 An army is known by its leaders. An army is remembered for the deeds of its men. This, the 8th United States Army, is the Army of General Robert Eichelberger, its first commander who drove the Japanese from Lausanne. Of Walton H. Walker, 8th Army commander killed in a Jeep accident in Korea. Of Matthew Ridgway, who would become Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Of James Van Fleet, Author of Final Victory in Korea. Of Maxwell Taylor, Strategist and Diplomat. This was the Army of the Philippines, of Manila. The Army of Busan, of Taizan. Of the first grim days in Korea. Of Incheon, of Seoul. Of the drive to the Yellow River, of Porkchop Hill, of Sniper Ridge. Of Old Baldy. This was an army of soldiers, Marines, Airmen. Of Scotsman, Koreans, Turks, Filipinos, Ethiopians, Belgians. And especially of Americans. It was suddenly thrown into an unexpected war. Hardened in the crucible of fire, it became in Korea a formidable fighting machine. This army presents an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Now to show you part of the big picture, here is Sergeant Stuart Queen. The 8th Army of the United States, created in 1944, saw its first action in the far away hot wet jungles of New Guinea. New Britain, and the Admiralty Islands in the Southwest Pacific. The 8th Army cleared this hardly defended area of Japanese. Then drove up through the Philippines, retook Manila, and at the end of the war occupied Japan. Five years later in another war, it was destined to become the shield of the free nations against the onslaught of communism. As a result of the war in Korea, the 8th Army will take a special place in history. It was a misunderstood war at the time. But the action in Korea, in the light of what we all know today, stands as an historic defeat for communism. Back in the spring of 1944, when the 8th was created to operate in New Guinea, the strategic situation in the Pacific was like this. The Japanese then held the Philippines, Burma, Indochina, the Mele Peninsula and Singapore, and the East Indus. In Manchuria, China, and in Korea, the Japanese had dominated for years. Our own strategic command in Washington was directing a worldwide effort of our immense forces. We were getting ready to cross the English Channel. There was a great war in Europe, and another on the other side of the earth, in the islands of the Pacific. That is where the 8th Army was born. In the Allied forces had established strong footholds in eastern New Guinea, in New Britain, and others of the nearby islands. Saipan and Guam were held by the Japanese, but we were in the Gilbert Islands and the Marshals. We had hacked out strong bases from which we intended to attack the very numerous Japanese army, navy, and air bases in the Philippines. The Japanese had built extensive airfields on a level plain in land. This area was torn from the Japanese grasp in heavy fighting in a steaming hot jungle. It commanded some 200,000 men strung out before the big jump off over about 1,200 miles of jungle and desolate islands. A firm military springboard was established for a return to the Philippines at Leyte in the Philippines, October 1944. Army assumed command in the Leyte area late in the year for swift amphibious movement. There were 52 D-days. For a month and a half, there was a landing somewhere on an average of one every 36 hours. Oh, to Samar. The 8th Army troops affected a brilliant campaign which crushed the heavily defended southern approaches to Manila. Those of the enemy were very hard. Manila was a symbol of victory, but in the north there were thousands upon thousands of well-organized, dangerous Japanese. This fanatical fall was attacked repeatedly in big actions and small. In Tokyo and Yokohama, the Japanese surrendered. Months and years that followed, the 8th Army was the occupier of Japan. There was a great deal to do. A government had to be established. An entire economy had to be restored. The 8th Army was instrumental in rebuilding Japan. And a vital work this was because it soon became apparent that we needed them. During the battle against the Axis powers, we soon found that one of our former allies, Russia, was expanding, aggressive and dangerous. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Estonia, China, Romania. A long list of countries are dominated by the hammer and sickle. In Korea in 1950, the communists saw a big opportunity. The forces of South Korea were weak, but North Korea had been heavily reinforced. No one knows what went on in the Red Secret Councils, but it is reasonable to suppose that a decisive communist victory in Korea would have greatly influenced all of Asia. And with Asia effectively neutralized, the Reds would be free to act pretty much as they pleased. The communists could then turn the full strength of their enormous military resources against Europe and America. That is why suddenly on June 25, 1950, a new hell broke loose. The nations in the first real test of its power acted quickly. The Russians, who are permanent members of the Security Council, were boycotting the council at the time and were not on hand to veto the United Nations action. The United Nations order for a ceasefire was ignored. The United Nations then called on all its members to come to the military aid of South Korea. Soldiers in Japan were mostly new recruits to the 8th Army, from which the veterans had long since gone. The communists' attack was sudden and well prepared. Our 8th Army was a long way away, dispersed at camps and at garrison headquarters