Re: Worst general....

[robert guertin <wanaki@infionline.net>]

Mike,
As a Marine veteran of the war in Korea ,and a student of that war,
I have formed a strong opinion that General Walton Walker was an
outstanding combat commander, and the resultant problems during the
advance north would have been much different if Genl. Almond had
not been involved in the split command, and General Walker had run
the whole show. Anyone, in my opinion, who fails to recognize the
brilliance of Walker's defense of the Pusan Perimeter is either
incredibly uninformed or completely biased.
However, I do not agree with your assessment of Gen. Ridgeway.

Mike Yared wrote:

> 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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