Grandpa's Wisdom

My recollection is that we were ignored. There were no parades such as at the end of World War II, but of course the war did not end. Then, according to President Truman, it was not a war but a police action. I do not recall any leftist animosity or hate such as was displayed against the veterans returning from Viet Nam.

Originally Answered: Why would historian S.L.A. Marshall come to the conclusion that only 3 in 10 infantry soldiers fired their weapons in combat? Wouldn't common sense tell him that battles in WW2 and Korea couldn't be won with such low numbers participating? There have been questions as to the accuracy of Marshall’s data by others who have studied the problem. Still, there are a number of infantrymen who do not use their weapons. Some of these have duties that supersede the use of their weapons such as assistant gunners on a machine gun and other crew served weapons, communications and leaders directing combat. There is the case where firing your weapon could endanger others in your unit. In short, there are numerous reasons why an individual would not fire his weapon including fear. When I was a 19 year old PFC in the Marine Corps in Korea, I was assigned to carry ammunition for a water cooled .30 cal. machine gun. That was my primary function. Using my weapon was a secondar...

Originally Answered: Why couldn't America fight off China when they joined the Korean war? We could have if we had the political will to do so. Korea is a peninsula with the Yalu River and the Tumen River making up most of the northern border with China. We controlled the sea so the only Chinese option was to cross the Yalu River. The Tumen River is in the extreme north east of the border. The hydroelectric dams on the Yalu River supplied the bulk of the power to Manchuria at the time. There were limited railroad lines into Korea from China plus bridges for truck traffic across the Yalu River. There was one additional rail line from the Soviet Union. Our rules of engagement stipulated that we could not cross into China in the air or on the ground. We could only attack the bridges on the Korean side of the border and could not attack the dams at all. That is, we could only attack the southern half of the bridges as the border was in the middle of the river. Now, if we had decided to...

The USSR never officially entered the Korean War, but on 1 Nov 1950, the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps was attached to the PLAAF and Soviet-piloted MiG-15s began operating over North Korea. At first, the Soviets had the advantage until the U.S. put F-86 Sabres into the fight on 17 Dec 1950. The area of conflict came to be known as MiG Alley. The UN pilots were hampered by the order to not cross the Yalu River. The Soviets had no such limitation. The conflict between UN Command and Soviet pilots continued until the cease fire on 27 Jul 1953. So, Russian pilots were flying for most of the Korean War. As to the aces, the top ones were Nikolay Sutyagin with a claimed 21 kills including 9 F-86s. Yevgeni G. Pepelyayev credited with 19 kills, and Lev Kirilovich credited with 17 kills. The UN top aces were Capt. Joseph C. McConnell with 16 MiGs claimed. Major James Jabara was the first UN ace and had 15 MiGs claimed. Major Frederick Blesse claimed 9 MiGs and Colonel James P. Hagerstrom with 8.5 ...

I would say yes to a certain degree. Skills are learned when you are in combat that are not learned in training. Some of it is just luck. This assumes that other things are equal. Not all combat is equal by any means. Some jobs are just less dangerous than others even in active combat operations. For instance incoming artillery rounds sound different from outgoing artillery rounds. I learned this from experience in about one day. The luck comes in when the spot you picked to take cover in gets hit or not. The first you have some control over, but absolutely no control over the second. This information is from Korea. Experiences after that may be different.

At the minimum, a grave site, burial and a headstone at no cost. This also applies to the spouse of the veteran. I am a Korean war veteran, not yet deceased, who buried his wife nine years ago. She is buried in a National Cemetery, and when I die, I will be buried in the same plot. The headstone will have my information on one side and hers on the opposite side. The current headstone is below.

In April, 1951, I was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. When I arrived at Battalion headquarters, I was greeted by incoming artillery rounds. That made it pretty real.

No. The political will to do so simply was not there. The pusillanimous Truman was afraid of what Stalin might do if his Chinese puppets were defeated which was well within our capability. The People’s Volunteer Army in Korea was 780,000 men.(1) Volunteer was an euphemism to disguise the fact that it was part of the People’s Liberation Army. This Army had to be supplied from China. Road and rail routes cross either the Yalu River or the Tumen River on bridges. Dams on the Yalu River are an important source of power for China to say nothing of controlling flooding. Our forces could only bomb the bridges on the Korean side of the river and the dams were off limits. This was to preserve the fiction that China was not at war with the United States. The border ran in the middle of the rivers. Now to defeat the PLA, hold them on the line existing in July, 1951 or wherever it was most feasible. The holding line would have to have been north of Seoul. Take out the bridges and the dams on the Y...