throughout Japan. But as quickly as possible, these men were poured into South Korea. The overwhelmed South Korea forces, the Republic of Korea Army, lost the capital, Seoul, in the first three days of fighting. Their arrival encouraged them greatly, but the enemy pressure was tremendous. The full force of American infantry met the onrushing hordes of North Koreans, equipped with Russian cannon and tanks well down the peninsula. Our few men were heavily outnumbered. We fell back on Taishang. The first big battle was a bloody one. Many of our inadequate forces were killed or captured and escaped, but was captured three weeks later. Fell to the communists. We consolidated further down the peninsula around the Big Port of Busan, 200-mile loop around the beachhead. Our forces to three American divisions and five Republic of Korea divisions. At this time we had few tanks and no heavy artillery. Our forces were rushed from danger point to danger point, as our thin lines were attacked by eight North Korean divisions with seven in reserve. Many times in those early days only a few hundred Americans stood between the Reds and Busan. That hot summer paid off. The casualties of the attacking North Koreans were enormous. The beachhead held. In September, the end run to Incheon, beans and infantry from Japan slammed into the middle of the peninsula. Incheon was quickly secured. Our forces fanned out towards the airfields and Seoul, the fighting in Seoul. Just three months after it had fallen to the North Koreans. The Eighth Army roared out of the Busan beachhead and took off after the running North Korean divisions. They were killed or captured. First cavalry division tank infantry task force went 105 miles in three days. The Eighth Army was in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. First in an effort to cut off the communist leader. Add withdrawn. The Eighth Army was truly an international force now. There were Britishers, French, Dutch, Greeks and many others. The United Nations in its first test of its effectiveness was a strong cohesive force. 10th Corps units reached the Yalu River which divides North Korea from China. The morale of our troops was high that October as the men looked across at a grim grey manchuria. Or was almost one. Hundreds of thousands of North Korean soldiers had been killed or captured. There were only about 40,000 effectives left. But in China, across the border, there were uncounted millions of men. Red leaders in China, extreme communists, secretly moved some 80 to 100,000 of their best men and hid them in the villages and mountains. They attacked on October 14, 1950 under the weight of sudden surprise Chinese attack pulled back. There was little choice. The Chinese poured hundreds of thousands of Russian-equipped men into Korea. Fresh young troops with a secure base across the border. The Eighth Army fell back a long way that bleak winter. Up in the Northeast, Marines of the 10th Corps made their famous withdrawal in the face of an enormous enemy and in below zero cold to the sea coast and escape. After this 10th Corps became a part of the Eighth Army command the Eighth was in charge of all ground forces in Korea. Then the Eighth lost its field commander, Lieutenant General Walker a tough tactician in the patent tradition. He was killed in an accident. A massive Chinese attack of a quarter of a million men drove the Eighth further south. Seoul and Incheon were lost again. A brilliant strategist became commanding general in this grave and dangerous hour. His plan of operation was a simple one. Use our now greater firepower to destroy the communist force as rapidly as possible. The battle moved down to almost the same ground fought over in the first North Korean surge. There the Eighth held and effectively fought back and there seemed to be no end to them. We attacked continuously. When they could cut off one of our groups, they attacked us. General Van Fleet became commander of the Eighth when General Ridgway went to Tokyo to take over General MacArthur's job. There were heavy attacks all along the line. First and aggressive, rolled with the punch and counterattacked strongly going to push the United Nations out of Korea. So making the best of it, they began the long drawn out armistice talks. These were first held at K-Song in North Korea and later at Penman John. These talks were bitter and frustrating. Where the UN down were the tactics now. Where them out, fight with words, delay, stall talks wore on, there was hard fighting north of the old border where we had stabilized a strong line. As of haggling with the communists, a ceasefire was agreed upon. The vicious communist attack on South Korea had ingloriously failed. Back of the lines we had reorganized, built up and trained a powerful new Republic of Korea army. This army, under the supervision of veterans of the fighting against the North Koreans and Chinese, is American trained, American equipped and American supported. Today, 600,000 South Koreans backed by the 8th Army hold the ceasefire line. Record that the 8th Army representing the United Nations had done the job it was asked to do. Was a magnificent job. To this day, the communists have not attempted to force their will on the free world by means of a massive military attack. Communists will remember the force of an aroused America who will not soon forget the lesson of Korea, the 8th United States of America people at the Army Pictorial Center, presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with the states.