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View Full Version : Good Morning...US enters Korean War


Okla-homey
6/30/2006, 06:23 AM
June 30, 1950 Truman orders U.S. forces to Korea

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/774/ktrumankoreanwar5jb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
HST signing the order. Over the next three years, 55,000 American GI's would be lost and over 100,000 wounded.

56 years ago today and just three days after the United Nations Security Council voted to provide military assistance to South Korea, President Harry S. Truman orders U.S. armed forces to assist in defending that nation from invading North Korean armies. Truman's dramatic step marked the official entry of the United States into the Korean War.

On June 25, 1950, military forces from communist North Korea invaded South Korea. South Korean forces and the small number of U.S. troops stationed in the nation reeled under the surprise attack.

On June 27, the United States asked the Security Council in the United Nations to pass a resolution calling on member states of the United Nations to assist South Korea. With the Soviets boycotting the meeting for other reasons, the resolution passed. Three days later, President Truman ordered U.S. ground forces into South Korea and the troops entered South Korea that same day. At the same time, Truman ordered the US Air Force to bomb military targets in North Korea and directed the US Navy to blockade the North Korean coast.

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/6006/korea1nk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Truman's action signaled the beginning of official and large-scale U.S. participation in the Korean War. Over the next three years, the United States provided at least half of the U.N. ground forces in Korea and the vast majority of the air and sea forces used in the conflict against North Korea and, later, against communist China, which entered the war on the side of North Korea in late 1950.

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7833/koreanwaroperation2dw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Nearly 55,000 Americans were killed in the war and over 100,000 were wounded. Cost estimates for the war ranged as high as $20 billion. In July 1953, an armistice was signed that ended the fighting and left Korea a divided nation.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/817/koreanwar22kk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/1593/insane7zo4ls.jpg
Xstnlsooner
6/30/2006, 06:49 AM
Kudos Homey!! My Dad's a Korean Marine veteran. Life has been downhill ever since. Life gets alot easier when you don't have to dodge bullets!!
olevetonahill
6/30/2006, 07:08 AM
Kudos Homey!! My Dad's a Korean Marine veteran. Life has been downhill ever since. Life gets alot easier when you don't have to dodge bullets!!
TRUDAT
Tell Dad this nam vet salutes him ok ?
55,000 DEAD in 3 years Makes My little skirmish in the jungle seem like a cake walk :eek:
Most on here know My Dad was PTO in WW2 I was Nam , My son was Bosnia . and in the invasion of that Oil place .
But I had a lifer uncle that went thru WW2 , Korea, and then did 3 tours In the Nam :eek:
Moms Bro My other Uncle did the D day thing then went on thru to Germany . he died a few months ago at 87 years young
What those MEN had to endure , I hope and pray another American NEVER has to go thru again ( Homey you know what I'm talking about )
olevetonahill
6/30/2006, 07:17 AM
Oh and Col Homey Sir .
Im so glad that you hit on the " FORGOTTEN WAR "
As soon as I read this thread title The 1st thought In my mind was the forgotten war :eek:
If ANY one Knows a Korean Vet . Give em a hug for me and a SALUTE ok
The only ones I knew were Family and they have all passed on to that Big PX in the sky :(
Okla-homey
6/30/2006, 08:02 AM
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9161/korean20war4km.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
olevetonahill
6/30/2006, 08:07 AM
YMSSRA befor giving Col Homey any more :mad:
slickdawg
6/30/2006, 08:17 AM
Sad part is, we'll probably have round II of this Korean stuff before
it's all said and done.
jeremy885
6/30/2006, 08:32 AM
On June 27, the United States asked the Security Council in the United Nations to pass a resolution calling on member states of the United Nations to assist South Korea. With the Soviets boycotting the meeting for other reasons, the resolution passed.

I never understood this part. Stalin knew and approved of the North's invasion. I know they thought the US wouldn't respond like we did, but wouldn't you think they would have left their UN ambassador there to cast a veto just in case we did what we did?
olevetonahill
6/30/2006, 08:54 AM
I never understood this part. Stalin knew and approved of the North's invasion. I know they thought the US wouldn't respond like we did, but wouldn't you think they would have left their UN ambassador there to cast a veto just in case we did what we did?
Nope . the Idiot thought By boycotting , he could stymie the resolution :texan:
Taxman71
6/30/2006, 09:01 AM
Obligatory M*A*S*H reference:

http://www.ratcage.com/tv/mash/images/mash-cast2.jpg
Vaevictis
6/30/2006, 09:39 AM
I can't find the reference anymore so my details may be a little sketchy, but I figured you Marines and AF folks might get a kick out of this little bit of trivia:

Apparently, the first instance (for the USMC, anyway) of direct air to ground recon occured in the Korean War.

According to what I've read, a C-47 attached to the Kyushu Gypsies was flying a mission when it flew over a column of Marine infantry; as the C-47 flew on, they noticed that a group of North Koreans was setting up an ambush for the column just over the next ridge.

Apparently, at the time, there was no way to relay a message to the column below (I don't know why -- maybe the column didn't have a radio available?). Unfortunately, the crew couldn't land and warn them (IIRC, due to the terrain). So, what did they do? They wrote a message on some paper, attached it to some spare equipment, and chucked it out of the side of the window at the column.

The column received the message and avoided the ambush.

And thus occured the first instance of direct air to ground recon in the USMC. :)
Okla-homey
6/30/2006, 10:22 AM
Well sir, the actual first instance of aerial reconnaisance being communicated directly to troops in contact was during the American Civil Woah (a/k/a War of Northern Aggression, War of the Rebellion, War Between the States, ad nauseum)

Anyhoo...Dr Thaddeus Lowe ascended in a tethered helium-filled balloon to which he had attached a telegraph key, wet-cell battery and wire that ran to a station on the ground. That ground station was in contact with military commanders and there are documented instances of information regarding Confederate movements and troop dispositions which were instantly relayed to Federal forces in near real-time. That was in 1864.

In WWI, RAF pilots and observer teams took carrier pigeons aloft to which they would attach messages regarding enemy status and disposition. They then tossed the birds out of the plane and the birdies flew home to headquarters where the messages were read and communicated to manuever forces.

Just saying.
Vaevictis
6/30/2006, 10:24 AM
Sir, you are off-topic here. We are talking about the Korean war in this thread. Start your own thread if you want to talk about the Civil War.

... er, wait...

:D
Okla-homey
6/30/2006, 10:27 AM
Sir, you are off-topic here. We are talking about the Korean war in this thread. Start your own thread if you want to talk about the Civil War.

... er, wait...

:D

And I am quite certain that USMC air-ground coordination was used in the Pacific during WWII. The Gyrenes had airedale forward air controllers imbedded with the mud Marines. Those FAC's, who were usually quite close to the infantry battalion commanders, were in radio contact with Marine tactical aviation.

So there.;)

Nice story about Korea though.
Vaevictis
6/30/2006, 10:31 AM
Welp, that's why I said the details might be a bit sketchy. I read a book/paper/something by some AF dude who was doing research into AF special ops, and he mentioned that little anecdote about the air recon down in the section about the Gypsies.
Okla-homey
6/30/2006, 10:35 AM
Welp, that's why I said the details might be a bit sketchy. I read a book/paper/something by some AF dude who was doing research into AF special ops, and he mentioned that little anecdote about the air recon down in the section about the Gypsies.

Well, lets then say it was the first example of aerial recon info passed from a C-47 to Marines on the ground in near real-time.:D
Vaevictis
6/30/2006, 10:42 AM
Well hell, any which way, neato story.