The 60th Anniversary of the Korean War

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War conflict. It wasn't a true war in the sense of what we classify as wars. It was a police action that ended in an armistice in 1953 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower called a cease-fire to end the war. Sixty years ago North Korean troops stormed across the 38th parallel into South Korea, launching a three-year conflict that culminated in an armistice in 1953, but never officially ended. The North Koreans launched a massive, coordinated air-land invasion in the early morning hours of June 25, 1950 with more than 230,000 troops, fighter jets, attack bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, tanks and artillery. The ferocity of the offensive caught the South Koreans by surprise. With fewer than 100,000 troops, no tanks and limited aircraft, the South Koreans were caught by surprise.

Seoul, which was the South Korean capital, fell on June 28. Then President Harry S. Truman, very concerned about the spread of communism around the world following World War II, decided to halt the invasion force. "I felt certain that if South Korea was allow to fall, Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores," Truman wrote in his autobiography. He felt if the communists were allowed to force their way into South Korea without any type of opposition from the free world, no small nation would be able to stand against aggression by stronger communist neighbors. Truman ordered U.S. air and naval forces to defend South Korea, and committed ground troops as part of a combined U.N. effort. The sixteen member coalition formed under the U.S. led United Nations Command, with Truman naming Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur as its commander.

The 2th infantry Division, part of the U.S. occupation forces in Japan under MacArthur's command following World War II, deployed the first U.S. troops to Korea. Advanced elements of the 24th infantry Division rushed to Korea on transport planes to block the enemy advance. As they awaited follow-up deployments, the 24th infantry Division troops, known as the Task Force Smith, suffered heavy losses and ultimately defeated during their first significant engagement of the war, the Battle of Osan. Outgunned and overpowered, the division ultimately lost more than 3600 dead and wounded and almost 3000 captured as the North Korean progressed south. By September the U.N. Command controlled only about 10 percent of Korea in a small southeastern corner of the country around Pusan. The Battle of Pusan Perimeter raged from August to September 1950, with the U.S. Air Force and Navy air forces attacking North Korean logistics operations and transportation hubs. Meanwhile, there were troops from the 7th Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division and other 8th Army supporting units poured into South Korea.

The Inchon Landing, a massive amphibious landing in September 1950, ultimately turned the tide in the fighting by breaking the North Korean army's supply lines. This prompted China to enter the war on North Korea's behalf, ending hope, as MacArthur had predicted, that the war would end soon and the troops would be home for Christmas. The conflict raged for three more Christmases, with neither side achieving any sort of decisive military victory. Two years of negotiations led to an armistice agreement signed July 27, 1953. Representatives of the North Korean army, the Chinese volunteers and the U.N. Command signed the agreement, but South Korea refused to participate. The United States lost more than 36,000 servicemembers during the Korean War, with more than 92,000 wounded, more than 8,000 missing in action and more than 7000 taken prisoner of war.

This was the first war the U.S. ever entered into without a decisive military victory. That would eventually follow into one of America's most protracted and controversial wars in U.S. history, which was the Vietnam War. We can learn lessons from the Korean, Vietnam, and the two wars presently in the Middle East that it's foolish to send troops to battle unless there's a goal for victory. Anything short of that is unacceptable. These no-win wars have stained the U.S.'s reputation around the world. The world knows they can bully the U.S. around because we aren't serious about winning wars.