[Music] Korea summer 1950 the United States leads the United Nations into a war against communism in Asia in Winter under attack from the Chinese Communists the UN troops are thrown into fullscale retreat it was a route exactly like the one that Napoleon faced uh leaving Russia we ran headlong Helter Skelter pel Mel trying to get to pan trying to get back to Japan it was disgusting the Cold War has become a hot War [Music] August 1945 at the end of the second world war the Japanese Army that had occupied Korea for 35 years surrenders during the Japanese Occupation they forced us to follow the Japanese lifestyle speak the Japanese language use Japanese law when we were liberated we welcomed the soldiers Russian and American troops liberated Korea meeting together just as they had in Germany as occupying Powers the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to divide Korea along the 38th parallel as a temporary measure south of the divide the Americans were in control we made the Republic of Korea really um the between the Pentagon and the state department American generals installed a Hardline anti-communist singman re his charm is somewhat deceptive because he's also very tough he's uh absolutely unforgiving uh very patriotic uh and um he's not nearly as sweet as he looks re was appointed as first president of the new Republic of Korea in 1948 American troops withdrew north of the 38th parallel the Russians were in control they established a Communist Regime through a network of people's committees kimil Sun who had spent the war in the Soviet Union was groomed for power he was a very handsome young man always smiling everybody liked him in Korea he made a very good impression he was a national hero of the Korean people the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed with Kim song as its president as Soviet troops withdrew Kim dreamed of uniting Korea under communism Kim Kims understood that to resolve the problem of unifying the two careers was very difficult that he would need help of course the help he was hoping to get would come from the Union in March 1949 kimil sun went to Moscow his secret agenda to seek Stalin's permission to invade the [Music] South Stalin preoccupied with crisis in Berlin rejected Kim's request to invade by the end of 1949 the international situation had been transformed the Soviets detonated their first atom bomb and the Communist Revolution in China was finally successful ma dung proclaimed the People's Republic of China a treaty of friendship between Mao and Stalin created a communist Global Alliance opening a second front of the Cold War in Asia Stalin was now confident that the United States lacked the will to respond to events in Asia in April 1950 he finally gave approval for Kim s to invade South [Applause] [Music] Korea June 25th 1950 the North Korean army launches its surprise assault on the south I remember vividly even today the day the war broke out it was Sunday morning morning and we heard this kind of remote uh the roaring noise from those from from the north equipped with Russian tanks and artillery and directed by Soviet advisers 10 combat divisions of the North Korean army flooded South we believe that we had to fight for our motherland for our people for our leader kimil we believed it would be better to liberate the Sou and to unify Korea that's what we were fighting for Sunday morning in Korea Saturday evening in Washington the Sunday papers prepare to go to press it was Saturday evening I got a telephone call from the up duty officer saying that Korea had been invaded by North Koreans and momentarily the remark stunned me so much and I didn't know what to say uh whether he was joking with me or whether he was really sure senior officials were recalled that night to the state department when The Invasion occurred in of South Korea I think there was an immediate sense that action had to be taken uh exactly what that action was to be and how far it was to go it it was not something we had planned on we had not worked out a a contingency plan for war from started by North Korea with South Korea about midnight there was a call from uh president S manri I took the receiver and I said please ask American government to rush necessary help the South Korean Ambassador went immediately to the state department to see assistant secretary Dean Rusk he said if I call him we felt that uh this is a matter America alone cannot be concerned with it is a matter the world has to be concerned and with that the Judgment uh we have decided to summon the security Council for an emergency session noting with grave concern the armed invasion of the Republic of Korea by armed forces from North Korea the following day the security Council met Moscow was boycotting the United Nations because of its refusal to admit communist China those in favor will please raise their hand the United States seized the opportunity to condemn North Korean aggression carried by nine votes for one against and one exension 2 Days Later the security Council voted to create a United Nations military force to defend South Korea this is in fact an attack on the United Nations itself under the UN flag soldiers from 16 nations would fight against communism