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truman letters right col Dated 6 September
1950
subject Marine Corps
Les
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 2:47
PM
Subject: Re: Error Condition Re: Re: 1st
MarDiv to Korea by back channel
In a message dated
11/1/02 12:49:25 PM Pacific Standard Time, evanhoe@arbuckleonline.com
writes:
>>MacArthur was a friend of the Marine Corps and a
booster. As he told General Shepherd, when the latter was CGFMFPac and
visiting Mac in Tokyo, that he treasured the service of the 1st MarDiv in
the Cape Gloucester campaign and would like to have them under his command
again., whereupon Shepherd, without authorization from CMC Cates, offered
Mac the 1st MarDiv, and then informed Cates about it. Cates then had to
deliver and the beefing up on the division for Inchon
follows.
Ben,
Again, I defer to your on
scene experience and discussions with General Shepherd, but it sure
contradicts Millett's history.
But, There was no real Marine Division
to speak of in July 1950. So how Shepherd could have offered that without
direction from above, is a puzzle to me. As you are aware, the Marines had to
maintain a presence on the East Coast for the skeletonized 2nd MarDiv. How CG
FMFPAC could count on these resources doesn't seem logical to me. Further,
SecDef and the JCS would certainly not be jumping for joy about resurrecting a
division which they had just spent years trying to eliminate.
If you
could refer me to a point of clarification, I'd surely appreciate it.
Sandy
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