Re: "The Secrets of Inchon: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Covert Mission of the Korean War"

[Ed Evanhoe <ed_evanhoe@korean-war.com>]

Kim,

>>At 03:30 PM 11/13/2003, you wrote:
> Hi, Mike -
>
> What a coincidence - I have finished reading the book a few hours prior to
> your post.  It is remarkable how Commander Clerk had managed to remember 
> all those minutia!   I must state that, some minor factual errors on Korean
> customs and history, his account differs somewhat from Col. Geh In-ju's
> account (see http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/gehinje.htm)
>
> Col. Geh states that a KLO unit of 30 or so joined the group in Japan and
> that later Choe Gyu-bong and other KLOs joined Clerk and company.  Choe,
> still alive, claims that he was responsible for lighting up the light 
> house. (snip)<<

And both Col. Geh's and Clark's accounts differ from the way local 
islanders who were involved remembered these events.  Plus, Clark's account 
in THE SECRETS OF INCHON vary from his original 1950 account.  I suspect 
what we have here is a classic ROSHOMAN scenario where everyone involved 
sees the same event(s) from a different perspective and remembers it in a 
light most favorable to themselves. <LOL>

Personally I suspect the islanders accounts are likely the most accurate 
since I heard basically the same story from people on different islands 
with the main difference in what part each played but their time line and 
events were almost identical and track closely with Clark's original 1950 
report.

I also suspect that SECRETS OF INCHON was written as personal history for 
family only and Clark never intended it to be published.  And, in doing so 
and because it was written many years after the events took place, tended 
to be somewhat colorful.

Ed

Ed Evanhoe, PO Box 916, Antlers, OK, 74523