Korean War begins

38th parallel sign – courtesy of the 1st Cavalry

The 6th Division, led by Pang Ho-san and manned by North Koreans (most of whom had previously fought with the Chinese Red Army) quickly swept south and then east, equipped with Russian matériel.  The NKPA totaled 130,00 in ten divisions as opposed to 100,000 undertrained ROKs in eight divisions.  The invasion came in two fronts, the second being led by Marshall Choe Yong Gun heading directly to Seoul and then on to Pusan.  There was no equal to this force below the 38th parallel and as the Republic of Korea troops abandoned all they had and fled, the In Min Gun trampled everything in front of them.  Operation Pokpoong had started and the battles of Kaesong-Musan and Ongjin were highly successful and  Yangwon and Kangryong were immediately captured.

U.S. Military Advisory Group

25 June 1950, Captain Joseph Darrigo, a member of the Military Advisory Group, was woken by the sound of gunfire he knew to be too close for routine action.  He headed south while his house was fired on and witnessed NKPA soldiers disembarking a train that he never knew existed.  Darrigo turned toward the ROK 1st Division Headquarters across the Imjin River at Musan and he discovered that half of the troops were on leave and the remainder were in disorganized chaos.  He was informed that the 29 year old commander, Colonel Park Sun Yup was in Seoul, probably with his mistress and drunk.

MacArthur and Sygman Rhee

Syngman Rhee, head of South Korea, having heard that Kaesong had fallen, called MacArthur in Tokyo and demanded that his country be saved.  The general replied that he had no authority to rescue Korea, but he did promise to send 10 fighter planes, howitzers and bazookas to aide in their fight.  MacArthur then sat on the edge of his bed and said to himself, “It couldn’t be. Not again!”  Once more, an attack had come early on a Sunday morning.

It was Saturday in the U.S. and the first news the Pentagon would receive came from the press when they contacted General Bradley to question him on the subject.  Pres. Truman was home in Missouri at the time.  MacArthur was left in a limbo state until such time that a United Nations Security Council meeting could be convened.  The general called the Pentagon to inform on the state of affairs, “…the ROK army lacks the will to fight and a complete collapse is imminent.”

John Foster Dulles at the 38th parallel

John Foster Dulles, adviser on Far Eastern Affairs for the U.S. State Department, was vacationing in Japan.  He was inept in his previous reports on Korea and now claimed that MacArthur was downplaying the northern attack.  Dulles cabled Secretary Acheson and Dean Rusk, “…even if it risks Russian counter-moves, the U.S. forces should be used.”  He insisted that a Communist regime in South Korea would start a Third World War.

Top secret messages that began to fly across the oceans were sent by way of a teletype conference, called telecon.  This required a coded teleprinter and a screen at each end – The Pentagon, the White House and the Dai Ichi Building in Tokyo were buzzing.  In the first week of the war 44,000 ROKs were either KIA, WIA or MIA.

The U.N. Security Council, minus the boycotting Russians, called all members “to render assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution and to refrain from giving assistance to the North Korean authorities.”  This statement voided the Soviet claim that it was a “civil war” and their insistence that the south had committed “naked aggression” against the north.

Korean War movement 1950

That night, Truman authorized MacArthur, under the U.N. umbrella, to employ air cover and arms to evacuate Americans from Korea.  For political reasons, he refused to name the general as commander-in-chief of Korea, but sent a “survey group” to the front.  Russian assistance was still, as yet, unconfirmed, but it was seriously suspected.  Conflicting information exchanged on the telecon as Truman said, “If we are tough enough now, if we stand up to them [Soviets] like we did in Greece three years ago, they won’t take any next steps.”

Formosa still remained in the picture. (In fact I believe my uncle, MSgt James O’Leary, USMC was there about this time – we’ll hear more about him in future posts.) This was the subject of Mao’s China verses Chiang’s government and it would not be put under MacArthur’s control. The 7th Fleet was deployed from the Philippines to keep the two forces apart. This decision freed Mao’s Red Army divisions for other assignments; a factor that would later come back to haunt Truman.

The President ordered MacArthur to fight the threat of a spread of communism. Dean Rusk, who had been involved in Far Eastern affairs since the early parts of WWII, and Dean Acheson both pressed for more aid in the Philippines and Indonesia. 26 June 1950, Truman, with bypassing Congress, produced the first undeclared war in American history. While Truman continued to remain “Europe orientated,” just as FDR had before him, these actions became the prelude to the Vietnam War.

Click photos to enlarge, and thank you for reading.

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Farewell Salutes –

Gilbert Clough – New Paltz, NY & ME & FL; U.S. Army Air Corps, WWII

John Edward Allen – Live Oak, FL & Albuquerque, NM; U.S. Army Air Corps, Tuskegee Airman 1945 – Vietnam

Charles Ellis Marshall – Detroit, MI & Ft. Lauderdale, FL; U.S. Army corpsman, Korean War

Gary Lee Zink – Moncks Corner, SC; U.S. Air Force, Vietnam

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An ETO story that was news to me:

Click to enlarge

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Resources: Koreanwar-educator.org; The Week magazine; MacArthur’s War, by Stanley Weintraub; Army photos; Kansas.com; WikiCommons; historyinink.com; The Palm Beach Post,