Re: [the-forgotten-war]

[<Cfbernard@aol.com>]

You all,

Steve Vogel is doing a "Washington Post" series that began Monday on the 
Korean war. You can get there by using the URL below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/metro/A17764-2000Jun18.html

The quotes he used from several locals, me included, are exact.  Today's 
article is a good explanation about how combat units were desegregated.  

My rationale for drawing your attention to this is simple.  All members of 
the Congress read the local Washington papers.  Please consider reinforcing, 
or putting Vogel's article in another perspective, to your own 
representatives.  Vogel focused me on Task Force Smith with this portion; he 
did not use everything I said, but his quotes from me are accurate.  There 
are other important lessons from your own experience and memory, you can add. 
 And as you know, Congressmen listen best to those who vote in their 
districts.

Keep the faith,

Carl Bernard.



By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 19, 2000; Page B01 

First in a series 

Watching from a hillside, 2nd Lt. Carl Bernard figured his nervous men 
couldn't shoot straight as they fired time and again at the column of 33 
North Korean tanks rolling down a highway 30 yards away.


So he snatched a bazooka himself, took aim and fired. To his shock, the 
rocket bounced off a tank. The 2.36-inch bazooka rockets the U.S. soldiers 
had been given could not penetrate the heavy armor of the T-34 tanks.


"They didn't hurt the tanks. This was sobering," said Bernard, who is now 74
and lives in Alexandria. "We didn't know that the piece-of-trash bazookas we
were carrying didn't do anything but annoy [the North Korean] tankers."

It was a harbinger of things to come for the U.S. troops in Korea.

Fifty years later, those awful early days of the Korean War remain vivid to 
veterans who make their home around Washington and to thousands of their 
former comrades, many of whom will join them Sunday on the Mall for a 
ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Their war began with the ugly discovery: The wheels had fallen off the
mighty U.S. military that had rolled to victory in World War II. The poorly 
trained
and inadequately armed troops thrown in the path of the invading North
Korean army were overwhelmed.

"The truly pathetic thing is, never have the troops sent into battle been 
more understrength, undertrained, underequipped and under-mentally prepared 
than we were in Korea," said Sherman Pratt, 78, an Arlington resident who 
commanded a 2nd Infantry Division company through some of the bloodiest 
fighting of the war. "That has stuck with me all through the years."


Until June 25, 1950, most Americans were blissfully unaware that their 
military was in many respects unprepared to fight. Then the Soviet-supplied 
North Korean People's Army rolled south, easily capturing Seoul. President 
Harry S. Truman swiftly committed troops to support the rapidly crumbling 
South Korean army.


Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a renowned hero in the victory over Japan,
dispatched an advance Army force for what he called "an arrogant display of 
strength." 
Crowds of South Koreans cheered and waved flags as the force of 440 American
soldiers moved up to take positions on the highway north of Osan.

"It made us feel like we'd already won," recalled Brad Smith, 84, commander 
of the force, called Task Force Smith.

"There was great enthusiasm and expectations of us," Bernard said. "The
rumor was as soon as they saw American troops, they'd turn around and go 
back."

Instead, the Americans were overrun. Smith and Bernard could see more tanks 
approaching, followed by a line of infantry marching four abreast stretching
back for miles.

"We had a pretty good idea right then that we had something that was going
to cause us a hell of a lot of woe," Smith said. "We weren't ready to fight, 
there's no question about it."

The Korean War, which would claim several million lives, including nearly 
37,000 American troops, caused woe to a degree that is little appreciated in
the United States today. Many of the horrifying disasters that were to
befall U.S. troops in the days and months that followed Task Force Smith are 
attributable to a deplorable lack of military preparedness, veterans of the 
fighting say.


"I lost a hell of a lot of people who I wouldn't have lost had we been
better equipped and better prepared," Bernard said. "We had machine guns that
didn't work. We had radios that didn't work."

