dsc
Resident Member
Posts: 759
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Post by dsc on Jun 26, 2020 20:29:49 GMT -8
This is pure speculation on my part. But it may be that the "front" was more clearly defined in the Korean War. Bases to the rear might have been relatively safe. In Vietnam, the front was never clear. It may be that in Vietnam, being near a U.S. base, any U.S. base, might have been hazardous. So, the U.S. military and the local civilians might have avoided mixing. You may know more about all that than I do. Also, justification for our being in Vietnam was always dicey. The French colonialists decided to leave and our forces went in to replace them. So, whose side were we on? Well, the anti-communist side. But where were the locals on that? I saw an interview with one of the Vietnam principals (for the U.S., can't remember if it was McNamara, a general, or some NSC official) who said they got it totally wrong in Vietnam. They never understood that Ho Chi Minh wasn't Stalin; he was Tito. I thought that was a jaw-dropping confession. Good point. After the UN forces retreated into the South, they pushed back to the 38th parallel and a long stalemate ensued until the armistice. So for the most part, the front stayed static.
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Post by andyh64000 on Jun 26, 2020 20:41:02 GMT -8
One thing I have always been curious. Why did China wait until the UN troops approached the border? If it was China's intention to keep NK propped up, you think the troops would have mobilized as soon as MacArthur's Inchon landing succeeded. Did MacArthur really intend to go to war with China? Consider the timing and circumstances. China's supply lines were just across the border and we couldn't bomb them; ours were extended. It was in the middle of a bitter winter and it's possible that our air superiority was not effective. Besides China had thousands of soldiers willing or forced to take one for Chairman Mao. Those are more of my recollections. I read that China had been assembling their forces to invade Tai wan when they determined Korea to be a bigger threat and shifted their forces. Without the Korean War, Tai Wan would just be another Chinese Island.
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Post by grant73 on Jun 27, 2020 4:37:40 GMT -8
-- "The Domino Theory figured in our actions." --
True that. But after the PRC's willingness to infect the Pyongyang/Seoul issue with troops, there seemed to be a precedent. Not to mention the prevailing elitist view of Indo-China being mostly peasants and colonial sycophants all set to be Sino-ized by "Peking." After all, the supposedly worldly, educated and cosmopolitan countries of Eastern Europe had kowtowed quite easily to the Soviet system in (then) recent memory.
With all that in the public's mind, the domino idea had as much credence in both parties' population within State and Defense, not to mention Congress.
Lol, even now, with their artificial "Islands" designed to populate and extend their "domestic waters," there's a new sort of expansionism no one could have dreamed of in 1950!
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Post by TAMPATIDE on Jun 28, 2020 12:09:08 GMT -8
Whenever the Korean War is mentioned I always think about 2 friends who were there, both in the Marine Corps. One was in a lead unit when they pushed into N Korea. He told me it was only October but already cold. He dug himself out a patch to sleep in and he said right at dawn another Marine was shaking him and saying, get up Sergeant, this ain't good. He said he rolled over and looked over the horizon and saw the greatest mass of human beings he had ever witnessed. The Chinese were about a quarter mile away and advancing on their position. His biggest recollection was the sound of many bugles blowing.
Another friend was a guy I worked for who had been given the choice by a judge of joining the military or going to jail. So he joined the Marines in '49 and wound up in Korea shortly thereafter. Eventually he found himself with his fellow Marines surrounded by the Chinese at Chosin Reswervoir. He was captured and forced to strip standing in the snow. He wound up in a N Korean POW camp until the end of the war.
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Post by blublood on Jun 28, 2020 13:30:53 GMT -8
One of my former bosses had been a Marine fighter pilot in Korea. He got shot down, captured, and sent to a N. Korean POW camp. He wouldn't go into details, but endured harrowing abuse. He was still in the reserves when Vietnam came along. He flew again, but swore he'd never allow himself to be captured again. He was overflying a valley when he got shot down by anti-aircraft fire from a ridge. He landed in a forest of trees. Just before touching ground, he flew between two trees that caught both wings. The cockpit separated from the rest of the plane. Behind him, the separated fuselage exploded in a fireball. He survived. No one came looking for him. He figured the enemy on the ridge saw the fireball and didn't see the point of hiking down to confirm the kill. He walked, injured and alone, something like 80 miles until he found some allied troops.
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Post by northbruin40 on Jun 28, 2020 13:44:47 GMT -8
Given that some of you have relayed personal accounts from friends, I wonder if the following film captures the profile of a guy who suddenly found himself in the war www.imdb.com/title/tt0046806/
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DrJ
Contributing Member
Posts: 188
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Post by DrJ on Jun 29, 2020 13:37:21 GMT -8
“*Early on one of Kennedy's generals advised him not to get involved in a land war in SE Asia. That advice was ignored. The consequences of that decision were profound and painful.*”
That was General Vizzini. He also advised him to never go against a Sicilian when death is at stake.
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Post by Born2BBruin on Jun 29, 2020 13:40:06 GMT -8
"when death is on the line"
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