Served in the Marine Corps in Korea in 1951. We used the MK2 fragmentation grenade and it weighed a about a pound and a quarter. We were told in training that the normal person could not throw a grenade more than its blast radius so we were instructed to yell “Fire in the hole”, throw the thing as far as possible and then take cover. Did not know how far I could throw the grenade as I was not watching. Did find out in Korea that one fit just fine in a C Ration can. When on defense, if there were any bunkers near our front line, we would booby trap the bunkers with two grenades in C Ration cans connected by some wire. If nothing happened, then we would retrieve the grenades, put the pins back in until the next opportunity arose. During the day, I would spread out the cotter key on the pin to avoid accidents and at night close the cotter key so there would be no delay in pulling the pin.

Third party story. I was in Korea April, 1951. One of our line companies accepted the surrender of a North Korean. He said he was not going to fight against those who wore yellow leggings anymore, they fought too hard.

I did on Oct. 2, 1950. I just never volunteered the information. Made it through Boot Camp, weapons training at Camp Pendleton and 2 months combat in Korea with a heavy machine gun crew. Had an asthma attack and they shipped me back to the States. Completed my enlistment with nothing said about it. It could be different now.

Exciting? I would have to say being shelled by North Korean and/or Chinese artillery and mortars. There is nothing like incoming shells to heighten your senses and make you aware of your surroundings. You want to find a hole or a depression immediately. Now the best duty assignment I had was when I was accepted for the Marine Corps Band at MCRD San Diego.  

I am guessing I was packing about 90 lbs. + up and down the mountains in Korea. This included 40 lbs. of ammo for the machinegun. Other items were a change of clothing, underwear and extra socks, a poncho and shelter half, rifle, ammo for same plus 4 to 6 fragmentation grenades, a white phosphorous grenade and an illumination grenade. They usually supplied us with 3 days of C-Rations at a time. Two canteens for water, a personal hand gun plus ammo and a combat knife. I may have missed some things, but that was a long time ago. In short, you needed all of your personal items as resupply was by bearers (the terrain was too steep for vehicles) and that was only food and ammo.

Not winning it. It set the pattern for not winning in subsequent conflicts. Plus the North Korean leadership and policies have been a huge pain in the backside which is now reaching crisis levels with the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile program. The Kims did not limit themselves to the Korean Peninsula, but were involved in the Congo, Thailand, Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Angola and Yemen. Most of these involved advisors similar to the Castro involvement in Africa. Then there has been the cozy relationship with Iran since 1979. Iran had oil and cash while North Korea had weapons and they have been exchanging technology. Win-win from their point of view. Sources: North Korea’s Deadly Partnership With Iran - The Daily Beast List of wars involving North Korea - Wikipedia

I did pick one, the Korean War. I joined the Marine Corps on 1 Oct 1950 because I thought it was my duty. In Apr 1951, I was in Korea with a MOS of 0334. That MOS does not exist any longer and is now covered by 0331.

Fortunately no as it is a very painful experience. I have witnessed it, but never experienced it. The bolt for the M1 Garand is powered by a very strong spring which pushes the cartridge into the receiver. Getting your thumb in the way is about the equivalent of smashing your thumb with a hammer. Image of loading an M1 rifle. Thumb pushes down on clip and thumb needs to be out of the way when the bolt moves forward to load the round.

In my personal experience, they provided really good close air support. Seeing those Vought F4U Corsairs coming in low with six 50 .cal blazing was unforgettable. I can still see that in my mind’s eye. At first I was concerned that they would hit us, but they were right on target.

There was no standstill until the truce negotiations began in July, 1951. Next, the PLA was a combined arms army with artillery and tanks. Their logistics were not the best as we had control of the air. However, we could only bomb within Korea, and as the border ran down the middle of the Yalu River, this meant we could just attack the south end of the bridges crossing the Yalu River, and we could not bomb the dams at all. That allowed the Chinese to get more supplies across than would otherwise have been possible. Another factor was that the U.S. demobilized much too quickly after WW2, and the U.S. armed forces were only a shadow of their former self. We were all set to enjoy peace while Stalin and Mao had different ideas. The U.S. had to scramble when Truman decided to intervene in Korea. MacArthur had to cobble together whatever he could out of insufficient, under equipped and unprepared military assets to stem the tide of the North Korean invasion. That he was able to hold the Pusa...

