The Chosin Few
Hampton Sides published his Korea War opus “On Desperate Ground” nearly seven years ago. It was highly acclaimed at that time, so don’t have much to add. All I can say his book portrays the heroism of the men of the 1st Marine Division in extraordinary personal detail. They were true heroes surrounded by Chinese and North Korean forces in the Chosin Reservoir who engaged in a spectacular breakout in the freezing cold. Through his words you can feel the snow and the winter cold at 4,000 feet in the North Korea of November 1950.
To me the marine grunts are the true heroes of the book. However they benefitted from the great generalship of Oliver Prince Smith, who should be in the pantheon of great American generals. They also benefited from the engineering genius of Col. John Partridge who, under fire, constructed the landing field that would supply the surrounded marines and built a pontoon bridge that enabled the mass evacuation of the division.
General Douglas Macarthur comes under withering criticism. After his very successful Inchon landing, MacArthur became blinded by his own ego. He ignored warnings of an imminent Chinese intervention and when it came, he was oblivious to its impact. It was the human wave attacks of the Chinese that made the defense of the Chosin Reservoir so perilous. Had the marines not benefitted from American air superiority, they would have been massacred.
Although the Korean War took place 75 years ago, it still resonates today by asking the questions: Do we have soldiers of courage that would display the heroism of that time, and do we have the generalship to guide them? It goes without saying that Donald Trump couldn’t shine Harry Truman’s shoes.
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