The glaring American unpreparedness--the number of Americans in uniform had 
shrunk from 12 million in 1945 to 1.5 million in 1948--sparked a massive
U.S. rearmament that continued through the Cold War. The experience that 
followed
Brad Smith and his troops into Korea was so traumatic that the Army's battle
cry vowing readiness in recent years has been "No more Task Force Smiths."

Korea got much worse after Task Force Smith. The collapse of the 8th Army 
during the massive Chinese intervention in late November 1950 was one of the
worst defeats in American history. Later battles with chillingly evocative 
names like Bloody Ridge, Heartbreak Ridge and Pork Chop Hill would claim
many more lives.


When the war broke out, the U.S. 8th Army soldiers in Japan were living the 
happy life of an occupation army, with MacArthur reigning as de facto
emperor. Their combat preparations were minimal, and training consisted of 
little
more than keeping fit. Equipment was of deteriorating World War II vintage, 
much 
of it condemned. Smith's battalion, part of the 24th Infantry Division, was 
at half its designated strength, a deficiency mirrored in American units 
around the world.

Few saw these shortages as a problem. Nuclear weapons had made conventional 
warfare obsolete, most strategists thought.

"After Hiroshima, it looked like we'd never have a war again where 
infantrymen fought like infantrymen," Bernard said. "It led to us not being 
prepared or trained the way we should have."

Instead, Korea was the testing ground for a new, limited warfare later 
practiced in Vietnam. As the soldiers of Task Force Smith were the first to 
discover, infantry fighting was anything but obsolete in this kind of war.

Lt. Col. Smith's troops put up a fight against the oncoming North Koreans
But were quickly outflanked. Recognizing the futility of his position, Smith 
ordered a withdrawal, but in the chaos, Bernard's platoon never received the
order and continued to fight until the men discovered they were alone.

Bernard, who had been wounded by a grenade, and his 10 soldiers fled into
the countryside, eventually joined by 15 stragglers who had been separated 
from 
the main force. One sergeant was too severely wounded to walk, and Bernard 
gave his gold Longines watch to a Korean civilian with a pushcart who agreed
to carry the soldier to safety. The soldiers had no map of Korea, so Bernard
broke into a schoolhouse to get one. After two days of harrowing close calls, 
they rejoined the main force.

The U.S. reinforcements who poured into the hot, strange land that stunk
from human feces used to fertilize rice paddies fared little better than Task 
Force Smith. After one week, 3,000 U.S. soldiers were dead, wounded,
captured or missing.

Desperate to fill the ranks of understrength units, the military pulled the 
most experienced soldiers from units that had not yet been called. That
began a domino effect when those units later were summoned to the war.
"They took our ranking guys," said Robert Carroll, a Loudoun County resident
who was a platoon leader with the 7th Cavalry Regiment. "We were hurting for
leadership."

Pratt, a 28-year-old captain who had served in World War II, arrived inside 
the 8th Army's Pusan perimeter in August. Inspecting the defensive line
along the Naktong River, he was shocked by the conditions he saw. Soldiers in 
his 
company had ignored basic tactical rules and had set up gun positions without 
supporting fire.

"New people coming in would have no infantry training whatsoever, yet they 
were called to fight as infantrymen in a very brutal war," Pratt said. "This
is the condition that existed all up and down the Naktong perimeter. By all 
standards, they should have been pushed back into the sea, they were so ill 
prepared and ill equipped."


But the men held, and MacArthur executed a bold stroke with a landing at 
Inchon that led to the liberation of Seoul. With the help of U.N. allies,
the U.S. forces cleared the North Koreans from the south and then drove north 
toward the Chinese border.

MacArthur discounted the threat from the Chinese communists, insisting that 
the Air Force would destroy any large Chinese force. His miscalculation led 
to the second great disaster of the war.

