Korean War

“ Today, as the United States and South Korea maintain a strong partnership and democracy continues to sweep the globe, we remember the extraordinary sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform during the Korean conflict, and we pay tribute to their courage and their commitment to freedom. As American service men and women support the cause of peace around the world, we honor the proud legacy of our Korean War veterans who gave of themselves so that others might live in liberty. ”

“ North Korea withdrew across the 38th parallel, and the Republic of South Korea regained its status as a free, democratic nation. For the first time in history, a world organization of nations had taken up arms to oppose aggression and, thanks largely to the valor, skill, and perseverance of almost 2,000,000 Americans, had succeeded.
In later years, the Korean War would sometimes be called "the Forgotten War." But we have not forgotten. ”

“ Korea was an independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the past millennium. Following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan occupied Korea; five years later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II, a republic was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in the north. During the Korean War (1950-1953) , US and other UN forces intervened to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported by the Chinese. ”

“ From this time until war was declared, the people of Korea waited in utmost suspense. They knew war only as a universal desolation. They had no notion of any of the comparative amenities of modern warfare or the immunities of non-combatants. War meant to them the breaking up of the very foundations of society, and many a time the anxious inquiry was put as to whether the war would probably be fought on Korean soil or in Manchuria. ”

“ During this second Japanese invasion China, in answer to Korean prayers, sent vast reinforcements to the aid of the Chosönese. For seven years Korea suffered from fire, from pillage, from war, from pestilence, and from famine, and her already depleted resources were drained with the necessity of feeding and sheltering, willy-nilly, two great alien armies. A million Koreans died during these seven years; a million, beyond the normal death-rate, of men were killed in battle, or died after battle, or succumbed to starvation, or one of the dire diseases bred of war, and in war-time. ”

“ For every life that may have been spared by the signing of the questionable Yalta agreement, thousands of American and Korean GI’s, and Korean civilians are now dead, dying and maimed. This little Florida-shaped country of Korea, cut up by outsiders, is a tragic example of failure to think beyond military objectives. We cannot defend Korea from Russian attack without an all-out war. We can only prolong the agony. ”

“ He emphasized that under the so-called Korean Provisional Government the Koreans had been fighting the Japanese for many years even prior to World War II and that they felt they had won for themselves the right to a place at the peace table. ”

“ For the same time, Marine infantry casualties were approximately 13,000 plus some 2,500 for its 1st KMC/RCT.
In both battlefield tactics and high-level strategy, the Korean War revealed a strong tendency on the part of the UNC to predict enemy action by values and ideology largely reflecting our own. Whether because of wishful thinking, basic mistakes in judgment, or international naiveté, the 1950–1953 experience repeatedly indicated a need on the part of Allied nations for considerably more hard-headed realism in dealing with a Communist adversary. ”

“ In the final analysis, the Korean War evolved into a prolonged battle of position and attrition in which the Communists, operating close to their base of supply, were fought to a standstill by United Nations forces under unfavorable conditions of climate and logistics. ”

“ Whereas since the end of the Korean War era, more than 28,500 members of the United States Armed Forces have served annually in the United States Forces Korea to defend the Republic of Korea against external aggression, and to promote regional peace ”

“ The longer the Koreans remained with American units, the more effective they became, and many of the original difficulties were overcome. As a rule, however, they were more successfully integrated into service units than into the U.S. infantry. Although South Koreans and Americans carried the greatest part of the burden, twenty-one other nations also contributed to the U.N. war effort in Korea. Most infantry units from these countries were relatively small, and in combat they were frequently attached to U.S. organizations. ”

“ From that day to this there has been a steady and lamentable decline in political morals, and the idea of political position being essential to the acquisition of wealth has gained such a hold of the Korean mind that reform resembles a surgical operation which, in curing the disease, bids fair to kill the patient. This war of factions, in which the winner thought nothing of taking off the heads of all the leaders of the vanquished party, was the first great cause of Korea's inability to make any headway against the Japanese invaders. ”

“ The Koreans have been called a people of inferior intelligence, but the truth is that in pure diplomacy, finesse, they have outwitted the Japanese at every point during the past quarter of a century. In 1884, in 1894, in 1904 the Koreans outmanoeuvred the Japanese in diplomacy, and it was only by coming in with the sword that the latter carried her point. At the beginning of the last war Korea received from Japan a definite promise to preserve the independence of the Korean government. ”

“ Instituted as an emergency measure, KATUSA presented major difficulties to infantry units because of the language barrier, cultural differences, the Koreans' lack of training, and their nonfamiliarity with U.S. Army organization, weapons, and tactics. As American replacements became available, the number of KATUSA soldiers declined and the South Koreans were used to rebuild the Republic of Korea Army, but later in the war when U.S. strength was reduced, an increase in KATUSA personnel was again authorized. ”

“ Red Aggression in Korea Units of North Korean Army—NKPA Command and Leadership—The NKPA Infantry Division—NKPA Air and Armor—NKPA Officer Procurement and Conscription—The NKPA Order of Battle
It was an army of veterans that broke the world’s peace in Korea. There were thousands of veterans of the Chinese civil war and Manchurian guerrilla operations. There were even a few scarred warriors who had served with the Soviet forces in such World War II operations as the defense of Stalingrad. ”

“ But meanwhile the troops which had landed at Chemulpo were pushing north by land as rapidly as circumstances would permit, and within a few weeks of the beginning of the war Pyeng-yang was held by a strong force of Japanese. At the same time work was pushed rapidly on the Seoul-Fusan Railway and also begun on the projected railway line between Seoul and Wiju.
As for the Russians, they never seriously invaded Korean territory. ”

