protect the left flank of the First Marines, and the rest of the division secured the area from Wonsan to Hungnam and Hamhung.

The marines found themselves surrounded and had to fight their way south as they retreated from the reservoir. They sustained heavy casualties both from the enemy and from injuries, the most common of which was frostbite.

On December 23, General Walker was killed in a jeep accident when a ROK truck pulled across the road in front of him, and the collision caused him to be ejected from his vehicle. On December 27, General Matthew Ridgeway was given command of the Eighth Army.

The change in command resulted in a revitalization of the Eighth Army both in material strength and troop morale. One soldier reported that even the meals were better.

By March 15, 1951, the UN forces were again on the offensive, driving the enemy north, liberating Seoul for the second time, and establishing a defensive line at the 38th Parallel by mid-June.

For the next two years, this would involve numerous battles, fighting over possession of hills and ridges all along the section that would eventually become the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

General MacArthur had been publicly denouncing the administration's reluctance to allow him to employ the necessary tactics to drive the communists completely out of Korea. The concept of fighting a limited war was simply not in his DNA. His hostile behavior finally resulted in President Harry Truman relieving him of his command on April 11, 1951.

General Ridgeway was moved up to replace MacArthur and General James Van Fleet was given command of the Eighth Army.

Ridgeway was confident that the UN forces were capable of driving the communists completely out of Korea. But unlike MacArthur, he was willing to suppress that desire through a belief that the cost in lives would not justify accomplishing that objective.

In July, peace and prisoner exchange negotiations began between the two opposing forces. The peace talks would continue off and on for the next two years until the Chinese were finally convinced that any further incursions into South Korea would not be possible.

It would take several bloody battles along the ridges of the MLR with significant casualties to the Eighth Army and disastrous losses to the Chinese Army before the communists would concede to an armistice.

In the fall of 1951, the focus of most of the battles was at Bloody Ridge, the Punchbowl, and Heartbreak Ridge. These hills would often change hands between UN forces and the Chinese, with UN forces eventually taking and holding these ridges. By the end of 1952, the MLR positions were almost impregnable. Deep trenches and fortifications were reminiscent of World War I battlefields. In front of these positions were barbed wire, land mines and booby traps.

Kum River Valley

When I got to the 24th , I was assigned to the 11th Field Artillery Battalion. We had 155mm howitzers and tractors with as prime movers. They didn't have a job for me, because they weren't using tractors: they were using 5-ton trucks, like a deuce-and-a-half, but bigger. They were able to carry a heavier load, and they used them for ammo trucks, they pulled 155mm howitzers.

The 24th Division, in Japan, was spread all over Kyushu. The 19th Infantry Regiment was at Beppu, the 34th Infantry Regiment was at Sasebo, and the 21st Infantry Regiment was at Kumamoto. The military police and division headquarters was up on the large Japanese island to the north.

After I joined the 52nd Field Artillery, I was assigned to the maintenance division, because of my MOS with tracked vehicles. They didn't need any more people. I was assigned to the fire direction center, which I didn't have any problem with, because I knew my trigonometry. After I was with fire direction for a while, they wanted a cook, so I became a cook. Everybody had about two or three different jobs. When I was a cook, I got every other day off, so I was able to see a lot of places in Japan. The first year was lovely. It was really a paradise over there.

The next year, in June, the North Koreans decided they would move into South Korea, so they put us on alert, and we loaded up all our stuff. We went from Japan to Korea by LST (Landing Ship Tank). What was on the LST was most of A Battery and a little bit of the service battery, which had the trucks to carry ammo for the artillery people and a bit of Headquarters Battery: like fire direction.

They grabbed just enough of headquarters and service batteries to enable us to man the howitzers. We had six 155mm howitzers. We lost one when it fell off the railroad car someplace, and they had to leave it. We got to our assembly area, where we got off the railroad trains. There was a schoolyard there: that's where all the equipment was assembled. We were in the schoolyard when North Korean aircraft dropped bombs on the train station and then came up the road strafing. A three-quarter-ton, which was the wire section's, had a 50-cal. on it, I manned the 50 and engaged the planes when they came up the road.

There were four Yak 9 fighters; at least that's what I was told they were. They were single-engine, propeller-driven aircraft. I was headed up the road after that attack, and Col. Smith came up and said, Who was firing that 50?

I said I did.

We're going to give you credit for one, he said, cause one of them went down in flames, and possibly another one.

I never heard any more about it. Later on, I did get a Bronze Star with a V for doing that. When night fell, on July 4th1950, we got up north of Osan, to the engagement area. We only had five guns, and we moved into position at about three o'clock in the morning, on the 5th of July. The battery was back about