A force of more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers, moving undetected at night, 
had crossed the Yalu River into Korea by late November. They launched a 
massive offensive soon after many of the American troops enjoyed Thanksgiving 
meals and heard predictions from MacArthur that they would be home for 
Christmas.

After several days of round-the-clock fighting near Kunu-ri trying to block 
the Chinese advance, Pratt's regiment was ordered to withdraw. Temperatures 
had sunk below zero, and soldiers were clinging to trucks, jeeps and tanks
as they inched their way down a dark mountain road.

Swarming Chinese soldiers pulled U.S. soldiers off vehicles, clubbing and 
bayoneting them. The Chinese were so mixed in with the U.S. force that it
was almost impossible to fire weapons. Through the frozen night came pleas 
for 
help from wounded Americans.

"Troops were calling, 'Help, don't leave us, we're wounded,' " Pratt said.
The division's two other infantry regiments were sent down a road where 
Chinese forces had set up a six-mile-long gantlet of fire. Chinese
roadblocks and destroyed vehicles blocked the road, and a slaughter ensued.

"The price we paid was ghastly casualties," said Pratt, who has retired from
a career as a government lawyer and is now a civic activist in Arlington.
"We had to leave behind the dead and dying and wounded because there was no 
way 
to get them out."

For the soldiers who survived, there is a lasting sadness about why many of 
their friends were lost.  Bernard felt he could not leave the Army after 
Korea. He served in Vietnam before retiring in 1975 after 30 years in 
uniform."One of the reasons I stayed was I felt an obligation to use what had 
been taught to me at the cost of other people's lives," he said.

"These guys died because of budget cuts," said Bill Woods, a former Army 
sergeant living in Washington. "We weren't ready to fight a major war over 
there."


The War in Korea


June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953


During the pre-dawn hours of June 25, 1950, North Korea crossed the 38th 
parallel to invade South Korea. Within days, the United States suffered its 
first humiliating defeat to North Korean forces. Understrength and 
overwhelmed, the United States would spend the next three years fighting the

war and simultaneously attempting to rebuild its forces.


The War


The Korean War was part of an international effort to "contain" Asian 
communism in a nation that had been split by a post-WWII agreement with the 
Soviets. The Asian communists were assumed in 1950 to be part of a worldwide

communist bloc. North Korea's ties with China and the Soviet Union enhanced 
that fear.


Task Force Smith


Sent to Korea to provide "an arrogant display of strength" by Gen. Douglas 
MacArthur, a force of 440 men took up a blocking position in Osan. Woefully 
unprepared and poorly equipped, the force was no match for the North
Koreans, 
who continued their southward attacks. In September 1950, U.N. forces were 
nearly pushed into the sea.


Key Events


At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into U.S. and Soviet
occupation 
zones along the 38th parallel in August 1945.


1950


January: Secretary of State Dean Acheson states that western defense 
perimeter of the U.S. does not include South Korea.


June 25: North Korean People's Army invades South Korea.


June 27: United Nations asks member countries to aid the Republic of Korea. 
President Harry S. Truman announces U.S. intervention.


June 28 to 29: South Korean capital, Seoul, captured by North Korean army.


July 5: U.S. forces retreat with heavy casualties from first battle with the

North Koreans, in Osan.


July 7: MacArthur appointed supreme commander of U.N. command in Korea.


July 19 to 22: Battle for Taejon. U.S. troops retreat.


Aug. 27 to Sept. 15: Pusan perimeter battles, some of the heaviest fighting 
of the war.


Sept. 15: MacArthur executes an amphibious assault landing at Inchon to 
retake Seoul.


Sept. 19 to 29: Attack and capture of Seoul by U.N. troops.


Oct. 9: Invasion of North Korea begins; U.N. forces cross 38th parallel.


Oct. 13 or 14: Chinese communist forces cross the Yalu River into Korea.


Oct. 19: Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, is captured by U.N. forces.