we were elated we F very very good very encouraged uh we felt first of all we felt that proberbly Korean unification was to come about as a result of the resolution itself and peaceful President Truman addressed the nation Korea is a small country thousands of miles away but what is happening there is important to every American the fact that Communist forces have invaded Korea is a warning that there may be similar acts of aggression in other parts of the world the feeling at that time was that a military operation of this magnitude could not possibly have been taken without the support of the Russian military in other words it was concluded um right at the beginning that this was a a movement this was something happening in the context of the Cold War the United States mobilized for war the reserves were called up at the time we entered into the war led the UN into the war with us uh it was a very popular war everybody was agitated getting ready to go overseas there were all sorts of feelings trepidation expectancy see there was quite a feeling of wanting to stop the uh Communists from taking over anywhere in the world uh they wanted to stem the tide of Communism general Douglas MacArthur the Allied Supreme Commander in Tokyo and the legendary Victor of the Pacific War was appointed to lead the United Nations Forces he was worshiped in Japan this man had a tremendous ego and it had been fed for all these years I do believe he was at this point felt that he was infallible the nearest troops to Korea were the American occupation force in Japan few of whom were ready for combat the lifestyle involved uh a lot of leisure a life has lived through the S robot catalog who bought uh nylons and whatnot for the native girls and that sort of thing it's uh it was it was a good life the US task force sent to Korea didn't imagine their stay would be for long as a matter of fact we were told to take our athletic equipment uh and leave everything else behind because we' only be gone for maybe six weeks have a show of force in the field and those GRS would go back across 30th parallel and we'd come home it wouldn't be that easy re's South Korean army was in Retreat two divisions threw their weapons away and joined the refugees fleeing the Communist Advance as soldiers we did our utmost but the overall situation was going against us the North Korean army achieved its initial objective it captured soul in 3 days with the capture of the Southern Capital kimil won a great victory for communism when we got to so the Army told us the campaign was finished they told us political reforms will follow now the country will be unified with ease we didn't think there would be any more [Music] war American troops fared no better than the South Koreans with no effective anti-tank weapons the American line collapsed [Music] within days American troops were reeling back in disarray under assault from the tiny Communist Regime of North [Music] Korea we had equipment left over from World War Two we were in very poor shape for everything we were not ready to fight a war that's that's what it amounts to the long that's the long and short of it around the world America's allies rallied behind the United Nations Flag the British prime minister pledged his support if the United Nations organization was not to go the way of the old League of Nations it was absolutely and imperatively necessary that a hope should be called troops from 15 Nations began to arrive in Korea to join the Americans in the UN [Music] Army General MacArthur took a gamble to turn the tide of the war with the UN forces driven back to a tiny Enclave at pan a vast Seaborn Invasion 150 Mi Behind Enemy Lines would attempt to sever and then roll back the North Korean [Music] Advance Dawn September 15th 1950 the largest Invasion Fleet since the second world war bombards the port of Inon American and Korean Marines go ashore in huge numbers when we landed we approached the beach at full speed the ramp of the landing craft opened with a bang and we charged with our guns screaming down the ramp there was a seaw wall there cut stone they had to be scaled the actual Landing conditions were terrible part of the city was on fire it was a rainy day and the rain was mixing with the smoke of the fire and the smoke of the bombardment if those beaches have been defended by Japanese or German troops of the same quality as the Germans and Japanese were in World War II we would have been lucky to get a Shore and we might not have been quite so lucky once we got a Shore within 2 weeks un troops were engaged in a fierce battle to recapture the southern capital Soul 50,000 civilians were killed in the crossfire my house was located in the Hillside and there was a crossfire between the UN forces and the North Korean People's Army on the Northern side finally my father told us that uh it was it would be better that how a family split up at least some body will have to survive this war after finally recapturing Soul MacArthur reinstated singman re in the Parliament building MacArthur's association with re's increasingly vicious regime caused concern in Washington Sigman re was a difficult man to back and once he was in power it was very difficult for us to do anything