Re: Kunsan and Inchon landings, Sept 12 & 15, 1950

[<DGill11331@aol.com>]

In a message dated 9/8/2003 10:32:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wanaki@infionline.net writes:

> The Inchon Landing secured the future of the Marine Corps, which had been
> considered no longer viable and facing disbanding and integration into the
> other branches. As a consequence of the landing and the battle at Chosin
> Reservoir, a public law was passed by both houses, declaring that this Nation
> would always maintain a Marine Corps of three divisions and attached Air Wings.
>
> Ed Evanhoe wrote:
>
> >We're coming up on the 53rd anniversary of landing at Kunsan and the Inchon
> >landing.  Anyone have any thoughts of these events?
> >
> >Ed


Korea had two forgotten wars. The main one was the war itself the second was a war that Truman leveled against the Marine Corps in the early part of the war. Many people forget or just don' t know that the 5th Marine Brigade was already engaged at the Pusan Perimeter, the 1st Marine Regiment was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on its way to the Inchon Landing and the 7th Marine Regiment was on it way from Europe and other places to join the 5th and 1st Marines in Korea when President Truman unleashed a brutal verbal assault against the integrity of the Marine Corps. 
       My company was part of the 1st Marine Regiment on a ship (US Noble APA-218) on the high seas on the way to Inchon when Truman made his nasty verbal assault against the Marine Corps. I heard Truman's remarks first hand because the ship piped all the news from the States over its PA system. To the Marines who heard Truman's remarks -- his words had more of a detrimental effect on their moral than almost anything we faced in Korea. Once a Truman fan after hearing his remarks I never was a fan of his again. 
Don Gill