 By the spring of 1950, only five short years after the last shots of World War II had been fired, the United States Army had been reduced to an active force of 600,000. A great number of these were scattered about the world on occupation duty, but the armed forces of the truck unit communists, Soviet Russia and Red China remained on a strong wartime footing and in belligerent posture. Aggression was soon to come. Americans would be fighting against tyranny for the third time in 32 years. Proud of little finger of land, but of key importance to the free world in the Far East. What happened here opened the next major chapter in the history of the United States Army. The war began here at the 38th parallel. Just how did this imaginary line become the fuse for a three-year explosion? Before the Japanese surrender in World War II, we made an agreement with the Russians who were then our allies. When surrender came on the Asian mainland, Russian troops would accept the surrender of Japanese forces north of the 38th parallel, and we would do the same south of it. The 38th parallel was chosen because it divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half. It was also agreed that free elections would be held and the government of Korea returned to the Korean people. In August of 1948, free elections were held in South Korea, supervised by United Nations inspectors, establishing the Republic of Korea. Three weeks later, communist-controlled elections in North Korea, from which UN inspectors were barred, established the communist regime and divided the Korean nation. Not long afterwards, the communists decided their moment for conquest had come. In early summer, 1950, life was good in the agricultural south. There was peace, time for living in the quiet, ancient way. Then suddenly, in the pre-dawn darkness of June 25, 1950, South Koreans were jarred awake by a living nightmare. Unprovoked and unannounced, the communist latest war of conquest had begun, but it was the beginning of World War III. It might have been if we had not taken immediate action. President Truman ordered our Navy and Air Force to provide cover and support to the Republic of Korea. In the United Nations, United States delegate Warren Austin spoke for the indignant people of free nations everywhere. The armed invasion of the Republic of Korea continues. The Republic of Korea has appealed to the United Nations for protection. I am proud to report that the United States is prepared to furnish assistance to the Republic of Korea. Four days after the invasion began, the capital city of Seoul fell to the communists. Small elements of the United States Army were airlifted from Japan to help check the Red Advance. They were greeted with cheers, but the cheering was soon forgotten. Our small forces found themselves greatly outnumbered by communist troops trained and equipped by the Russians. Our handful of troops fought a delaying action, buying precious time until reinforcements would arrive. We showed the communists that we had the will to fight aggression wherever and whenever it occurred. On July 10th, President Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur, commander-in-chief of the United Nations forces, which were beginning to assemble. Outnumbered to troops in the field, it was fight, pull back, and fight again. More United States forces arrived in Busan, not nearly enough, but it was a beginning. Field commanders like General Walton H. Walker and General William F. Dean found their task was a Grem one and all too familiar historically. A holding action with no time and too few men. But American military leadership had only recently been blooded and honed to professional keenness in a greater war. To reinforce and complement the top leaders was a hard core of seasoned officers and enlisted men, who had won their campaign ribbons on other fields of battle only five or six years before. Through July and August of 1950, our small forces were being pushed into a corner, the Busan perimeter. We rushed more troops from Japan. Again, we were faced with an emergency buildup to fighting strength. We drew on our citizen soldiers, reserves, and inductees. Within the year, our army would grow from 600,000 to more than a million and a half men. Other United Nations forces began arriving in Korea, British troops of the Sutherland and Argyle Highlanders. The international army was beginning to take shape. It was none too soon. Again, time was running out. The Nak Tong River provided a natural defense line around Busan. It was here that the guts and stamina of the American soldier and his Republic of Korea allies and a protective wall of artillery fire held the communist forces at bay. The buildup of Allied strength was rapidly gaining momentum. In Chang, September 15, 1950, United Nations suddenly took the offensive. General Douglas MacArthur, the supreme commander, had conceived this daring amphibious strike along the coast of the Yellow Sea just west of Seoul. The Marine Landing Force secured Walmy Island in just 58 minutes and pushed on into Incheon itself, kicking in the back door to the enemy's defenses. Additional army forces poured in. Simultaneously, the breakout from the Busan perimeter got underway in the south. In a week of heavy fighting, our forces drove 20 miles inland from Incheon to Seoul. More than 10,000 North Korean troops were dug in and waiting at every street corner with orders to fight to the death. The United Nations offensive rolled back the communist forces, sweeping northward past the 38th parallel. First, K-Song fell, and one song on the east coast. Then, Pyongyang, the North Korean capital itself, psychological warfare played an important part. Loud speaker messages and safe conduct passes for North Korean troops inviting them to surrender met with striking success. Often, entire units stacked their weapons and awaited