THE FORGOTTEN WAR...THE SOUTH KOREANS HAVENT FORGOTTEN, NEITHER SHOULD WE! THE KOREAN WAR...61st ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE CEASE FIRE JULY 27, 2014 July 30, 2014 Good evening Everyone, Sometime when we do a job, we are just not happy with it; we could have done it better. Thats how I feel about my recent sharing of my views about the KOREAN WAR with Kevin Baird of Todays NEWS-HERALD and Roger Galloway on SPEAK OUT. In both of these cases, it wasnt good enough, so here goes. In the interest of time and space, Ill do my best to make only major points. I was in Korea in 1954 - 1955, after the fighting. I saw the horrific damage to Seoul. I was in Seoul on business in the 1990s and saw a hustling/bustling new modern city. Several of my Korean friends were most grateful the United States fought for their freedom. Several times during our lifetimes, veteran friends of mine and I, have been told by others, we should stay home and mind our own business. We retort, what if we had stayed home? What would living in Europe, the South Pacific, several of the Southeast Asian countries or Korea be like today? KOREA BEFORE: -RUSSIA WANTED KOREA SINCE EARLY 1900s. FOUGHT THE JAPANESE FOR OCCUPATION...JAPANESE WON AND OCCUPIED KOREA FROM EARLY 1900S UNTIL 1945 -1941 RUSSIA & JAPAN ENTER A NON-AGGRESSION PACT -1945 RUSSIA BROKE THE PACT AND DECLARED WAR ON JAPAN AND MOVED INTO NORTH KOREA TO FIGHT THE JAPANESE. REMEMBER, RUSSIA FOUGHT THE JAPANESE FOR KOREA IN EARLY 1900S...OBVIOUSLY THEY WERE GOING TO TRY TO TAKE IT AGAIN -LATE IN 1945 JAPAN SURRENDERED AND LEFT KOREA THE UNITED STATES SET THE 38TH PARALLEL AS A DIVIDING LINE...RUSSIA OCCUPIED NORTH KOREA-UNITED STATES OCCUPIED SOUTH KOREA -1945-1950 BECAUSE OF POLITICAL, MILITARY, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DIFFERENCES, NORTH KOREA AND SOUTH KOREA FAILED TO UNIFY -1950 NORTH KOREAN POLITICIANS AND MILITARY READIED THEMSELVES TO TAKE SOUTH KOREA BY FORCE. THE UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE MISSED NORTH KOREAS TROOP AND ARMS BUILD-UP. -195O JUNE 25...NORTH KOREA, WITH CHINESE TROOP SUPPORT AND MAJOR RUSSIAN ARMS SUPPORT, INVADED SOUTH KOREA -U.N. PASSED A RESOLUTION AND PRESIDENT TRUMAN AGREED THE UNITED STATES WOULD TAKE THE LEAD. TRUMAN APPOINTED GENERAL MAC ARTHUR COMMANDER OF UNITED NATION FORCES IN KOREA KOREA DURING: -1950 JUNE 25 NORTH KOREA LAUNCHED AN ALL OUT ATTACK ON SOUTH KOREA, OVERRAN SEOUL IN A COUPLE OF DAYS AND ALMOST TOOK THE KOREAN PENINSULA IN A FEW MONTHS. SOUTH KOREA HAD NO MILITARY MIGHT -1951 U.S. AND U.N. FORCES COME UP TO STRENGTH AND UNDER MAC ARTHURS LEADERSHIP PUSH THE NORTH KOREAN & CHINESE TROOPS NORTH TO THE YALU RIVER. MAC ARTHUR WANTED TO PUSH THEM BACK INTO CHINA BUT IS TOLD BY TRUMAN TO STAND DOWN. MAC ARTHUR, THROUGH BACK CHANNELS IN CONGRESS, LET IT BE KNOWN HE WAS NOT HAPPY. TRUMAN LEARNED OF THIS AND FIRED MAC ARTHUR. -1951 300,000 CHINESE TROOPS BUILD-UP NORTH OF THE YALU RIVER AND SWARM INTO KOREA AND PUSH U.S. & U.N. TROOPS SOUTH OF THE 38TH PARALLEL AND SEOUL. -1951-1953 FOR TWO YEARS, BACK AND FORTH BATTLES TAKE PLACE NEAR THE 38TH PARALLEL. -PEACE NEGOTIATIONS ENSUED DURING THE TWO YEAR STALEMATE AND AN ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED JULY 27, 1953 KOREA AFTER: -NORTH KOREA...TODAY 25,OOO,OOO PEOPLE LIVE IN POVERTY ($550 ANNUAL INCOME PER PERSON) - POOR NUTRITION - POOR HEALTH CARE - COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT - NO FREEDOM TO TRAVEL - NO FREEDOM OF RELIGION - NEARLY THE LOWEST RANKINGS IN THE WORLD (WORLD BANK & STUDIES ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM) ALMOST ALL MONIES ARE SPENT ON GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY. -SOUTH KOREA...TODAY 50,000,OOO PEOPLE LIVE IN A FREE ECONOMY ($35,000 ANNUAL INCOME PER PERSON) - GOOD NUTRITION - GOOD HEALTHCARE - REPUBLIC FORM OF GOVERNMENT - 76% OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS VOTE - OVER 50% ARE PRACTICING CHRISTIANS AND BUDDHIST - FREEDOM TO TRAVEL What if President Truman had decided we should stay home and mind our own business? Would Russia occupy Korea today? Remember, they wanted it since early 1900s. Would all Koreans be living under a Communist form of government today? Would Russia have the 5,000 miles of warm water Korean coastline for their military and commercial use? And what about Japans security had the Chinese and Russians won the KOREAN WAR? Japan is only 120 miles across the Sea of Japan from Korea. Google search for a night satellite view of the Korean peninsula and see the stark contrast between North & South Korea. It started in 1945 at the 38th parallel and it ended there in 1953. STATUS QUO ANTE BELLUM...neither side gaining or losing any geography. However, what a major difference a free Republic form of government has meant to the South Koreans verses a Communist form of government to the North Koreans. WHAT IF WE HAD STAYED HOME? Kind regards & Semper Fi, Russ P.S. GOD BLESS AMERICA Only a Life Lived for Others is a Life Worthwhile...Albert Einstein
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 03:07:23 +0000