it was not up to us to change the government and and and there was no other alternative obviously available anyway re's jubilant Army was the first to cross the 38th parallel into North Korea when we counterattacked across the 38th parallel every one of us soldiers and people thought now the drive was on to unify the whole Korean peninsula the UN troops too advanced into North Korea MacArthur's War AIM now appeared to be Hot Pursuit Of The Invader I thought we'd won the war I shouldn't laugh at this point but I have to I I really thought we had won the war and I think that was a general feeling and we went North with uh high hopes the giant yo River marks the boundary between North Korea and China across this border the Chinese leadership followed the war with alarm they feared the American Army in North Korea would invade the Chinese [Music] Mainland if North Korea Was Defeated only the Yellow River would separate us from The Americans we couldn't accept this nor the risk of American aircraft disrupting the Reconstruction of our country from devastated North Korea an Urgent Message went out to Beijing a government delegation was sent to mount what can we do they asked we can't Retreat they're attacking us from the air from the sea and by land there's very little of the North Korean army left many have died what can we do now the Communist leadership in Beijing was deeply divided over intervention Mao received secret cables from Stalin telling him to enter the war War to save North Korea wanting to assert China's power in Asia Mau was agreeable meanwhile the UN and South Korean armies continued the race North on October 19th pongyang fell it was the only communist Capital ever to fall to the West during the Cold War MacArthur had the bitten his teeth he was pursuing a defeated Army the race to the Aloo was on MacArthur was surprised to be summoned to Wake Island in mid-pacific for a meeting with President Truman MacArthur assured his commander-in-chief there was no possibility of China entering the war he took the award of yet another medal as a signal that he could continue the advance towards China when the president asked him to stay for lunch MacArthur refused while Truman and MacArthur were talking Mao ordered the Chinese Army called The People's volunteers to enter Korea half a million Chinese began to cross the Yoo River and waited for the UN forces to approach the Border as they crossed the yellow in enormous numbers the volunteers sang this song [Music] just a DI app unaware of the massing of the Chinese troops the US Army paused for Thanksgiving roast turkey and cranberry sauce were served up MacArthur and his soldiers still thought the war would be over by Christmas well Thanksgiving Day in 1950 was a very fine day the weather was nice the typical Thanksgiving uh dinners were there we had everything that we would have had had we been at home it was just a very nice day and uh that was the last nice day we [Music] had next morning 300,000 Chinese [Applause] attacked they uh blow these bugles and they had a chilling effect on the [Applause] [Music] soldiers the first aim of the volunteers going into Korea was to defend our homes and Country the motherland we couldn't allow others to cross the yalu river and invade us but also we wanted to help the Korean people as in China's long Civil War Ma beli that greater motivation could defeat an enemy with Superior arms because our war was a just War the enemy could be defeated our bravery and our strategy developed during the years of the Liberation struggle would help defeat the enemy the reaction when China came in was that we had a whole new war a whole new situation it was a very terrifying situation and one it was extremely [Music] troubling in the next swing of this seesaw War UN forces across North Korea were thrown back abandoning vehicles and equipment [Music] we had people on top of the trucks on the running boards just heading South I never felt so inadequate in my life as to be part of an army that was running it's [Music] unbelievable I ask you to imagine a situation where the temperatures 25 below zero nothing is working as well as it should weapons have difficulty firing and that kind of a temperature a lot of Chinese out [Music] there I'm not aware of any other movement of Americans that were as futile as that that route was and it was a route [Music] American soldiers called it bugout fever we are fighting in Korea for our own National Security and survival we have committed ourselves to the cause of a just and peaceful world order through the United Nations We Stand by that commitment at a Washington press conference journalists repeatedly pressed Truman on the possible use of the atom bomb it it went on and on and on just like that the president not being able to shut this thing off and uh till people began to think that maybe we were going to use the atomic bomb the bulletins about the president's press conference went around the world immediately and uh that caused incredible alarm brsh Bri prime minister Clement Atley was sufficiently alarmed to fly to Washington for crisis talks my aim in these talks is to align our policies in the new and troubled situation in the world and to find the means