When I first saw 's photo, I felt he resembled the King of America! 😄
Perhaps he feels that I am mocking him!
Looking at his retirement photos, I thought, perhaps, that if there was an American king, he would have resembled him!
's facial expressions and images felt similar to American soldiers caring for Korean orphans in the Korean War!
I want him to understand that my English is at the level of elementary school students in America!😄
I wish I could create more nice and beautiful English sentences!
However, as of now, such an act is impossible! 😄
I hope can understand my awkward english!
The Korean War (South Korean Korean: 6.25 전쟁, 한국전쟁; Hanja: 6.25 戰爭, 韓國戰爭; RR: Yugio Jeonjaeng, Hanguk Jeonjaeng, lit. "6/25 War" or "Korean War"; North Korean Korean: 조국해방전쟁; Hanja: 祖國解放戰爭; MR: Choguk haebang chŏnjaeng, "Fatherland Liberation War"; 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953)[48][49][d] was a war between North Korea, with military support from China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, backed by personnel from the United Nations (principally the United States). The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and insurrections in the south.[51][52][53] The war ended unofficially on 27 July 1953 in an armistice.
After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, on 15 August (officially 2 September) 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into two zones of occupation. The Soviets administered the northern-half and the Americans administered the southern-half. In 1948, as a result of Cold War tensions, the occupation zones became two sovereign states. A socialist state was established in the north under the totalitarian leadership of Kim Il-sung and a capitalist state in the south under the authoritarian leadership of Syngman Rhee. Both governments of the two new Korean states claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither accepted the border as permanent.
The Korean War (South Korean Korean: 6.25 War, Korean War; Hanja: 6.25 War爭, Korean War爭; RR: Yugio Jeonjaeng, Hanguk Jeonjaeng, lit. "6/25 War" or "Korean War"; North Korean Korean: Fatherland Liberation War; Hanja: 祖國解放war爭; MR: Choguk haebang chŏnjaeng, "Fatherland Liberation War"; 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a historical event that left the greatest scars, pain and sorrow for Koreans.
The Korean War was a war that brought disgraceful results even for the United States, which was enjoying the victory of World War II.
The United States was the biggest winner of World War II. As Americans saw the collapse of Europe, they were enthusiastic that the era of American domination of the world had begun.
However, The Korean War shattered American pride and glory.
The fact that the great American army, which had won World War II, failed to defeat the backward East Asians was a shock to Americans.
I believe that if the US military had a complete victory over Red China and North Korea, the present US would have become the leader in East Asia through a unified Korea!
I believe the US suffered the wounds of the Vietnam War because it did not win the Korean War!
If the United States had achieved a complete victory in the Korean War 70 years ago, the Soviet Union and China would not have been able to cause the Vietnam War!
By the way, I do not intend to criticize the fact that the United States did not win the Korean War!
I just wanted to point out the fact that the United States does not know much about Korea's place and value in East Asia!
Most of all, I was shocked that Americans are now forgetting about the Korean War.
In the Korean War, 50,000 Americans died and went missing, and 200,000 were injured or sick.
However, Koreans like me remember that about 250,000 Americans suffered casualties in the Korean War.
So, I'm going to write about the fact that the US military fought its first historical battle in the Korean War.
The Battle of Osan (Korean: 오산 전투) was the first engagement between United States and North Korea during the Korean War. On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, an American task force of 540 infantry supported by an artillery battery, was moved to Osan, south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and was ordered to fight as a rearguard to delay the advancing North Korean forces while more US troops arrived to form a stronger defensive line to the south. The task force lacked both anti-tank guns and effective infantry anti-tank weapons and had been equipped with obsolete 2.36-inch rocket launchers and a few 75 mm recoilless rifles. Aside from a limited number of HEAT shells for the unit's 105 mm howitzers, crew-served weapons that could defeat T-34/85 tanks from the Soviet Union, had not been distributed to the US Army forces in Korea.
A North Korean tank column equipped with ex-Soviet T-34/85 tanks overran the task force in the first encounter and continued its advance south. After the North Korean tank column had breached US lines, the task force opened fire on a force of some 5,000 North Korean infantry that were approaching its position, which held up their advance. North Korean troops eventually flanked and overwhelmed the US positions, and the rest of the task force retreated in disorder.
So, MacArthur, commander of the Japanese occupation forces of the United States, immediately dispatched Task Force Smith to Korea.
