Clifton Avery (5/30/51), Walter Bobak (12/30/51), William Grogan (3/22/51), Milan Mosny (1/6/55) and Thomas Ochar (9/10/50) were all Little Falls native sons killed during the Korean War. Nearly 400 Little Falls residents served in Korea. To honor their service, the Little Falls Historical Society has included a Korean War museum exhibit for 2016.
Why did President Harry Truman send more than 350,000 American troops to Korea when there was no direct threat to America?
On June 25, 1950, the Soviet Union-supplied North Korean army invaded South Korea. American forces were soon fighting in Korea. A three-year seesaw conflict ended with a 1953 ceasefire.
The American public did not support our involvement in Korea: Today, most Americans understand little about the conflict that claimed more than 33,000 American lives and left nearly 100,000 wounded.
World War II was a global conflict ending in the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan and much-deserved praise for our troops. By comparison, the Korean War was a “limited war” with complicated causes and a stale-mated outcome. Our troops served honorably, suffered greatly and, as veterans, they receive scant recognition.
Japan’s 1945 surrender left Soviet troops in North Korea and American forces in South Korea, divided by the 38th Parallel. The United Nations was created in 1945 and the 1947 Truman Doctrine outlined the American Cold War foreign policy of containment — America would oppose the spread of communism. Two wars — in Korea and later in Vietnam — resulted.
America enters the conflict
Responding to North Korea’s invasion, the UN passed a resolution asking its members to “furnish such assistance to the Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area.”
Truman felt duty-bound to take military action. The Soviets and the Chinese backed North Korea. The very real possibility that the Korean War could escalate into World War III with nuclear weapons loomed in the background.
Following the invasion, North Korean forces drove the South Korean army to the southeast tip of Korea — the Pusan Perimeter. American-led UN forces entered the conflict and the dynamic changed.
On Sept. 15, General Douglas MacArthur launched a daring invasion at Inchon, far behind the invading North Koreans. UN forces fought out of the Pusan Perimeter and the North Koreans were assaulted on two fronts.
MacArthur vs. Truman — The Great Debate
Over the next two months, Communist forces retreated back across the 38th Parallel into North Korea. The fateful decision by MacArthur to defy Truman and send UN forces in pursuit was to have disastrous consequences.
MacArthur was stationed in Japan and hardly set foot in Korea. Ever vain, he dismissed evidence that China would send in troops if UN forces penetrated beyond the Chosin Reservoir in northern North Korea. The ensuing debate between Truman and MacArthur paralyzed American military policy. Disaster loomed.
“The Coldest Winter”
Despite repeated Chinese threats, MacArthur ordered UN forces to continue their advance; General Edward Almond moved the American Tenth Army forward toward Chosin. Major General O.P. Smith, commanding the 1st Marine Division, advanced more cautiously and established airfields and supply depots to support his troops.
The brutal 17-day Battle of Chosin Reservoir followed. 30,000 UN forces were surrounded by more than 120,000 Chinese. Temperatures dropped to minus 35 degrees; icy roads and weapon malfunctions complicated matters; Chinese forces attacked at nighttime in human waves. American air power dominated and Smith’s 1st Marine Division saved the American Tenth Army from destruction.
The UN breakout from entrapment was in two directions, along the road from the Chosin Reservoir to the port city of Hungnam and through Funchilin Pass southward toward the 38th Parallel.
The evacuation of our forces from Hungnam went smoothly, author David Halberstam has labeled the Funchilin Pass retreat “The Coldest Winter” due to the brutal conditions and heavy casualties.
Truman sought a negotiated settlement, but MacArthur sought the complete defeat of North Korea and possibly the invasion of China. The question: who controls military policy, the Chief Executive or a powerful military general? The result: Truman dismissed MacArthur.
UN forces set up a defensive perimeter south of the 38th Parallel protecting the South Korean capital of Seoul. Nearly two and a half more years of Korean War combat resulted in a military stalemate and a July 27, 1953 armistice.
Along the way, battles were fought at Twin Tunnels, Chipyong-ni, Wonsan, Hwach’on Reservoir, Bloody Ridge, Heartbreak Ridge, T-Bone Hill, Pork Chop Hill and in July 1953 at Kumsong River Salient. These names were foreign and unfamiliar to all but the men who fought there and their agonizing families at home.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy was that so many died, including several Little Falls natives, while 1951-53 peace negotiations were under way. Both North and South Korea wanted complete victory, but in the end, there was no clear-cut victory, only more death. A mutually unsatisfactory compromise; a stalemate in a limited war. The sardonic catch-phrase for American troops was “don’t die for a tie.”
The Korean War had disastrous consequences for all sides. The loss of life was staggering. American casualties were dwarfed by the over two million Koreans and over 600,000 Chinese who perished.
Harry Truman was unpopular when he left office in 1953, but he is now rated as one of our most admired presidents. He was our first Cold War era president, he resisted pressure from conservative Republicans to broaden the conflict in Korea and he dealt with the dawning of the nuclear age with restraint. Despite the presence of delusional generals on both sides, World War III was never fought.
Tragic miscalculations abounded in Korea. The North Korean invasion, MacArthur’s misread of Chinese strategy and Chinese underestimation of American military resolve all drove events. The only real heroes were the American soldiers who fought in Korea, including 400 from Little Falls.
