Red Cloud, Part Three

More Majorum[i]

George Saqqal (9389)

Following service with the Second Marine Raider Battalion in World War II, Red Cloud was discharged from the Marine Corps in November 1945. 

Civilian Life Not For Red Cloud

In common with other war-weary combat veterans from both sides, Red Cloud found civilian life difficult to adjust to. He was 20 years old, had a chest full of medals and an endless supply of war stories. Hunting and fishing with his family and friends lacked the appeal it once held. He was restless, at loose ends, and uncomfortable with those who had not shared his experiences. In 1948, answering some silent call to arms only he could hear, he enlisted, this time in the US Army, hoping it seemed, to find what had eluded him at home.

The post-WWII US Army consisted of just ten divisions, four of which were stationed in Japan on occupation duty. And it was sweet duty, too. All of the army’s divisions were well below TO&E[ii] levels and most of the GI’s were just kids who had joined up or been drafted. Only 10 to 15% of the troops were veterans of the last war. The world was at peace; Hitler was dead, Germany in ruins, with no bad guys apparent on the horizon. America’s factories were once more turning out cars, washing machines, and toasters, not tanks, trucks, and jeeps. Millions of ex GI’s were home attending college on the GI Bill, buying homes, getting married, and resuming their lives. As the old saying goes, God was in His Heaven and all was right with the world. Or so it seemed... until Josef Stalin decided to extend his empire over Eastern Europe and Asia.

In Germany, tensions between the occupying powers were building. The Western Allies—US, UK and France—were at odds with the USSR over the governance of Germany. Since 1946, the USSR had constantly hamstrung the Allied Control Council with its veto powers. Even the most fundamental issues regarding Germany could not be agreed on. On direct orders from Stalin, the USSR walked out of the Council on 20 March 1948. On 31 May 1948, the Western Allies and the Benelux countries agreed to set up a German state to be comprised of the British, American, and French Occupation Zones. Stalin retaliated by cutting off all land access to Berlin, which happened to be in the Soviet Occupation Zone. The Cold War had begun in Europe.

In Asia, the USSR was formulating plans to unite North and South Korea under Communism. The leader of the unified Korea was to be Kim Il Sung, the Russian puppet leader of North Korea. The Communist intention was all too clear for those who would see it. On 8 June 1950, the Communist controlled press of North Korea published a manifesto proclaiming their intention to unify the country under Communist rule.

Rock of Chickamauga

Red Cloud was in Japan that summer. He was a member of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 19th Regiment of Major General William Dean’s 24th US Infantry Division. They were part of the Japanese Occupation force and their home was in the port city of Oita on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost home island, and the one closest to Korea. The 19th regiment was a proud old outfit that dated back to the Civil War. It was born by Presidential Proclamation on 4 March 1861, and formally organized by the War Department on 3 May 1861. It received its baptism of fire on 6 April 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh, and its ferocity was instrumental in driving the Confederates from the field. It was one of those units that saw continuous action, and, when next encountered, it was in the thick of things at the Battle of Chickamauga 19-20 September 1863. There, stationed on the left of General Thomas’ line, it bore the brunt of a violent Confederate assault. From early morning to late afternoon of the second day of the battle, it stood its ground despite the horrific cost to its men. When their ammunition was exhausted, the order was given to fix bayonets and hold their ground. Their reply was that they would hold or go to Heaven from where they stood. Many did. But they held, and the Confederates were denied a complete rout although they had won the day.

The butcher’s bill was expensive. Fully 75% of the 19th regiment were killed or wounded at Chickamauga. Briefly, during the last hours of the battle on September 20th, command of the regiment was in the hands of its most junior second lieutenant. The regimental coat of arms denotes this fact by including a second lieutenant’s shoulder strap on its crest. September 20th became the 19th’s Organization Day and, on the following September 20th and on each subsequent September 20th, command of the regiment passed (for one day only) to its most junior second lieutenant. After Chickamauga, the 19th fought at Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, and Atlanta, but it had earned its sobriquet “The Rock of Chickamauga” on 20 September 1863, and, forever afterward, it was known by that name.

With the Civil War a memory now, the army was downsized, to use a modern term, and only its most famous units were kept on active duty. The 19th went west, fought the Ute’s, and, when the Spanish American War began, it was sent to Puerto Rico to pacify that island. From there, it shipped out to the Philippines, fought at Panay, Cebu, and Bohol. World War I found it training some of the 4 million ‘doughboys’ that were in that war. In 1922, it found itself in Hawaii and stationed at Schofield Barracks. It became a part of the 24th US Infantry Division on 1 October 1941, and took part in fighting the Japanese in the Philippines and New Guinea. With the surrender of Japan, it moved to Oita and relieved the 6th Marines. It was here that fate tapped it on the shoulder.

