Generals

Told Of Eight Chinese Divisions attacking X Corps at Chosin:
"That's impossible. There aren't two Chinese Communist divisions in the whole of North Korea."
-- Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond at noon on 28 November 1950 --

The Chinese Intervene

The Enemy

The Lost Regiment


     Generals at the Yalu (in background), 11/21/50
     Left to Right: Generals Kiefer, Hodes, Almond, Barr
     Visiting the 17th Infantry, at Hyesanjin

     The generals seem to think the war is over, but ...
     Catastrophe is about to strike Eighth Army and X Corps.



Given authority on 6 October to pursue the NK across the 38th parallel, UN forces drove north. ROK I Corps advanced up the east coast. X Corps embarked at Inchon and Pusan for another amphibious assault. EUSAK's I Corps entered Pyongyang on 19 October. The 187th Airborne RCT dropped 30 miles beyond.

ROK's reached the Yalu at Chosan on 26 October. X Corps landed on the east coast and pushed towards the Yalu. By the end of October the surviving NK army was fighting mainly guerilla actions. 135,000 prisoners had been taken. But veteran Chinese (CCF) troops had crossed the Yalu and had already struck overextended UN units. While EUSAK consolidated along the Chongchon, X Corps reached the Yalu at Hyesanjin, ROK I Corps pushed into the north east corner of Korea 60 miles from Siberia. The British 29th Commonwealth Brigade, a battalion from Thailand, and South African air units arrived in Korea.

Seemingly thinking that victory was at hand, MacArthur announced on 24 November the final drive to the northernmost limit of the Korean peninsula.

In retrospect it seems obvious that after China's 1st Phase Offensive we should have stopped for the winter, forming a defensible line across the narrow peninsula neck from Pyongyang to Wonsan, which would have won the war. But, when the CCF broke off to evaluate the results of their first attack and re-group for their next, MacArthur underestimated both China's strength and intent, and sent us on.

The error was fatal.


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A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for

 A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vaincourt


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