of upholding what we both know to be right next day Truman assured Atley that there were no plans to use Atomic weapons no yeah I think the Americans understood it would be tit fortat if they use it we will use it we had an agreement with the Chinese that's why they didn't use the atomic bomb at home that winter for many American families the pain began with a call at the door the 29th of December the doorbell rang it was on a Friday I had just washed my hair and I opened the door and there was a boy delivering a telegram and he turned on his heels and left and I knew the telegram was going to tell me either he was dead or alive and when I opened it I just thank God that he was missing an action as far as knowing when he became a prisoner that wasn't for another year even though we knew he was in a camp I never knew from day to day how he was doing I never knew from letter to letter if if he was alive you know so I always held out hope that he would come home but I never could say that he would come home retreating un soldiers adopted a scorched Earth policy after withdrawing from hungnam American engineers blew up the dock side the Chinese rapidly advancing recaptured the northern Capital panyang At the beginning of 1951 seou fell again to the Communists General Matthew B Ridgeway was appointed by MacArthur as the new field commander at last un troops began to slow the Chinese advance the defeatism the bugout fever and so forth that had Afflicted the eighth Army before was eradicated from the beginning the United States enjoyed Air Supremacy when I was flying up along the Alo in the f86 the saber we were using tactics that literally had been used in in World War I and World War II except we flying jets at much higher speed when Russian Mig 15 Fighters with well-trained Russian Pilots were sent to the war zone they posed a challenge to American Supremacy our mission was to go there to train Pilots but later we ended up as participants in the Korean War the presence of Russian Pilots risked bringing the Soviet Union into direct conflict with the United States our government and the military demanded complete [Music] secrecy we must never let the enemy know they were fighting Russians [Music] when the US deployed the f86 saber they slowly won back Mastery of the Skies this enabled American aircraft to keep up a constant offensive on ground targets for ground attack we're flying the f9f the Panthers now they would carry a large bomb load we could carry a couple of of thousand lb bombs on that airplane and on some flights 100 gallon napom tanks with a white Foster's grenade cap on there so that when hit the ground and impacted it would burst into flame and ignite the Napal and so we used all of those things from time to time on ground ground attack mcara now called for the bombing of Chinese cities and for the pursuit of the war in mainland China this was too much for Truman I believe that we must try to limit the war to Korea for these vital reasons to make sure that the precious lives of our fighting men are not wasted to see that the security of our country and the Free World Is Not needlessly jeopardized and to prevent a third world war a number of events have made it evident that General MacArthur did not agree with that Poli policy I have therefore considered it essential to relieve General MacArthur so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our [Music] policy by the summer of 1951 the two sides had fought themselves to a stalemate in the hills of Korea almost at the point at which the fighting had begun a year earlier every month brought another 2 and a half thousand un casualties it became evident to us that we were not going to fight this war to win it that we were going to fight it to some negotiated kind of peace armus talks began in July 1951 but got nowhere both sides found the other's attitude impossible negotiation with the Communists was very difficult they treated the negotiations like a battlefield tactic something to buy time one of the main stumbling blocks at the truce talks was the fate of the prisoners of War both North and South Koreans maltreated their prisoners one in three American PS held by the North Koreans died during the first winter a lot of them were lost to dissenter diarrhea severe beatings M nutrition um some of them were you know Strikers they were just they were just beat with rifle bus till they died or bided or you either kept up or you died it was that simple concerned by the Numbers dying the Chinese took over control of the prisoners they organized daily lectures to indoctrinate them they say we will tell you why you come to Korea why you have come thousands of miles from your home to spill your blood for the properanimalnames sleeping with your wives and daughters do you think this is right and this would be go on for days on end hour on end days on end forever continuously back home few people wanted to know everybody was involved with World War II but nobody nobody was involved with Korea the newspapers had so little in in them if I wanted to know what was going on Kore in in Korea yesterday I would have to get the New York Times because on page two they had a short column on the Korean War every day but most of the