North Korea Arms and Attacks

The North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) was a creation of the USSR, which armed and equipped it. The Chinese Communists supplied it with combat-hardened troops to give it strength and experience. The Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) ‘repatriated’ 30,000 or so ethnic Koreans serving in its ranks. These Koreans had gained combat experience fighting the Japanese in China, and, eventually, they formed about a third of the NKPA’s strength. Some of these Koreans had even fought in the Japanese Kwantung Army, then deserted to the CCF. These 30,000 Koreans gave the NKPA a fighting advantage it would not have ordinarily enjoyed had it just relied on inexperienced conscripts.

The North Koreans had a two-tiered armed forces establishment in 1950. It consisted of a Border Constabulary (BC) known as the Bo An De, and the NKPA known as the In Min Gun. On the eve of war, the NKPA had a strength of eight divisions of infantry (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 15th) at full strength and two (10th and 13th) at half-strength. It also had an independent infantry regiment (776th), a motorcycle regiment (12th), an armored brigade (105th), and five BC brigades (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th. and 7th) plus two Corps Headquarters. Total strength was estimated at 135,000 men. Most of the repatriated Koreans made up the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th divisions; those NKPA formations that did not have repatriated Koreans in the ranks had them as officers and NCOs.

The USSR equipped the NKPA and the BC with everything from uniforms to field manuals. The USSR’s advisors were everywhere and even exercised command over some of the units. The NKPA arsenal included WWII era Soviet artillery like the 122mm howitzer, 76 mm divisional artillery, SU 76-mm self- propelled artillery, 61-, 82-, and 122-mm mortars and various rifles, machine guns, grenades, trucks, tanks, and jeeps not to mention fire control equipment, communication gear and 150 T- 34 tanks. On the other hand, when the last US occupation troops left South Korea at the end of June 1949, they left behind 482 Military Advisors to train the South Korean Army (ROKs).

In June of 1950, the ROK armed forces consisted of 8 divisions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and the Capital Division), about 98,000 men in all. They were equipped with standard US infantry weapons like the M-l rifle, 30. cal. carbine, 60- and 81-mm mortars, 2.36 inch rocket launcher, 37 mm anti- tank gun, and the short-barreled 105 mm howitzer. Unlike North Korea that had a small tactical air force. South Korea’s air force consisted of some 10 aged F-51 fighters without pilots qualified to fly them. The ROK navy had some old US navy PCs, a lone LST, 15 old US Navy minesweepers, and 10 or so former IJN mine layers and various other small craft.

The odds were clearly with the North. During the second week of June 1950, North Korea deployed its invasion force right behind the 38th parallel, an action which went undetected. US Army Captain Joseph R. Darrigo never forgot the early morning of that Sunday, 25 June 1950. The Captain was an assistant advisor to the ROK 12th regiment and he was sound asleep in his quarters in Kaesong when he heard the opening round of the Korean War. It was incoming artillery and it was about 0500 hours. From the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan, the 38th parallel was afire with muzzle flashes of Soviet made artillery. A slight rain was falling as it was the monsoon season in Korea. The gentle sound of the rain was obliterated as the earth shook and rumbled under the explosions of thousands of high explosive shells blasting the ROK positions near the 38th parallel in preparation of the assault on South Korea.

At the appointed hour, the armored spearhead of the invasion rolled into South Korea with air cover provided by ageing Soviet- made YAK and Stormovik fighters. It was a walk-through. Senior Colonel Lee Hak Ku stopped his artillery long enough to let the low-slung T-34s crash across the 38th parallel unharmed. Behind them came truck loads of NKPA infantry. Dismounting and blowing their bugles, they charged the ROK positions. The NKPA commander, General Chai Ung Jun. managed to put over 90,000 of his troops into South Korea without a hitch. Simultaneous with the land invasion NKPA landing barges were disembarking troops behind ROK lines.

The US Army maintained four divisions (1st Cav., 7th, 24th, and 25th Infantry Divisions) in Japan on occupation duty. As previously stated, they were well below TO&E levels. But, it was all General MacArthur had, and when he received word from Washington to lend all aid and assistance to the ROKs, he did so. The first two units were pitifully inadequate. Detachment X, a hastily assembled group of 33 officers and men from the 507th anti- aircraft Artillery Battalion, was hastily airlifted to Suwon airfield with orders to secure the field with their M-55 machine guns. Task Force Smith, consisting of about 500 troops, was dispatched on 1 July to stop the advancing NKPA North of Taejon if possible, “...by an arrogant display of strength.” Instead, they were overwhelmed by the NKPA’s 4th division and retreated to safety leaving behind all their equipment. Theirs was the dubious honor of suffering the Korean War’s first US ground action fatality.

