Reflections on the Korean War and
anecdotes about the services
(This article also
appears in the current issue of The Morning Calm, the quarterly
newsletter of the Korean War Veterans of MA.)
On Veterans
Day Americans pay special attention to those who served in the
military and to the wars in which many gave their lives. As part
of the remembrances and commemorations, some communities
highlight a particular war in their annual memorial events.
Spotlighted here is the Korean War plus a few odds and ends
anecdotes about each branch of service.
Uniformed Services
Probably most
citizens do not know that there are seven and not just the five
military services. The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned
Corps is led by the surgeon general. Its members are officers
whose grades and uniforms are identical to those of the U.S.
Navy.
The UPHSCC
dates back to the Marine Hospital Service established in 1871.
Its mission is to “promote the health and safety of the nation.”
The NOAA
Commissioned Corps (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration) was established in 1917. However, its roots
reach back to 1807. Its officers possess backgrounds in earth
science and engineering. Their grades and uniforms correspond to
those of the U.S. Navy. The NOAA reports to the Department of
Commerce.
The U.S. Army
is the oldest and largest of the military services. George
Washington assumed the first command of the Continental Army in
Cambridge, MA, shortly after the Continental Congress created
the Army on June 14, 1775. The highest number of Army casualties
occurred in the Civil War. The Army maintained a Cavalry until
1950 when it was folded into the Armor unit; however, the 1st
Cavalry Division retains its proud and noble name. The 1898 Colt
45 sidearm and the WWI air-cooled and water-cooled machine guns
remained anachronisms in the Army standard weaponry until the
end of the Korean War. In stark contrast, the Army Air Corps
dropped the two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Following the
Vietnam settlement in 1973, General Creighton Abrams, Army Chief
of Staff, implemented Total Task Force, which integrated the
regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve in such a way to
make it less likely that an American president could go to war
without a full declaration by the U.S. Congress (so much for
that). Actually, Congress has declared war only five times: War
of 1812, Mexican War in 1846, Spanish-American War in 1898,
World War I and World War II.
The U.S. Navy
is the second oldest service with a founding date of October 13,
1775. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world with
approximately 300 ships and 4,000 aircraft. In 1907 President
Theodore Roosevelt sent the fleet of American battleships on a
worldwide tour. This “show the flag” cruise demonstrated the
might of the U.S. and its Navy. By the end of World War II the
Navy exceeded the combined tonnage of all other combatants in
the world. Today it remains a worldwide force particularly in
the Middle East and the Pacific.
The U.S.
Marine Corps was founded in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775.
Along with the Navy, it was disbanded following the
Revolutionary War until 1798. The Marines, without question,
possess the highest
esprit de corps of all the services and a proud,
well-detailed history of performance in American wars. One of
its notable figures was 1st Lt. Presley O’Bannon, who led eight
Marines plus an assortment of mercenaries at Tripoli against
19th century pirates, an act which became the basis for the
Marine Hymn. The melody is taken from the French Opera that
Genevieve de Brabant first performed in 1859. (Personal note:
The writer’s brother and sister-in-law named their third son
O’Bannon — we just know him as “Banny.”)
The U.S. Coast
Guard presently reports to the Department of Homeland Security.
In wartime, however, it usually becomes part of the U. S. Navy
Command. The Coast Guard was established by Alexander Hamilton
on August 4, 1790, and operated under the control of the
Department of the Treasury. The very first Coast Guard station
was located in Newburyport. For a time following the
Revolutionary War, the Coast Guard served as the
de facto Navy
of the nation.
The U.S. Air
Force as a separate service began on September 18, 1947. Its
origins as part of the Army, however, date back to 1907 when it
functioned as a component of the Army Signal Corps. In World War
I it flew more than 700 planes in France. In World War II the
Army Air Corps suffered the highest percentage of casualties of
all the military services. By the end of World War II it
operated 80,000 planes and had 2.4 million men and women in its
ranks. Today the U.S. Air Force is the most modern in the world
and, with the other services’ air arms, represents the first
line of defense for the continental United States both with
conventional planes and in cyberspace.
In addition to
these anecdotes and facts about the services, somewhat startling
statistics about the Korean War may be of particular interest as
well.
The Korean War
is often overlooked when in fact the ferociousness of combat,
the level of casualties, the length of the war and its impact on
the world places it in the forefront of 20th century conflicts.
• 37 months
duration from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953
• Peace treaty
never signed – just a fragile armistice after which U. S. has
suffered approximately 1,200 dead and wounded along the
Demilitarized Zone
•
1506 Massachusetts servicemen killed in action
• 168
Massachusetts servicemen missing in action
• 33,629
American combat deaths
• 54,243
overall American deaths during the war period
• 7,140
American prisoners of war (tortured, brainwashed and many died)
• 103,284
American wounded in action
• 131 Medal of
Honor awards
• 7 Medal of
Honor awards to MA servicemen
• 302,483 peak
number of American service men in Korean War
• 1,587,040
total number of Americans who served in Korea
• 1 in 10
line troops killed in action in relation to the wounded (highest
percentage in 20th century U.S. wars) compared to 1 in 12 in
World War I, 1 in 15 in World War II and 1 in 19 in Vietnam
Between
April 22 and April 29, 1951, the biggest battle of the war took
place. This was the Spring Offensive by 27 communist Chinese and
North Korean divisions consisting of over 350,000 men against
the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 24th, 25th U. S. Army divisions and the 1st
Marine Division plus U.N. and South Korean Forces. U.S. Air
Force and U.S. 6th fleet played major roles in repelling and
destroying the enemy forces.
Colonel
William E. Weber (Ret.) notes in his writings on the war:
“Without exception, in Korea American soldiery deployed in Field
Army size, faced more enemy ground combat forces than in any
unbroken series of campaigns in any of the foreign wars of the
20th century in which U.S. forces were engaged!”
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