“ The tragedy of Korea is further heightened by the fact that its military action is confined to its territorial limits. It condemns that nation, which it is our purpose to save, to suffer the devastating impact of full naval and air bombardment while the enemy's sanctuaries are fully protected from such attack and devastation.
Of the nations of the world, Korea alone, up to now, is the sole one which has risked its all against communism. The magnificence of the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description. They have chosen to risk death rather than slavery. ”

“ In 1894 an antiforeign rebellion led to Chinese and Japanese intervention and subsequently to the Sino-Japanese war. Victorious Japan forced China to abandon any claim to a special position in Korea. Conservative, anti-Japanese forces within the country then turned to Russia for support, and helped the Russians gain concessions for raw materials in northern Korea. The Russians helped Korea reorganize its finances and its army and then moved to acquire naval bases on the southeastern and southwestern corners of the peninsula. ”

“ They despised the Japanese too much to fear them, little dreaming that this small nation was within less than twenty years to humble them in the dust. Their real fear at this time was not Japan but Russia. Russia was stretching forth throughout Asia, and it looked as though she would try to seize Korea itself. And so Li Hung-chang advised the Korean rulers to guard themselves. "You must open your doors to other nations in order to keep out Russia," he told them. ”

“ Because of its occupation by two nations of radically differing ideologies and policies, and the corresponding separation into two parts economically, there is little that Korea, even as a liberated nation, can do to improve its situation. South Korea lacks the experience and industrial potential to create or support its own armed forces.
An American organized and equipped Korean military force would serve to counteract in large measure the North Korean People’s (Communist) Army when the American and the Soviet forces are withdrawn from Korea. ”

“ The early heirs of this vigorous and capable monarch used their power, like him, for the good of the people; but later decay set in, and Japanese buccaneers ravaged the coasts, though for two centuries under Chinese protection Korea was free from actual foreign invasion. In 1592 occurred the epoch-making invasion of Korea by a Japanese army of 300,000 men, by order of the great regent Hideyoshi. China came to the rescue with 60,000 men, and six years of a gigantic and bloody war followed, in which Japan used firearms for the first time against a foreign foe. ”

“ Despite such occasional blighting of native Korean innovations by the overwhelming prestige of Chinese civilization, the Koreans developed a rich, vigorous, and quite distinct culture of their own.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Korea experienced renwed foreign invasions. In 1592 the Japanese launched a full-scale invasion as part of an ambitious plan to conquer China. The Koreans suffered great reverses and the country was ravaged, but Chinese aid and the death of the Japanese ruler, Hideyoshi, saved them. ”

“ A beautiful Korean custom that used to be; flashes a flame of fire across the screen of history.
In the old days the Korean Emperor used to have signals of fire flashed from hill to hill running clear from the Chinese border to Seoul, the Korean capital. This signal indicated that all was well along the borders and that there was no danger of a Chinese invasion from the north.
Korea has always been a bone of contention between China, Russia and Japan. Consequently this little peninsula has always walked on uneasy paths, which is ever the fate of a buffer state. ”

“ In twenty-one days the invaders were in. Seoul. But according to the universal custom of the country when invaded, from whatever quarter and by whomsoever, the cowardly court a motley horde of king, concubines, eunuchs, sorcerers, and idle officials had fled; then a Korean mob burned and sacked the deserted palace and did what well could be done toward desolating the city.
For seven years the Japanese held Southern Korea, even after their navy had been destroyed, so as to make it impossible to transport reinforcements sufficient to meet the combined forces of the Chinese and the Koreans. ”

“ In June 1950, the North Koreans attempted to force unification of Korea under Communist control by crossing the 38th Parallel with seven infantry divisions heavily supported by artillery and tanks. Acting on a resolution presented by the United States, the United Nations responded by declaring the North Korean action a “breach of the peace” and called upon its members to assist the South Koreans in ousting the invaders. Many free countries around the globe offered their aid. ”

“ Possession of Korea has been for centuries an aim of aspiring conquerors in the Far East, and all three rival nations have had a turn.
China was first. From ancient times down to the last quarter of the 19th century, the Chinese Empire held a loose suzerainty acknowledged by the Koreans. Japan won a brief foothold in the 16th century under the great war lord Hideyoshi, only to learn the painful lesson that control of the sea is requisite to a seaborne invasion of a peninsula. ”

“ Here was a nation that had been ticketed and docketed by world statesmen as degenerate and cowardly, revealing heroism of a very high order.
The soldier facing the enemy in the open is inspired by the atmosphere of war, and knows that he has at least a fighting chance against his foe. The Koreans took their stand—their women and children by their side—without weapons and without means of defense. ”

“ Americans are proud of the role they have played in Korean history, especially during these last 100 years. In 1945, American soldiers were crucial to the restoration of this ancient land's independence. Just five years later, Americans fought side-by-side with Korean soldiers in the struggle against the Communist invasion of 1950. Korea, in turn, made a major contribution to the United States' efforts to defeat Communist aggression in Vietnam. ”

“ Only when behind walls and compelled to fight, or when aroused to a blind fury in the form of a mob, does the average Korean show the courage necessary to defend or to avenge his monarch. The saying of the Japanese that “the Koreans are kittens in the field and tigers in the fortress” characterized their behavior during the [183] Hideyoshi invasion; it is characteristic of them to-day. Three centuries ago, when the king was in flight from Seoul to Pyeng-yang his own attendants stole his food and left him hungry ”