other papers didn't and you would only see headlines when there was a skirmish or if some Hill had been lost or won you know um so there wasn't that interest there really wasn't you it wasn't like Vietnam where you ate dinner and watched television and saw the latest battle you know there wasn't that anything like that [Music] in Japan the Korean War galvanized the economy generating three and a half billion dollars of spending Japan the ex-enemy now became a Bastion of capitalism in the struggle with Communism in Asia Japan became the jumping off place for the Korean War the dockyards and shipyards were used to rebuild recondition the ships Japanese Electronics which are probably now the top of the world really get their start in the Korean War in South Korea the UN held 13,000 communist prisoners each one was asked if he wanted to return to his country of origin or stay in the non-communist world the Communists were outraged when when almost half of the PS chose not to return to their communist homes violent protest dogged the camps when the Armistice talks resumed at panmunjom the fate of the prisoners delayed the negotiations for months on end as the truce talk stalled the Relentless bombing continued American bombers dropped almost as much explosive on North Korea as they had on Germany during World War II the bombers came without warning too many people died because of the bombing you found dead people everywhere there was hardly a single house left standing they bombed the big cities The Villages and the countryside in the same way I saw it all with my own eyes estimates suggest that in the north as many as 2 million civilians were killed St it was horrific they said Stalingrad was destroyed 96% in the second world war but pongyang was destroyed 100% everything was burnt to ashes not a single house [Music] left throughout the war both sides committed horrible [Music] atrocities Northerners killed Southerners accused of sympathizing with the Enemy re's supporters massacred those suspected of being [Music] communists in seemingly endless violence innocent civilians were often the [Music] victims at panun Jam the talking continued spanning 2 years there were hundreds of meetings 1952 election year in America 2 years into the war Truman decided not to run for the Democrats the Republicans chose Dwight D Eisenhower his slogan I shall go to Korea a lot of us were disenchanted with President Truman I somehow blamed him for the war so when when the elections came up in 1952 I couldn't wait to to vote for Eisenhower I felt being a military man and his pledge was that he would see what he could do to end that war that he was the man I wanted in office Eisenhower defeated the Democrats in a landslide Victory there were changes in the East also in March 1953 the Communist World mourned the death of Stalin Stalin had kept the war going his successors wanted to end itet and North Korean leaders came to believe it was impossible to win this war because on the side of South Korea was the whole world and on the North Korean side was the Soviet Union and China so an Armistice was inevitable a ceas fire was finally agreed on July 27th 1953 the Chinese the North Koreans and the UN backed the agreement the South Korean president singman re opposed the truce and refused to sign the massive job of exchanging prisoners of War Began 75,000 communist prisoners were handed over 12,000 United Nations PS were also set free there's no words to describe how elated I was and my uh friends as we come across a line it felt like tons had been lifted from your back it felt like for the last two and half half years I'd been carrying an enormous amount of weight I mean tons and all at once I could breathe I was light I was free Freedom uh Freedom something you can't describe Bernie giling also went home Florence was there to meet him i' had only known him 6 months we were only married six days this young man who left with blond wavy hair came back back with brown straight hair thinned and he was gunt I mean he he had no longer had the facial um structure that he had when he left this man that I had waited for for 33 months and then he comes home and I don't really know him but it didn't take [Music] long 54,000 Americans didn't go home the war claimed the lives of 3,000 men from the armies of 15 other nations in China Mao called it a great Victory and the volunteers returned home as Heroes an estimated half a million Chinese soldiers had died in the war the volunteers demonstrated to the rest of the world that the Chinese were no longer the Chinese of the past China could not be bullied China was no longer the lame dog of Asia in North and South 3 million Koreans were killed wounded or missing another 5 million were [Music] homeless when the truce was negotiated in 1953 there was a chance for the Korean people to breathe but there is no no real victory in war it kills so many people and destroys so much no Victory but the West held the line in Korea Communism had been contained in Broad terms it was a defeat for socialism we were unable to impose the Socialist system on South Korea so it was a defeat 40 years later at the end of the Cold War Korea was still divided by the same line [Music] oh [Music]