Dakota Beacon

“Do SOMETHING even if it is wrong…” – Unofficial doctrine of the US Army Infantry School.

America celebrates Veterans Day on November 11. We remember D-Day on June 6, 1944. But do we remember what happened six years later, on June 25, 1950? Largely unnoticed and forgotten, that date stands in infamy. Like any other summer day, June 25 comes and goes. But as long as some veterans live, they will never forget. They will remember the Forgotten War. What follows gives a tribute to the men who fought in Korea.

Five days before the end of WWII the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), as an “ally” of the United States, entered the war against Japan. Korea had suffered under the Japanese Empire since 1910. With the liberation of Korea, the expansionist USSR saw an opportunity to gain a foothold in the Far East. Following contentious negotiations in 1945, Korea was split between North and South with the USSR occupying the North. The 38th parallel became an artificial boundary.

On June 25, 1950, eight infantry divisions from the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA), trained and equipped by the USSR, invaded South Korea in a bid for reunification. Within three days the NKPA captured Seoul, the capitol of South Korea, and destroyed the army of the Republic of Korea (ROK). Five weeks later the NKPA had pushed south through the length of the Korean peninsula. By August 1, the United Nation Forces (United States primarily) occupied a tiny enclave at the southeastern tip of Korea including the port city of Pusan.

In a brilliant but risky strategic offensive, General Douglas MacArthur, on September 15, landed forces at the western port of Inchon. He attacked northeast toward Seoul threatening to isolate the entire NKPA in the south separating them from their base of operations in the north. Much of the NKPA was able, however, to escape north along the mountainous east coast.

MacArthur’s forces quickly recaptured Seoul, then pressed north to take the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. By November 1950 MacArthur crossed the Chungcheong River within striking distance of the Yalu River. The Yalu River serves as the boundary between North Korea and China.

Then the tide changed. On November 25, 1950, two days before Thanksgiving, the Communist Chinese attacked across the Yalu River. China, feeling threatened by the presence of US/UN forces on its boarder, prompted the Chinese response. They attacked with four armies almost enveloping the US Eighth Army. The result was devastating. The US Army’s 2nd Infantry Division was forced into a bloody gauntlet rendering it almost combat ineffective.

On the same day, farther east, the Chinese launched two more armies against the 1st Marine Division and elements of the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division cutting the American supply line and route of withdrawal. The 1,400-man Army-Marine force had to fight its way southwestward to the seacoast for evacuation.

By late December, the US Eighth Army had organized a coast-to-coast defense just below the 38th parallel with five corps online and one corps in reserve. On January 3, 1951, under considerable Chinese pressure, the US Eighth Army was forced once more to withdraw south of Seoul and the Han River. In March, the US Eighth Army recaptured Seoul from the Chinese and again set up a line just below the 38th parallel. From July 1951 until July 1953 the war became static as negotiations began, bogged down, then started again over dozens of times.

One of the hallmarks of the Korean War was the savagery and brutality the Communists inflicted on the US/UN prisoners of war (POWs). Several massacres were committed by the North Korean and Chinese Communists including the massacres at Sunchon Tunnel, Hill 303, Hill 312, Taejon, and Kaesong, among others. Prisoners were wantonly machine-gunned and bayoneted to death. To those who try to cite an equivalency on the part of the US military, let it be known that such savagery and brutality was never part of American culture, heritage, doctrine, training, or national policy. Americans are not warmongers.

The Korean War was never declared and has never officially ended. An armistice (agreement to cease fire, but not formally end hostilities) was negotiated, but no treaty was signed.

By the end of 1953, the casualty count stood as follows: the US suffered 54,200 dead of which 37,400 were combat related along with 103,000 wounded. Over 7,000 Americans are still unaccounted for. The ROK Army suffered an estimated 673,000 killed. Estimated 1.5 to 3 million Korean civilians died accounting for roughly 10% of the pre-war population. Estimated North Korean and Chinese Communist combined loses stand between 1.8 and 3.8 million with no correct count available.

Except by the men who fought on the legendary hills -- Pork Chop, Bloody, Heartbreak, Baldy and many more -- the Korean War has been largely forgotten or was never known in the first place.

Forgotten, too, is just how poorly prepared the US military was following the post-WWII demobilization. A classic account of American unpreparedness preceding the Korean War may be found in T. R. Fehrenbach’s book “This Kind of War”. Those who call for a gutting of America’s military in a dangerous world would do well to reflect on our Korean experience.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” -- Matthew 24:6.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).