It would be suicide for the citizens of North Korea to start a revolution without disaffection in the military. North Korea has a brutal dictatorship which allows no dissent. It has strict gun control, control of movement and cracks down hard any signs of departure from the will of the existing leader.

I would think that going to North Korea for any reason is probably a mistake. As for inoculations, I do not know if North Korea requires any or not. That said, before I was shipped out to North Korea by the U.S. Marine Corps, we were inoculated for Cholera, Japanese Encephalitis, Typhoid, Yellow Fever and a dozen others I do not remember. Malaria is also common there. We were advised not to drink the water without purification tablets as amebic dysentery was common as well.

Trench foot. It is a condition where moisture is absorbed by the tissue of the foot leading to tissue death. If not treated, it can lead to gangrene and amputation. The prevention of trench foot was on my mind when I was in the Korean War. I had a good supply of dry socks, and paid close attention to the condition of my feet. The place was wet with a lot of streams and rivers.

In June, 1950, I was a senior in high school getting ready for graduation. I was 18. Out of a class of 76 about 10 to 12 were in the Navy or Marine Reserves. Most of them felt it was a good way to make some money without a lot of effort. In May, up to graduation in the first week of June, our concerns were with the graduation, and if all of us would graduate. My recollection is that there were a couple of doubtful classmates whose graduation depended on their final grades. Most of us paid attention to the news which came by means of radio, the newspaper and magazines. The Soviet Union was a concern and Mao had taken over in China. The Soviet Union had also tested an atomic bomb. The Berlin airlift was successful, but most of my class, including myself, felt that we should have opened the road by force if necessary. We had all been witnesses to WWII, and had a somewhat bellicose attitude. Most of us had relatives who had been in WWII. We had all certainly talked to WWII veterans. We had...

Not at all. North Korea would not have moved except on the go ahead from Stalin and the support of Mao. Churchill gave his famous Iron Curtain speech in 1946 which is considered by many as the recognition of a cold war with the Soviet Union. Actually, the Cold War could be traced back to the Yalta Agreement where Stalin got almost everything he wanted from Roosevelt over the objections of Churchill.

Yes. I graduated from high school in 1950, joined the U.S. Marine Corps and participated in the Korean War in 1951 as part of Weapons Co., 1st Battalion, 5th Marines.

Three Marine Corps fighter jets taking off from the airstrip at Camp Pendleton who decided to scare the guys in the Cessna. The air space is controlled and we were at our designated altitude to avoid conflict with the Marine Corps aviation. One jet went just over us, another just below us and the third right behind us simultaneously. Must have been a big laugh for the cowboys flying the jets, but it scared the hell out us. Crazy for sure. One misstep and there would have been a number of dead bodies in the Pacific Ocean, and I would not be writing this. Another incident in the same aircraft happened over Los Angeles. Air traffic control must have been asleep. We were flying straight and level from south to north over Los Angeles. We had radioed our position, course, altitude and air speed to Los Angeles traffic control. They told us that they had us on their radar and to continue as we were. Everything was calm with good visibility when all of a sudden the pilot, who was my boss, cusse...

President Truman did not ask for a declaration of war in Korea. It was officially a United Nations endeavor. Truman even called it “a police action”. I did not see any cops, and it sure looked like war to me. President Lyndon Johnson did not ask for a declaration of war in Vietnam, but fought it under a Congressional Joint Resolution. The United States has not declared war since WWII. All military actions since WWII have been as above, or under the War Powers Act. A pusillanimous way for Congress to cover its butt.

Originally Answered:  Are flamethrowers effective? I only was able to use one in training. When I got to Regiment in Korea they said they needed people trained on the flamethrower. When I raised my hand, they sent me to 1st Battalion Weapons Company. They said they did not need a flamethrower man as their flamethrowers were in the rear. They did need replacements for a heavy machine gun so that is where I was sent. From training, films I have seen and what I have read, I would say that they are effective. I had been told that just the knowledge that a flamethrower was present deterred an attack by the North Koreans. It was night and they fired off the flamethrower just to show that it was there. It could just have been a story, but no one wants to be burned alive with a very hot, soft jello type of material that you cannot get off. Napalm, which is what the flamethrower uses, burns at the same temperature as gasoline, but burns longer. That is 945 degrees C or 1733 degrees F.

