What Should Never Be Forgotton? the Korean War
By Frank D. Praytor
July 27 is the 58th anniversary of an armistice ending open hostilities of a costly war that preserved South Korea's freedom and foreclosed communist ambitions to control the entire North Asian Pacific Realm.
It has been referred to as "the forgotten war," having occurred as the U.S. was still trying to get over World War II. People were weary of even the thought of yet another. Most Americans had only a vague idea where the Korean Peninsula was; fewer knew it had been divided into two separate entities by a compromise agreement.
What really has been forgotten is that both South Korea and Japan -- yes, Japan – were rescued from the vortex of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s expansionist vacuum. At the end of World War II, the USSR quickly moved to occupy northern Japanese territory. In Tokyo, communists agitated openly, intending to take over labor unions, thence the country. The Korean War, specifically the heavy Allied military presence it created, literally shut them up and the people of Japan were given the opportunity to vote themselves a representative democracy.
Astounding describes the difference between South Korea and North Korea today. Veterans who helped assure that difference are justifiably proud of their accomplishment. What disturbs them is that history taught in schools rarely, if never, includes “their” war (1950-1953). It may rate a few passages in some textbooks, but little else.
Younger Americans are abjectly ignorant of what media call “the Korean conflict,” an alliterative euphemism that tends to position the Korean
War as a heated confrontation worthy of little more than a footnote. It is so labeled because the war was not declared by act of Congress, but ordered by President Harry S. Truman. To circumvent the constitutional mandate (Article 1, Section 8) that gives Congress exclusive authority to declare war, he avoided the word "war," calling it a "police action." Had he waited for Congress to act, the entire Korean peninsula could have been lost and Japan would have been next on the list. Circumvention of the Constitution's mandate thus was rationalized; an ominous precedent, because it was subsequently circumvented by President Johnson (Vietnam) and more recently by President Obama (Libya).
Whatever you want to call it, the Korean War remains unresolved today. The North periodically violates terms of the ceasefire agreement to get attention, create mischief and in the process kills South Koreans and their allies. Albuquerque Chapter One of the nationally chartered Korean War Veterans Association is small in number and getting smaller, but it is endeavoring to compensate by being visible. When there is a military themed public event, Korean War vets attend and talk to people.“To our pleasant surprise,” says Korean War veteran Larry Fenimore of Albuquerque, a Purple Heart recipient, “young people reveal curiosity and interest. They study the map we have on display; they gather up our information pieces and ask questions. Some even express appreciation for our teaching them something they never learned in school.
“We use a map of the Korean peninsula bisected by a line delineating the 38th Parallel that separates South Korea and North Korea,” explains Fenimore. He and his colleagues’ endeavors impart this account of history:
Korea was occupied by imperialist Japan until World War II ended in 1945. U.S. and Great Britain agreed (unwisely many say with the advantage
of hindsight) to split the country in half so that our communist “allies,” suddenly our adversaries, would occupy the northern half. Thick barriers of barbed wire went up and a “demilitarized zone” 2.5 miles wide was created. Peace was tenuous until June 25, 1950, almost five years after the Big War. The North Korean army swarmed into South Korea in a shock invasion spearheaded by tanks from the Soviet Union. The intent was to “unify” the entire Korean peninsula. They slaughtered defending soldiers, murdered civilians and took untold numbers of captives.
There were only a few thousand U.S. Army personnel stationed in South Korea at that time. They put up a fight, but the invasion was overwhelming. The Republic of Korea Army, “ROKs” they’re called, and their American supporters were driven to the southeastern sector of the peninsula. With reinforcements from northern Japan they formed a semi- circular line of defense. They held off the northern hordes until more reinforcements arrived from Okinawa and the U.S.
The American military had some surprises of its own for the North Koreans. A brigade of Marines landed and captured the port of Inchon on South Korea’s west coast. Army infantry joined them to retake the capitol city of Seoul in fiercely contested assaults.
Before it fell back into Allied hands permanently, Seoul was in contention a total of four times, each encounter compounding horrific destruction. Pro-democracy members of the United Nations began to send support in varying degrees of manpower ranging from token to division-size, British Commonwealth (England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada) comprising the largest contingent. Turkey and Greece each contributed a brigade of infantry. The push continued northward, past the 38th Parallel.
General Douglas MacArthur, commanding the “police action” from Tokyo, ordered forces to the Chosin Reservoir and the Yalu River bordering China. He intended to rid the peninsula of communism, ignoring, or disbelieving, intelligence reports that Chinese troops already were in North Korea and ready to intervene.
China did intervene, massively. It sent thousands of troops into the war on October 10, 1950, with an offensive operation to engage ROK Army units as they reached the Yalu. During the next two weeks more Chinese troops poured into North Korea, overrunning and stopping MacArthur’s
strung-out, summer-equipped, under-manned forces. Winter was becoming the coldest in a century, historians said. South Korean and American forces found themselves surrounded and fighting in every direction. Those who escaped had to fight their way to the east coast port of Hungnam to be hurriedly evacuated.
Beginning in the first quarter of 1951, offensive drives were initiated. North Korean and Chinese forces were pushed northward beyond the 38th
Parallel. Both sides dug in, a scenario reminiscent of World War I trench warfare. Land engagements consisted of intense fighting over key hilltop positions and night probes. The sky over North Korea became deadly in daylight as American Saberjets engaged Russian MiGs piloted by Soviet airmen, who were careful not to cross the earthly demarcation line lest they be captured and Soviet Russia's active involvement exposed.
As the stalemate wore on, dictator Stalin died and the USSR called for armistice talks. The first of such commenced at Kaesong on July 10, 1951, only to be broken off August 23 by the communists as both sides continued to battle for high ground and air dominance. In late October, truce dialogs turned into negotiations at the new meeting site, Panmunjom. They eventually resulted in two prisoner exchanges, preceding a signed armistice on July 27, 1953.
Net loss of real estate by North Korea: About 1,200 square miles. The cost in American lives was 36,516 including non-combatants. There were 103,248 wounded and 3,746 captured.
Albuquerque's Korean War veterans resent it being called a “conflict,” and particularly, “forgotten.” It was a bloody war in every ghastly aspect.
Albuquerque resident Frank Praytor served two wartime tours in Korea as a Marine.
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