MacArthur voluntarily sent Task Force Smith into the Korean War without prior permission from the US government.
The reason is that since the United States is a democratic republic, the President and Congress declared war after a meeting.
It took more than a month for the president and Congress of the United States to prepare for a declaration of war. Then North Korea will conquer South Korea before US troops arrive in South Korea.
MacArthur took the shortcut because he predicted that if US troops arrived in South Korea after a month, South Korea would already be destroyed.
I think MacArthur's act of getting American troops into the Korean War without prior permission from the U.S. government was admirable.
As MacArthur predicted, North Korea planned to conquer South Korea within a month.
The first units of the 24th Infantry Division left Itazuke Air Base in Japan on June 30.[10] Task Force Smith, named after its commander Charles Bradford Smith, had 406 men of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, and 134 men of A Battery, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller O. Perry.[11][12] The forces were both poorly equipped and understrength: 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, had only two companies of infantry (B and C companies), instead of the normal three for a US Army battalion. The battalion had half of the required number of troops in its headquarters company, half of a communications platoon, and half of a heavy weapons platoon, which was armed with six obsolescent M9A1 Bazooka rocket launchers, two 75 mm recoilless rifles, two 4.2 inch mortars, and four 60 mm mortars. Much of the equipment was drawn from the rest of the understrength 21st.[13] A Battery, which formed the entire artillery support for the task force, was armed with six 105 mm howitzers.[7] The howitzers were equipped with 1,200 high explosive (HE) rounds but were incapable of penetrating tank armor. Only six high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds were issued to the battery, all of which were allocated to the number six howitzer sited forward of the main battery emplacement.[11] A Battery also had four .50 calibre M2 Browning heavy machine guns and four bazookas.[14]
On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea and the Korean War broke out.
At that time, North Korea unilaterally defeated South Korea because it imported tanks, aircraft, and artillery from the Soviet Union.
If South Korea was conquered by North Korea in an instant, the entire Korean peninsula would have become communist.
The Battle of Osan (English: Battle of Osan) is where the US and North Korean forces first fought.
Task Force Smith was originally serving as a police officer in the Japanese occupation force. So, they weren't ready for war at all. However, MacArthur knew that only by sending them to the Korean War would the United States have any justification for a war with North Korea.
So, Task Force Smith hurriedly arrived in Korea with only three days' worth of food and equipment.
They were starving until they reached Osan.
They misunderstood that the North Korean army could easily be defeated because they were inferior Mongolians.
However, they later found out that they were soon in a dire situation.
At around 0730 on July 5,[1] Task Force Smith spotted a column of eight North Korean T-34/85 tanks of the 107th Tank Regiment, North Korean 105th Armored Division heading south toward them.[26] The North Korean forces, driving south from Seoul, pursued retreating South Korean forces.[27] At 08:16, the artillery battery fired its first rounds at the advancing North Korean tanks.[7] The tanks, which were around 2 km (1.2 mi) from the infantry force, were hit with numerous 105 mm howitzer rounds, but they were unaffected.[1] When the tanks closed to 700 m (2,300 ft), the 75 mm recoilless rifles fired and scored direct hits on the lead tanks but did not damage them.[11] The North Korean tanks returned fire but could not locate the American positions and gun emplacements, and their fire was ineffective.[1][11]
Once the tanks reached the infantry line Second Lieutenant Ollie Connor fired 22 2.36-inch rockets at a range of 15 yd (14 m) from his M9A1 launcher tube. Some of these rockets failed to ignite. The others ignited, and several struck the rear plate armor of several T-34s, where their armor was thinnest. The warheads failed to penetrate the armor, however, and the North Korean tanks continued their advance, ignored the roadblock, and continued down the road. The operators assumed that the roadblock was manned by South Korean troops and ignored it since it did not pose them a serious threat.[28] When the tank column came over the crest of the road, the forward howitzer, commanded by Corporal Herman V. Critchfield, the chief of section, and crewed by five cannoneers, fired its HEAT rounds, damaged the first two tanks, and set one of them on fire.[1] One of the crew members of the burning tank emerged with a PPSh-41 and killed a member of an American machine gun crew before he was killed himself; the American became the first casualty of Korean War ground combat. He was later identified, incorrectly, as Kenneth R. Shadrick.[29] The howitzer, depleted of HEAT rounds, began firing high explosive rounds before it was destroyed by the third T-34. The tanks then advanced and continued to ignore the American howitzer and bazooka fire. The US forces managed to disable another North Korean T-34 when a 105 mm shell struck and damaged its tracks.[30] The tracks of the T-34 tanks cut the communication signal wires between the infantry and artillery forces, which further compounded the confusion. Perry was wounded in the leg by North Korean small arms fire as he attempted to get the crew of the disabled tank to surrender. His artillery force continued firing at the North Korean tanks without effect.[