The South Korean military exists for the same reason that any other country’s military exist. To defend the country. The primary threat is from North Korea which has the stated aim of reunifying the peninsula under North Korean control. Legally, the Korean War is still going on as there was only an armistice in 1953. There has never been a peace treaty. In addition, Korea has been occupied or has fought with the Japanese, Chinese, Russians and UN forces within living memory. South Korea lives in a very dangerous neighborhood and needs a strong military if it is to survive. The maxim of Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus is as true today as it was in the 4th Century, “If you want peace, prepare for war.” The same maxim or variations thereof have been repeated by many famous statesmen throughout the centuries, including George Washington.

Originally Answered:  Did flamethrowers explode when shot? Not that I know of. We were told that a bullet through the compressed air tank would knock us down. A bullet through the fuel tank would not ignite the napalm. It the napalm tanks were pressurized, that could cause a problem, but from what I remember from training, napalm will only ignite at a fairly high temperature. The flamethrower had a thermite match at the end of the nozzle. I forget the number of uses out of one match. This information is from memory dating to early 1951. I never used a flamethrower in combat, just in training.

W hat countries have you visited as a member of the U.S. military? Japan, South Korea and North Korea in April through July, 1951 in the U.S. Marine Corps. The North Koreans, aided by the Chinese, were not welcoming as a lot of shot and shell came my way.

Korean War (1950–1953) If the U.S. had not intervened, the Korean peninsula would have been united under North Korea. There would have been a huge loss of life in South Korea and the prosperous country we see today would be as big a s***t hole as the North is today. Laotian Civil War (1953–1975) Communist Pathet Lao, North Vietnam supported by USSR and China won as part of collapse of South Viet-Nam. They won so U.S. intervention was an exercise in futility. Up to 300,000 people fled to Thailand and some 40,000 to 60,000+ were killed. Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) Incompetent execution by Kennedy Admin. resulted in failure. If Eisenhower’s original plan had been followed, Cuba would have been freed and a whole lot of people would have been a lot better off. There would have been no Cuban Missal Crisis and Cuba would most likely have returned to the prosperous country it was before Castro took over. Vietnam War (1965–1973, 1975) Screwed that up too. However, intervention probably saved Th...

I joined the U.S. Marine Corps on Oct. 2, 1950 and was deployed to the 1st Marine Division in June, 1951. in northeast Korea just in time for the Chinese Spring Offensive. I was assigned to Weapons Co. 1 Battalion, 5th Marines. So, yes I was although it was not to the Army.

In Korea we used the Mk 2 fragmentation grenade. It contained TNT and when the grenade exploded all those cute little squares of metal would fly in all directions with a great deal of force. The metal fragments are more deadly than the TNT inside the grenade.

My information is out of date as it relates to the Marine Corps in 1951. At that time, you could bring your own weapons as well as the ones issued by the Marine Corps. I was not issued a knife or a sidearm. Before shipping out to Korea, I purchased a British WWII Commando knife from a fellow marine and a 9mm German Luger from a gun store. I brought both with me to Korea. Marine Corps issue was an M1 Garand rifle, a bayonet and hand grenades. Later, I was able to trade the M1 for an M2 Carbine, which I was supposed to have as I was packing 40 lbs. of ammo for a heavy machine gun.

I do not know about the Vietnam War, but in the Korean War the U.S. Marine Corps specifically allowed Marines to bring personal weapons. I brought a German 9mm Lugar and a British Commando knife. I had heard of Marines being carried off in their sleeping bags and had no desire to experience the same. The 9mm was loaded with a round in the chamber and I slept with it on my belly for use in case of an attempted capture. The knife was backup in the event of running out of ammunition. I had no occasion to use either.

I was 14 years old when World War II ended so I had no knowledge of the division of Korea. I doubt I had even heard of Korea at that time. It was certainly not an item of interest. I graduated from High School in early June of 1950, and the North invaded the South in the latter part of that same month. A number of my classmates were in the Naval or Marine Corps Reserve and they were called to active duty. The Marine classmates were sent to Camp Pendleton for training and eventual deployment to the 1st Marine Division. I had enrolled in San Diego State College out of High School and started classes in late August or early September. The war in Korea was a topic of interest and conversation especially as some high school classmates were getting ready to ship out. I was becoming increasingly restless in college and at the end of September, I made the rounds of the recruiting offices. I decided on the Marine Corps and signed up on 2 Oct 1950. There were several motivating factors. With the...