Nov. 26 to Dec. 1: Chinese forces strike devastating blow along the
Chongchon 
River; U.S. retreat.


Nov. 27 to Dec. 11: U.S. Marines retreat from Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir.


1951


Jan. 4: Seoul captured by the Chinese.


March 14: Seoul retaken by U.N.


April 11: Truman fires MacArthur.


July 10: Truce talks begin at Kaesong.


Aug. 1 to Oct. 31: Battles of Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge.


1952


Feb. 18: Communist POWS begin riot in Koje-do prison.


1953


Last week of March to April 18: Battles of Old Baldy, Eerie and Pork Chop 
Hill.


April 20: Exchange of sick and wounded POWs, known as Little Switch, begins 
in Panmunjom.


July 27: Cease-fire is signed in Panmunjom; fighting ends about 12 hours 
later.


(These maps were not available)


1. North Korea Attacks


June 25, 1950: North Korea launches attack into South Korea, crossing the 
38th parallel, claiming a nationalist mandate to reunify the country. The 
Soviet Union and China had given approval. The north's soldiers meet little 
resistance and push South Korean and a small number of U.S. troops back to a

pocket around the port of Pusan.


2. U.S. Lands at Inchon


The United States, believing the invasion to be a crucial test of Western 
resolve by Moscow, reinforces Pusan, and the line is held. In September,
U.S. 
troops land at Inchon to recapture Seoul. The North Korean invasion force 
disintegrates, and U.S. and allied forces from U.N. members quickly advance 
far into the north, nearing Chinese border.


3. China Enters the War


China sends more than 300,000 men across the Yalu River. U.S. and U.N.
troops 
fall back, with evacuations by sea at Wonsan and Hungnam, and a general 
withdrawal south.


4. Cease-fire Near 38th Parallel


Battle lines eventually stabilize near the 38th parallel. After two years of

negotiations while the conflict continues, both sides sign a truce on July 
27, 1953. After nearly 50 years of armed standoff, North and South Korea 
signed an accord last week resolving to improve relations. About 37,000 U.S.

troops are stationed in South Korea today.


American Readiness


In the years following World War II, U.S. military strength had become 
dangerously weak. In 1945, the United States spent $50 billion on the Army; 
in 1950, it spent $5 billion. In 1945, there were 12 million men and women
in 
uniform; in 1948, there were 1.5 million, and no one had been drafted since 
March 1947. With heavy military commitments in Europe, the U.S. had little
to 
choose from.


Army


Estimate of necessary strength


14 divisions; 940,000 personnel


Actual forces June 1950


10 divisions; 5 regiments; 591,000 personnel


Actual forces 1953


20 divisions; 18 regiments; 1.5 million personnel


Air Force


Estimate of necessary strength


70 groups; 400,000 personnel


Actual forces June 1950


48 groups; 411,000 personnel


Actual forces 1953


93 wings*; 974,000 personnel


Navy


Estimate of necessary strength


1043 ships; 560,000 personnel


Actual forces June 1950


683 ships; 382,000 personnel


Actual forces 1953


1130 ships; 808,000 personnel


Marine Corps


Estimate of necessary strength


3 divisions; 3 aircraft wings; 108,000 personnel


Actual forces June 1950


2 divisions; 2 aircraft wings; 74,000 personnel


Actual forces 1953


3 divisions; 3 aircraft wings; 246,000 personnel


*The Air Force changed from groups to wings to describe two or more
squadrons 
and supporting elements.


SOURCES: "A Short History of the Korean War," James L. Stokesbury; Korean
War 
Commemorative Committee; "Warfare and Armed Conflicts," by Michael 
Clodfelter; World Almanac "Korean War Almanac," by Col. Harry G. Summer Jr.;

"Atlas of Global Strategy," by Lawrence Freedman; "The Forgotten War," by 
Clay Blair;


"For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of
America," 
by Peter Maslowski.


© 2000 The Washington Post Company