the arrival of U.N. forces. Our army units pushed on toward the Yalu River, Korea's northernmost boundary. But there were signs of potential trouble ahead. Some of the prisoners taken in the north wore the quilted uniform of the communist Chinese army. November found elements of the 10th Corps on the frozen banks of the Yalu River. While they ate their Thanksgiving dinner, they could look across the river and see communist China. Victory seemed assured. There was talk of war's end by Christmas. But on the other side of the Yalu, Chinese armies were massacred. A whole new war was about to begin. Late in November, two full Chinese field armies attacked across the Yalu, splitting U.N. forces and rolling them back. What President Truman had first called a police action had now become a major war. Our forces in the west pulled back to the south. Elements of the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division 10th Corps along with Republic of Korea troops cut off in the northeast fought their way in sub-zero weather toward the port of Hongnam and evacuation by sea. 100,000 fighting men. And their machines were loaded onto waiting ships. More than 90,000 refugees fled from their homes in North Korea rather than live again under communist rule. We gave transportation to freedom to as many of them as we could. By sea, the massive withdrawal moved southward toward ports where the units could land and regroup. In the west, elements of the 8th Army withdrew south of the 38th parallel. The Chinese forces followed up with their massive New Year's offensive. Thousands of Koreans choked the roads leading southward. They had seen communism in practice. Any hardship was preferable. Once again, so changed hands as we pulled out blowing up the bridges behind us. Far to the south, our units were regrouping. In late February, we made a fresh start. An Operation General Ridgway graphically called Operation Killer. The Chinese armies held a staggering superiority of numbers and Ridgway's intent was simple. Cut down the odds. Operation Killer did just that. The enemy lost 10 men for every United Nations casualty. What had begun as an attempt to inflict heavy personnel losses on the enemy developed into a ground gaining operation. On March 15th, Seoul again changed hands. South Korean troops entered the deserted streets unopposed. The enemy had pulled out to the north. But not for long. Spring brought with it still another crisis, another massive communist offensive. General Van Fleet fortified the city of Seoul, determined not to lose it again. The enemy came on in human waves to be met by a storm of fire. They lost tens of thousands, but still they came on. And then suddenly they faltered. Broke and started pulling back, pursued by our armor. Again the communists had run afoul of two things. The immense firepower of the Eighth Army and the principles of logistics. They were simply unable to supply a large force for a sustained offensive. June 2nd, 1951, again we crossed the 38th parallel. A badly battered enemy withdrawing before us. Soviet UN Delegate Jacob Malik frankly proposed true stocks, suggesting that perhaps a ceasefire could be discussed. On July 10th preliminary true stocks were opened in the red-held city of K-Song. They were to drag on for two long years while the bloodshed continued. The lines of the fighting front became virtually stabilized. After 12 days the talks in K-Song were deadlocked over the issue of a ceasefire line. Then the communists broke off the talks. In the fall they were resumed at Panmunjom. The fighting continued. Materials were expended daily and nightly in prodigious amounts. Massive supply by air was a new military concept that came to full development in Korea. Airlift and airdrop techniques became a major means of supply in a large-scale combat situation. Winter 1952 found the talks at Panmunjom deadlocked over the principle of prisoner exchange. While back and forth along the twisted length of the main line of resistance raged the bitter hill battles. In March 1953 the communist world was shaken by the death of Joseph Stalin. His successor, Georgi Malyankov, launched what he termed a worldwide peace offensive. Its influence would soon be felt in Korea. Within a month the communists suddenly took us up on our standing offer to exchange sick and wounded prisoners. This was Operation Little Switch. It indicated that a ceasefire might come soon. Battle weary men listened for word that the shooting was to end. On July 27, 1953 at the UN Base Camp in Moonsanee General Mark Clark signed the ceasefire agreement. A few miles away the communists did the same. By August 5th Operation Big Switch was underway. Some 13,000 UN soldiers returned from red prison camps. General William Dean captured in the battle for Tejon early in the war returned with his thousands of comrades in arms. It was then that the world image of communism received a telling blow. For two-thirds of the Chinese prisoners refused to return to red China and 35,000 North Koreans decided they'd rather live in South Korea. An armistice, however, is only a ceasefire, not peace. And in this divided nation the need is for constant watchfulness. Unending preparedness still remains and may continue for years to come. This is true anywhere on earth where people face an aggressor. The communists had miscalculated in Korea. They could not bring themselves to believe that we would spend so much of material and of effort and of pain so far from home. That lesson was an important one for all concerned. Once again the United States Army, the American soldier had stood foremost in a massive military force on foreign soil but not for conquest. As the years passed we began to see that our preparedness would have to be large-scale, constant, flexible and adaptable. They were to be years of menace bringing into being a new phrase the Cold War.