I do not know of any instance where North Korea used “human wave tactics” in the Korean War. There may have been isolated instances, but it is generally the Chinese who were deemed to have used human wave tactics. Even this is denied by the Chinese and many war historians. They say it was a micsharacterization by journalist of the Chinese Short Attack. However, I have talked to veterans of the First Marine Division who were at Chosin Reservoir who described it as such. One said that they were “bore sighting the 155s”. In any case, the 9th Chinese Army was effectively destroyed trying to stop the 1st Marine Division’s retreat to Hungnam. My limited experience with North Koreans was that they would use cover to get within hand grenade distance, toss grenades and then attack. Their preferred time was at night. That is why we had artificial moonlight and illumination grenades. Human wave attacks against a prepared modern military would be near suicidal. Success or failure would depend on t...

Very well. The current military has done just fine for itself despite being handicapped by politicians. Those needing safe spaces and are easily offended tend not to join the military. The future is up for grabs. There are a lot of loopy politicians and would-be politicians that could screw things up in a hurry given the chance.

Not very well prepared at all. The Korean War began in June of 1950. World War II had ended in September of 1945. The U.S. immediately began to demobilize and return to a peacetime environment. At the end of World War II, the U.S. Armed Forces had more than 12 million personnel. By June 1947 that number had dropped to 1.5 million. Cuts in defense spending were equally severe so that the Army was reduced "to a state of near impotency” per one scholar. (1) A rapid build up was required to fight the Korean War. We came close to losing the War in the first two months and only managed a stalemate by the time of the armistice in July 1953. We had ignored the advise of numerous military leaders throughout history which was best summed up by the phrase "If you want peace, prepare for war", attributed to Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus (4th Century) or as George Washington put it “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” (1)  Demobilization...

Romania and Hungary were probably net pluses as they provided troops that would have required Germans had they not been available. Italy was probably a net drain as Hitler had to pull Mussolini’s fat out the fire on several occasions that distracted from the course of action Hitler wanted to pursue. That said, Hitler’s biggest problem was himself, and no, he could not have won WWII without getting an atomic bomb before anyone else. Germany just did not have the manpower or industrial capacity to win especially after Hitler declared war on the U.S.

  The German offensive created a nose like structure as they advanced pushing the Allies back. See map.

The USSR would have had a problem as they would have run into U.S., British and Free French forces already approaching the western German border. Further, they would be in violation of their agreements with the Western Allies. Not that this would have bothered Stalin if he thought he could get away with it. Most importantly, the USSR forces would have a logistical nightmare and would have been destroyed by western airpower. Fighting the Western Allies in 1945 would have been a whole different ballgame from fighting a virtually defeated Germany.  

History of the Second World War  by B. H. Liddell Hart The German Generals Talk  by B. H. Liddell Hart - an interview with the German Generals shortly after the end of WWII. Liddell Hart was well known to them. The UK version of the book is named  The Other Side of the Hill The Second World War: An Illustrated History  by John Keegan Lost Victories  by Field Marshal Eric von Manstein These all cover the Battle of Stalingrad in one or more chapters. Manstein, who commanded the break out attempt, is particularly relevant.

The U.S. declared war on Japan on Dec. 8, 1941 after the attack by the Japanese on Pear Harbor the day before. Nazi Germany declared war on the U.S. on Dec. 11, 1941 and we reciprocated the same day and declared war on Italy at the same time. The U.S. declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania on Jun 5, 1942. Thailand declared war on the U.S. on Jan. 25, 1942, but there is no declaration of war by the U.S. So officially, the U.S. fought Japan, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Thailand could be added, but there was almost no actual fighting in Thailand. U.S. action against Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania consisted of air attacks while ground troops were used against Japan, Germany, and Italy.

Both plans had problems. Locating the Panzer reserves some distance from the beach per Rundstedt would have subjected them to interdiction by the Allied air forces except in bad weather. This, in fact, did hamper the two SS Panzer Division’s movements when Hitler actually released them. Rundstedt had to get permission from Hitler to activate the Panzer reserves which was not given until late afternoon. Then the two divisions had to play hide and seek with Allied air assets. Locating the Panzer reserves close to the beaches would have made them vulnerable to naval gunfire as well as air attack. I believe Rommel’s plan was to have them close enough for rapid response, but not actually at the beaches. At the beaches makes no sense as they did not know where the landings would actually take place. Besides, Rommel was the only one who thought Normandy was the target. Rundstedt, OKW and Hitler were focused on Calais due to Allied misinformation. To Rundstedt’s credit, he changed his mind whe...