The second column of 25 T-34 tanks approached the task force within an hour. The new T-34 formation advanced singly or by twos and threes close together with no apparent formal organization. The howitzer battery hit another tank from the column in its tracks, disabled it, and damaged three more. The North Korean tanks had destroyed the forward howitzer (number six) and wounded one of its crew members, killed or wounded an estimated 20 infantrymen, and destroyed all of the parked vehicles behind the infantry line. At the main battery position, one of the five remaining 105 mm guns had been slightly damaged by a near-hit.[1][31] Several of the men in the artillery battery began deserting their positions, but Perry managed to convince most of them to return.[32] Although Smith later stated that he believed that the rounds had deteriorated with age, the ineffectiveness of the 2.36-inch bazooka had been demonstrated repeatedly during World War II against German armor.[33] Because of peacetime defense cutbacks, the 24th Infantry Division had never received improved M20 3.5-inch bazookas with M28A2 HEAT antitank ammunition, which could defeat Soviet tanks.[34] After the last tanks had passed their lines, no North Korean forces were spotted for around an hour.[32]
Task Force Smith was confronted with the North Korean army, which had a whopping tenfold superiority.
The North Korean division consisted of at least 5,000 infantrymen and 40 T-34 tanks.
American troops will fight a more desperate battle than the Battle of Little Bighorn.😳
No matter how strong white supremacist Americans are, they will know that the American military cannot win against such a large force.
In particular, the Soviet-made T-34 tank was indestructible by any American cannon.
The T-34 tank was a mythical weapon that defeated the German army during World War II.
However, Task Force Smith fought more valiantly than the American soldiers of Little Bighorn.
Little Bighorn's American soldiers fled after a brief battle, but Task Force Smith fought until the shells ran out.
The U.S. military lost 150 dead, 4 officers and 26 soldiers missing ,82 captured.
North Korean soldiers killed 42, wounded 85, and lost 4 tanks.
North Korean soldiers captured and favored American food and supplies.
Unfortunately, US troops withdrew leaving the wounded behind, most of whom were killed by North Korean forces.
Although Task Force Smith was defeated, thanks to their sacrifice, the advance of North Korean troops was halted for 10 days.
The North Korean regime was nervous about the sudden appearance of the US military and worried about war with the US.
The sacrifice of Task Force Smith gave the ROK and US allies time to counterattack.
So, now Koreans say Task Force Smith was on a suicide mission.
Koreans now call the battle of Task Force Smith a greater defeat than a victory.
In the years after the Korean War, the US Army used the areas in Japan that Task Force Smith had trained as a memorial. A monument to Task Force Smith was also established on the Osan battlefield,[49] where an annual commemoration of the Battle of Osan is held by the Eighth Army, which is still headquartered in South Korea.[50] On July 16, 2010, sixty years after the Battle of Osan, Eighth Army leaders, in conjunction with government officials of Osan, held another ceremony, speaking of Task Force Smith and describing the engagement as "the opening shots of a war of ideas that exists even today."[51] On the 61st anniversary, another ceremony was held by both the US military and Osan politicians to remember the task force.[52]
I want South Korea or the US to make a movie about the battle of Task Force Smith.
I believe we should let the world know that South Korea was not conquered by China and North Korea because of the sacrifice of Task Force Smith.
Currently, Koreans feel sad that Americans are forgetting the Korean War.
In particular, they lament the fact that the survivors of Task Force Smith are passing away one after another.
Koreans believe that all survivors of Task Force Smith should express their gratitude before they die.
PS: The Chinese army lost more than 200,000 dead and 600,000 wounded and sick in the Korean War.
So, At present, China calls the Korean War the “Anti-American Aid War”(Chinese : 抗美援朝战争, korean : 항미원조전쟁).
It means the great war in which China defeated the evil American Empire invading North Korea.