MacArthur’s bluff did not work. Now he had to decide which of his four divisions to send to Korea to stem the advance of the NKPA. He selected the 24th because it was closest. He stripped the other three divisions of about 3,000 troops and put them into the 24th so that its TO&E was up to strength at about 16,000 men. Advance parties, amongst them, the 19th regiment, boarded LST’s in Beppu Bay on 3 July 1950, and landed at Pusan the next day. That night they bivouacked in the rain in an old abandoned racetrack.

Red Cloud was in his second shooting war. He had just turned 25 on July 2nd and was older than the rest of the men in his company. He was also a decorated veteran of the last war and was now looked up to because of what he had seen and done in the Pacific. All who remember him describe Red Cloud as a man’s man, a real guy’s guy who, when he said he was going to do something, did it. The company officers depended on veterans like Red Cloud to show the younger men how to act. Red Cloud and the other combat veterans were the ‘glue men,’ men who held the company together in the noise and confusion of combat. These men come alive in the heat of combat and are the born leaders that others instinctively follow.

Korea, The Hermit Kingdom

Most Americans had never heard of Korea before 1950, and most Americans were hard pressed to find it on a map. Nevertheless, the US was no stranger to Korean involvement. It had been there before.

In 1866, a heavily armed US merchant ship, SS GENERAL SHERMAN, chartered to the UK firm of Meadom & Company set sail for a trading voyage to Korea. The vessel carried its owner, W.B. Preston, and a 25-man crew of cutthroats recruited from some of China’s worst brothels, bars, and flophouses. The ship sailed for Inchon, but because of adverse winds, she was carried north and eventually stranded on a sandbar in the Taedong River, near Pyongyang. The crew sneaked ashore, stole food and water, assaulted the local citizens, kidnapped their women, and finally wore out their welcome when they kidnapped a local official. A Protestant missionary named Robert Thomas put the icing on the cake when he went ashore to preach the Gospel and hand out religious tracts. Deeply offended by the conduct of these ‘barbarians,’ the citizens attacked the ship, wrecked it, and killed most of the crew. The two survivors of this righteous assault were taken ashore and interrogated, then beheaded. The vessel’s anchor chains were hung from the gates of Pyongyang as a trophy and as a warning to others who might follow in GENERAL SHERMAN’s footsteps.

The story of GENERAL SHERMAN was a mystery for the next five years. In 1870, the US government asked its Minister to China, Frederick Ferdinand Low, to go to Korea to find out what happened to the vessel; arrange a treaty with the Koreans that would guarantee the safety of US mariners, and, finally, if he could, get the Koreans to enter into a trade agreement with the US. Korea was known as the “Hermit Kingdom” because of its steadfast refusal to open its doors to the West. The Taewon-gun, Korea’s ruler, did not trust the Western barbarians and resolved to keep his kingdom free of Western influences. The Department of the Navy sent the Asiatic Squadron under Rear Admiral John Rodgers to carry Low to Korea in 1871. It was a modest force comprised of the old side-wheel gunboat MONOCACY, the steam screw frigate COLORADO, and three other warships, ALASKA, BENICIA, and PALOS. They arrived in Korean waters on 21 May 1871 and steamed up the Han River towards Seoul, the Korean capital. As they came abreast of Kangwha Island, they were taken under fire by  the island’s defenders, a force of 1,000 elite troops called the ‘Tiger Hunters.’

Rodgers withdrew a discreet distance and planned his next move. Not surprisingly, it was an assault on the island. He sent an ultimatum to the Taewon-gun that called for Korea’s apology for firing on his ships. The deadline was June 10th, which came without the hoped-for apology. So, Rodgers ordered Marine Captain McLane Tilton to land his force of 105 Marines and four officers on the island and seize it. To ensure success, Rodgers rounded up every available sailor in the squadron, armed them to the teeth, and sent them too. The assault force now numbered 651 officers and men. The attack was a great success; the island was seized after a furious battle that left 243 Koreans dead at a cost of just three American fatalities. Nine sailors and six Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in seizing the island. After waiting around for the next three weeks for a reaction from the Koreans, Rodgers, Low, and the Asiatic Squadron sailed for home without a treaty, an apology or anything else. Thus ended the first US—Korean confrontation. Those who participated never guessed that their fellow countrymen would return 79 years later to help their erstwhile foe in its hour of need.

Retreat to Pusan

No sooner had the 19th Infantry arrived in Pusan than it moved north and west to take up positions in and around Taegu, a provincial capital about 55 miles to the north and west of Pusan. The regiment encountered stiff resistance all along its advance and, after bitter fighting at Osan, Chonan, and Chonui, suffered a terrible loss on 23 July when its division commander, Major General William Dean, was captured at Taejon. It was downhill for the 24th division from then on, and for the rest of the US and ROK troops as well. Although the attacking NKPA formations were rolling up the US and ROK units, they did so at a heavy cost in casualties to themselves. US and ROK losses were modest by comparison. Still, the NKPA pushed hard and eventually forced the US and ROK troops south and east into a pocket surrounding the port of Pusan.

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