Worst general....

[Mike Yared <mikeyared@yahoo.com>]

from Infantry, Summer 2002, p.4
Weighing the Generals in the Korea War
	I am writing to comment on the Expert Infantryman
Badge item in the Career Notes section (Infantry,
Spring 2002, p. 48) and the book reviews on General
Douglas MacArthur (page 49).
	During WWII, I served in combat as a first scout of a
rifle squad of Company E in the 376th Infantry
Regiment, 94th Infantry Division, XX Corps (commanded
by General Walton Walker). The 376th was the first
regiment in which all soldiers qualified for the EIB.
At that time, the EIB required a 25-mile road march
and a "forced march" of nine miles in two hours in
full field gear. Today it is 12 miles instead of 25
and no mention of a forced march for the EIB. Is this
badge still for males only?
	After WWII, I went back to school and graduated from
college in 1950. When the war in Korea started two
weeks later, I re-enlisted for infantry OCS and was
commissioned. When the war started, General Walker
commanded the ground troops, until he was killed in an
accident the following December.
	I served in combat under General Walker, and my
opinion of him is far superior to that of historian
Stalney Weintraub. I realize that hot and negative
things like hero-bashing sell books. But in my
opinion, Weintraub has gone too far in bashing Walker
and MacArthur (and too far in praising General Matthew
Ridgway).
	In Korea, MacArthur and Walker stopped the advanced
of the North Korean Army and then defeated it. When
the Chinese Army came over the Yalu, MacArthur and
Walker slowed it down and stopped it at about the 38th
parallel. They did those things with a relatively
small fraction of the total losses in Korea.
	The vast majority of the American lives lost in Korea
occurred while General Ridgway was in command. This
puts Ridgway at the bottom of my list of all the
generals who ever wore an American uniform. And yes, I
have been a rifleman under General Patton. Patton has
about half the losses other commanding generals had in
Europe (on the basis of losses per 1,000 men, per day
of combat, FM 100 series).

Robert Kingsbury
LTC, Infantry (USAR, Retired),
NH


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