Japan and the Korean War

[Jim Olson <olsonjam@uwec.edu>]

In reading about the war I keep running into snippets of info about 
the role of Japan in the war.

Obviously we used it as a base of operations and much of our 
equiptment was serviced there.

I recall in July of 51 some troops in our  were given R@R leaves to 
Tokyo where they were treated well- I'm not sure about black soldiers 
though.

When I was wounded in April of 51 I spent about a month in Osaka
in an Army hospital there and was sent to Sasebo on a civilian train 
and then to Pusan on a Japanese ship that carried US troops and was 
manned by Japenese.

They were not uniformed but I somehow felt they were serving in an 
offical capacity- all men.

Somewhere I have read that Japan was a secret participant in the War.



In a novel about the War "One Thousand Chestnut Tress," one of the 
characters claims that Japan was a player in the end in keeping Korea 
divided as it feared a strong Korea- the Korean-Japanese 
relationships  were very touchy and
still are- lots of distrust and continuing animosity.

I suspect that in that last incident when a North Korean test rocket 
went toward Japan, there were many South Koreans who applauded.