"You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. I’ve seen cities and homes in ashes. I’ve seen thousands of men lying on the ground, their dead faces looking up at the skies. I tell you, war is Hell!"
- William Tecumseh Sherman - This quote originates from his address to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy (19 June 1879) -
Marine Capt. Francis "Ike" Fenton ponders his fate and the fate of his men after being told that his company is nearly out of ammunition, Korea, 1950.
Wounded when a mine blew up his Jeep, an ambulance driver sobs by the side of the road after learning that a friend was killed in the blast, Korea 1950.
"This," Duncan told LIFE.com of a picture made during the fight for Seoul, "is the best picture I made in Korea of civilians — a family running down stairs, a father holding a baby, tanks firing away. Those tanks are taking fire from North Koreans right down the street!"
Marines rest after making it through the canyon road known as Nightmare Alley during the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir, December 1950.
An American Marine sleeps in his halted jeep while a puppy whines in his ear during the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir, December 1950.
The fight for Seoul, Korea, 1950.
Marines retreat from the Chosin Reservoir, Korea, 1950.
American Marines race past a dead enemy soldier in Korea, September 1950.
A wounded American Marine is carried on stretcher improvised from a machine gun, Korea 1950.
Corporal Leonard Hayworth, USMC (1928 - 1950)Marine corporal and machine gunner Leonard Hayworth, 22 years old, weeps upon realizing that he and his men, who have taken heavy casualties, are out of ammunition. Weeks after taking this picture, while still in Korea, Duncan handed Hayworth a copy of the September 18, 1950, issue of LIFE in which the above photo appeared. “Hayworth looked at this huge picture of himself, in the biggest photo magazine in the world,” Duncan recalls. “He didn’t say anything. He just smiled. He looked like Errol Flynn, about 6-foot-3, a tall, handsome Marine. And no one’s saying anything, looking at this picture of him, crying, and an old sergeant behind him says, ‘We all cry sometimes.’ The next day, September 25th – the three-month anniversary of the start of the war – a sniper shot him between the eyes.”
etc..
Marine 1st Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez leads his men over the sea wall at Inchon minutes before he is killed, earning the Medal of Honor.
1st Marine Division, 1950, Chosin Reservoir Marines fight a grueling battle in a retreat with over 100,000 Chinese soldiers in North Korea and survive. Forces not only broke out of the encircling Chinese army’s trap but inflicted crippling losses to the Chinese.
Han River railroad bridge, Seoul
Residents from Pyongyang, North Korea, and refugees from other areas crawl perilously over shattered girders of the city's bridge, as they flee south across the Taedong River to escape the advance of Chinese Communist troops. The Chinese entered the Korean War as allies of North Korea. U.S. troops battled on the side of South Korea. Begun in June 25, 1950, the war ended on July 27, 1953, with a military demarcation line set near the 38th parallel where it started. Korea remains divided.
Currently the Han River railroad bridge, Seoul, Korea 2008. photo by Happysnapper