 a big push into North Korea by United Nations forces, elements of the 17th U.S. infantry reached a point on the Yellow River. This, the border of Manchuria, was the objective of MacArthur's End the War campaign. Everything had been going well for our side since the Incheon landing and the breakthrough at the Pusan perimeter in mid-September. And then something happened. The Chinese came into the war. Suddenly, the effective enemy strength increased about 300%. The word came that all United Nations ground forces were to withdraw southward. As General MacArthur put it, this was an entirely new war. By now, we were opposed by great masses of Chinese troops and were greatly outnumbered. A rapid retreat to the south had to be made in the face of this massive threat. The enemy push was about to carry him all the way to below Seoul in South Korea. His second big attempt to push us off the peninsula. The C-119s operating from a Shia air base in southern Japan air-dropped supplies to our withdrawing ground forces. Operations possible only because our air forces maintained air superiority. All through this period of retreat, the boxcars dropped much-needed ammunition, food and medical supplies, as well as heavy stuff such as vehicles and artillery pieces. Ground forces were compelled to pull back. The United Nations air power became the only means of effectively opposing the advance of the formidable Chinese Army. This was the last week of November 1950 and the first half of December, close to our line. And there were also a great many interdiction and reconnaissance missions. It was our air strength again, as it was at the beginning of the conflict six months before that prevented the development of our withdrawing ground forces. The enemy was slowed down because we inflicted a tremendous number of casualties among his personnel. And because we kept on hitting his increasingly extended supply line. This went on until in mid December 1950. We were able to stabilize a line near the 38th parallel. In one month, our air forces flew more than 11,000 combat sorties. At this time, the middle of December 1950, our F-86s went into action against the MiGs and now began one of the brightest chapters in the story of our air forces in the Korean conflict. Here we are in the pilot briefing room of an F-86 squadron on the board. Here's a plan. You take off to this area here, back in. Eagle flight. You follow Tiger. You come up this area here at this point here where you make a left turn, put back in. Last two flights, Wolf and Robin will take off and come up to the center this point here where they'll cut right up in to the Yalu River, cutting short of the Yalu. And Wolf will make a left, make air path that might come in. Now, if you see MiGs up there today, call them out. Give their out. And geographic location on the shoot the kill. Anybody getting caught? Wide band of airspace over northwest Korea infested by the enemy jet. An age over the Russian built MiGs. They were better handled. Simply as aircraft, the MiGs were at least the equal of the F-86s and the enemy had a lot of them. They usually outnumbered the F-86s sometimes by as much as three or four to one but our pilots were much more skillful than theirs. This was the big reason that we destroyed eight times as many of their fighters as they did of ours. 827 MiGs were down. We lost 112 jet aircraft. 51. The United Nations ground forces mounted a counterattack from the line of their furthest withdrawal. They pounded their way from below the 38th parallel and through the Iron Triangle. By June the Reds were ready for an armistice. The battle line of mid-June was to remain more or less stabilized throughout the coming peace talks. In this building at K-Song, the truce negotiations began in July 1951. A couple of weeks previously the Russian delegate to the United Nations had made it clear that the Reds had had enough. General Nam Yeol of the North Korean Army was the spokesman for the enemy. The United Nations delegation was headed by Vice Admiral Joy of the United States Navy and included Major General Craigie of the Air Force, General Paik Sun-Yup of the South Korean Army and Rear Admiral Burke. After a year of fighting there now began two years of talk but during all that time, air assaults on the enemy were going to continue. After 21 months of dispute, chiefly over the problem of prisoners, an agreement was reached at least on the exchange of sick and wounded. In April 1953, Operation Little Switch began. To Pamunjom, communist ambulances brought at the rate of 100 a day about 600 United Nations prisoners. Little Switch, this operation, was followed some months later by a big switch, the large-scale exchange of the rest of the prisoners. Shortly after Little Switch got underway, the Reds were eager to resume the armistice talks which had been suspended by the exasperated United Nations delegation the preceding autumn. All through the nearly two years of wrangling at K-Song, our air forces had been hammering away at the enemy ground forces and communications and air fields and transport. The communists were ready to quit. So at Pamunjom on 27 July 1953, the Korean conflict ends, not in a piece but in a ceasefire, an armed truce. Lieutenant General William K. Harrison, chief negotiator for the United Nations, signs the agreement followed by General Nam Il for the North Koreans. So ended a mean war. But for the first time communist designs in the free world had been stopped by military force. This was something that had to be done. And in its achievement, a large share of the credit belongs to the United States Air Force. The success of our jet pilot stands forth boldly in the records. 39 of them became aces in the Korean conflict. Each of the 39 destroyed five or more enemy mages. To name only a few, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Davis, Jr., 14 mages destroyed. Captain Joseph McConnell, Jr., 16 kills. Colonel Royal N. Baker, 13 migs downed. Captain Harold Fisher, Jr., 10 destroyed. Major Manuel J. Fernandez, 14 and a half kills. Colonel Francis S. Gubreski, 6 and a half on top of his 31 kills over Germany. Major James Jibara, first Korean ace, 15 enemy jets destroyed. Colonel Harrison Thing, 5 migs downed. Captain Ivan C. Kinchelow, 5 kills. Colonel James K. Johnson, 10 migs destroyed. To our 39 Korean aces, indeed to all of our pilots who took part in the air battle, go praise and honor from us all. Splendidly, they upheld the national cause and the highest standards of the United States Air Force.