Success Happy

STALEMATE AT THE 38TH PARALLEL A new general takes over

Summary: The Korean War remembered 13 MacArthur is dismissed as politicians debate the course of the warMacArthur s view on the war did not sit well with Washington which had decided the war should stay on its current course Last time General Paik relayed his encounter with Gen Douglas MacArthur who brought much needed food to the South Korean forces and described the start of Operation Tomahawk which brought UN forces to the banks of the Imjin River for a confrontation along the 38th parallel In March of 1951 we were ready to push beyond the 38th parallel Nevertheless the political atmosphere in Washington was somewhat different One could feel the hesitation in the air to finish the job and wipe out the enemy President Syngman Rhee and Gen Douglas MacArthur were on the same page wanting to go North but the politicians in Washington and the allies seemed more interested in maintaining the current position along the 38th parallel On March 27 Gen Matthew Ridgway the 8th Army commander summoned key commanders to a meeting at his headquarters in Yoju Most of the U S division and corps commanders attended the meeting Only five South Korean commanders were present Chief of Staff Chung Il kwon I Corps commander Kim Paik il III Corps commander Yu Jae hung and two division commanders whose units were attached to the U S Army Corps myself and Chang Do young who commanded the 6th Division General Ridgway had brought us together to clarify his intentions in the upcoming operation There is no 38th parallel the general said It s important to pursue an offensive defense He also mentioned the Kansas Line emphasizing that we needed to secure key defense points along the 38th parallel in case the front cemented itself The Kansas Line served as an operational line of control from the Imjin River on the west to Yangyang on the East Sea It looked like he was anticipating politics in Washington but still wanted to hold good defensive positions Before returning to my unit Maj Gen Kim Paik il told me to participate in a photo session with the group Little did I know that would be the last time I saw him When I returned from the meeting I executed a successful attack directed at the Chinese forces positioned across the Imjin River We captured some Chinese soldiers but it was then that an urgent message arrived to inform us that Maj Gen Kim Paik il had just been killed After our conference in Yoju he had been flying back to his headquarters when his aircraft crashed amidst a patch of bad weather in the Daegwallyeong Pass His body was not recovered until May The general had been a close friend even though he was three years my senior We served together in the Kando Special Force during World War II During a general withdrawal from North Korea in December 1950 he played a key role in arranging the safe evacuation of 900 000 refugees by sea despite objections by U S military commanders who feared they would be giving shelter to North Korean spies as well Originally the U S forces had planned to move 350 000 tons of supplies to Busan using 193 ships but nobody had anticipated the masses of refugees On April 7 1951 I received an order from army headquarters informing me that I would be promoted to commander of the I Corps to replace General Kim Since the outbreak of the war I was the only division commander who had remained in command of the same division and leaving my men with whom I had gone through thick and thin was hard Before I left to take command of the new corps I paid a visit to my boss Gen Frank Milburn He congratulated me and put at my disposal an L 17 plane that would take me to my new command post in Busan The promotion also came with the disheartening news that Gen Douglas MacArthur had been relieved of his command and replaced by General Ridgway who had been promoted to four star rank Meanwhile James A Van Fleet would replace Ridgway as commander of the U S 8th Army When President Syngman Rhee pinned the two stars on my uniform he didn t hide his disappointment about General MacArthur s dismissal as it put a dent in his aspirations to unify the Korean Peninsula It was well known that MacArthur s view on how the war on the Korean Peninsula should be conducted did not sit well with Washington which had decided that the war should stay on its current course namely a stalemate at the 38th parallel without an aggressive push toward the North much less a unification of the two Koreas MacArthur was not thinking about an all out war with China but he believed in the use of an atomic bomb near the Amnok River to block Chinese forces that would try to aid the North Koreans further Thinking back now MacArthur had spent a considerable amount of time abroad since commanding the raging war in the Pacific He was surrounded by loyalists from his days in the Philippines and thus access to him was limited That is why he underestimated the information he received in October 1950 about the Chinese forces and didn t take the Chinese offensive seriously My visit to Busan finally gave me an opportunity to see my family My wife and our 3 year old daughter were living in a tiny room When I walked in my wife and I both began to cry My wife had always been small but the 10 months of war had made her even skinnier I later found out that she had suffered from typhoid fever 60 years with the military by Paik Sun yup Translation by Brian Lee africanu joongang co kr Copyrights ⓒ JoongangIlbo Joins com All