[Granville-Hough] 18 May 2009 - Korea

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Quite a number of us from Sullivan’s Hollow spent time in Korea, 
later called “Frozen Chosen;” and probably none remember the experience 
with fondness. My time there was in 1947/48 in the aftermath of WW II; 
and by the time North Korea invaded South Korea, I was in Panama 
protecting the Panama Canal. Our main contribution in Panama was that we 
trained Puerto Rican soldiers who were sent as individual replacements 
to the units fighting in Korea. They either joined the 65th Infantry 
Regiment (a Puerto Rican unit), or an artillery battalion.

The sad fact about the war in Korea was that we miscalculated our 
position and strength over and over. We were actually unprepared and 
undermanned. Our divisions had been cut by one-third, then the remaining 
two regiments had been cut by one-third each. In trying to come back up 
to strength, we placed raw recruits where experienced veterans were 
needed. Of our 50,000 losses, over 30% were accidental, or the result of 
“friendly fire.” That means about 15,000 deaths were unintended, a whole 
division. It was more chaos than organized campaigns.

When I served in Korea, I was in the 24th Corps; but I was never 
consciously aware of General Douglas MacArthur as Commander of the Far 
East. He apparently ignored the place called Korea, and his staff 
members in their memoirs stated he turned that part of his command over 
to the State Department. Then, after the war started, he was 
out-generaled by Mao Tse-tung; and I am sure the Chinese generals are 
well-schooled in the lessons of that war. Harry Truman was well advised 
to relieve MacArthur as Commander.

It does not seem we have learned much. We were later defeated in 
Viet-Nam, yet we went on a few years later into Afghanistan and Iraq, 
two wars at once. Who in his right mind would advise such a thing? How 
will we get out, or survive, this situation? We have managed to make a 
punitive action against a small group of Muslim criminals into a 
cause-celebre for the whole Muslim religion. I suppose it could be 
called singular ineptness. Whether or not we do survive the immediate 
confrontation, the Muslims remember the Crusades; and they remember how 
they eventually won.