rights reserved The Korean War remembered 13 MacArthur is dismissed as politicians debate the course of the warMacArthur s view on the war did not sit well with Washington which had decided the war should stay on its current course Last time General Paik relayed his encounter with Gen Douglas MacArthur who brought much needed food to the South Korean forces and described the start of Operation Tomahawk which brought UN forces to the banks of the Imjin River for a confrontation along the 38th parallel In March of 1951 we were ready to push beyond the 38th parallel Nevertheless the political atmosphere in Washington was somewhat different One could feel the hesitation in the air to finish the job and wipe out the enemy President Syngman Rhee and Gen Douglas MacArthur were on the same page wanting to go North but the politicians in Washington and the allies seemed more interested in maintaining the current position along the 38th parallel On March 27 Gen Matthew Ridgway the 8th Army commander summoned key commanders to a meeting at his headquarters in Yoju Most of the U S division and corps commanders attended the meeting Only five South Korean commanders were present Chief of Staff Chung Il kwon I Corps commander Kim Paik il III Corps commander Yu Jae hung and two division commanders whose units were attached to the U S Army Corps myself and Chang Do young who commanded the 6th Division General Ridgway had brought us together to clarify his intentions in the upcoming operation There is no 38th parallel the general said It s important to pursue an offensive defense He also mentioned the Kansas Line emphasizing that we needed to secure key defense points along the 38th parallel in case the front cemented itself The Kansas Line served as an operational line of control from the Imjin River on the west to Yangyang on the East Sea It looked like he was anticipating politics in Washington but still wanted to hold good defensive positions Before returning to my unit Maj Gen Kim Paik il told me to participate in a photo session with the group Little did I know that would be the last time I saw him When I returned from the meeting I executed a successful attack directed at the Chinese forces positioned across the Imjin River We captured some Chinese soldiers but it was then that an urgent message arrived to inform us that Maj Gen Kim Paik il had just been killed After our conference in Yoju he had been flying back to his headquarters when his aircraft crashed amidst a patch of bad weather in the Daegwallyeong Pass His body was not recovered until May The general had been a close friend even though he was three years my senior We served together in the Kando Special Force during World War II During a general withdrawal from North Korea in December 1950 he played a key role in arranging the safe evacuation of 900 000 refugees by sea despite objections by U S military commanders who feared they would be giving shelter to North Korean spies as well Originally the U S forces had planned to move 350 000 tons of supplies to Busan using 193 ships but nobody had anticipated the masses of refugees On April 7 1951 I received an order from army headquarters informing me that I would be promoted to commander of the I Corps to replace General Kim Since the outbreak of the war I was the only division commander who had remained in command of the same division and leaving my men with whom I had gone through thick and thin was hard Before I left to take command of the new corps I paid a visit to my boss Gen Frank Milburn He congratulated me and put at my disposal an L 17 plane that would take me to my new command post in Busan The promotion also came with the disheartening news that Gen Douglas MacArthur had been relieved of his command and replaced by General Ridgway who had been promoted to four star rank Meanwhile James A Van Fleet would replace Ridgway as commander of the U S 8th Army When President Syngman Rhee pinned the two stars on my uniform he didn t hide his disappointment about General MacArthur s dismissal as it put a dent in his aspirations to unify the Korean Peninsula It was well known that MacArthur s view on how the war on the Korean Peninsula should be conducted did not sit well with Washington which had decided that the war should stay on its current course namely a stalemate at the 38th parallel without an aggressive push toward the North much less a unification of the two Koreas MacArthur was not thinking about an all out war with China but he believed in the use of an atomic bomb near the Amnok River to block Chinese forces that would try to aid the North Koreans further Thinking back now MacArthur had spent a considerable amount of time abroad since commanding the raging war in the Pacific He was surrounded by loyalists from his days in the Philippines and thus access to him was limited That is why he underestimated the information he received in October 1950 about the Chinese forces and didn t take the Chinese offensive seriously My visit to Busan finally gave me an opportunity to see my family My wife and our 3 year old daughter were living in a tiny room When I walked in my wife and I both began to cry My wife had always been small but the 10 months of war had made her even skinnier I later found out that she had suffered from typhoid fever 60 years with the military by Paik Sun yup Translation by Brian Lee africanu joongang co kr Copyrights ⓒ JoongangIlbo Joins com All rights reserved

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