If the U.S., Britain and Canada had not sent the USSR enormous amounts of war material, they might not have been able to defeat the Germans. The Lend-Lease program accounted for 20% of armored vehicles. Even more important were trucks and other vehicles. The 343,000 vehicles produced by the USSR was dwarfed by the 501,000 provided by the U.S. alone. Also, the U.S. trucks were more advanced than those produced by the USSR which were based on a 1930 prototype. There were 15,631 artillery guns provided by the Allies as well as almost 132,000 sub-machine guns. Aircraft provided numbered 17,821. In addition to the war material, large quantities of food, clothing and manufactured items were provided as well. At the same time, the U.S. was sending large quantities of war material, food, clothing, etc. to Britain. During WWII, about 16 million personnel served in the U.S. armed forces. Bell plant near Buffalo, NY. P-39s for USSR. A large factor in winning WWII was the productive capacity of th...

Possibly, if the civilian happened to be under one when it landed. It would be a matter of chance. A large number of civilians were hurt or killed when we carpet bombed or fire bombed their cities. Both sides were guilty of the practice. It was a theory advanced by an Italian General named Giulio Douhet in the 1920s to the effect that bombing civilians would hasten the defeat of an enemy by causing morale problems. It did not work out in practice, but that did not discourage the proponents of total war in France, Germany and the U.S., Billy Mitchell was a strong advocate in the U.S. Douhet was not followed that much in England, however, they used “strategic” bombing after the Germans had bombed London by accident the first time. A navigation error resulted in the Blitz and extensive destruction in Germany.

By 1941 -1942 Germany had the military to do the job, but there is a big problem in that Germany has no common border with the USSR. Poland is in the way. Could Germany have made a deal with Poland? Maybe. There was no love lost between Poland and the USSR. The Red Army had invaded Poland in 1919 and the war lasted until 1921 with the Poles being the victors. On the other hand, the Poles had had frequent wars with the Prussians, so I doubt that there were warm fuzzy feelings between them. So, for Germany to successfully attack the USSR, there had to be some deal made with Poland. Historically, no deal was made and Germany invaded Poland, but this is what brought Great Britain and France into the war against Germany. Another question is could Hitler put aside his race beliefs and the concept of Lebensraum in order to make a deal with Poland? If we assume the answer is yes, then a deal could probably have been made. On the other side, we have the USSR run by Stalin and the Communist Part...

Can you think of a war that you believe was justified? Yes, World War II. The United States was attacked and any nation or individual has the right of self-defense. The war was declared in accordance with the Constitution by request of the duly elected President of the Unites States and the declaration of war was passed by both Houses of Congress. The probability of the United States defeating the Empire of Japan was never in doubt. Although at the time (I was 10 and living in San Diego, CA) there was concern that the Japanese would attack the West Coast. After we were attacked, we were at war de facto. The declaration also made it de jure.  

I was born in 1931 and was listening to the radio on 7 Dec 1941. My father was career Navy and was at Pearl Harbor on that fateful morning. I can still remember the announcer coming on and saying, “We interrupt this program for the following announcement ‘President Roosevelt said in a statement today that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor from the air’”. There was follow up throughout the day. My mother and I spent the rest of the day glued to the radio. There was no war weariness in 1945 and I doubt there would have been in 1947. There was a determination to win the war no matter what as the Pearl Harbor attack was a shock that really pissed off the American people. In hindsight, a negotiated peace might have been preferable as the final terms of the peace treaty were not that different from what it is believed that the Japanese would have agreed to prior to the actual end of hostilities. Peace feelers from the Japanese had been made through the Vatican, Moscow, Stockholm and Al...

A land mine can remain active for up to 50 years. Land mines are cheap and effective when deployed but are expensive and dangerous to remove. Most mines can be boobytrapped, and some of them are just to make the game more interesting. After Marine Corps boot camp in 1950, I was assigned to Camp Pendleton for advanced weapons training. I was trained on the flame thrower, 3.5 bazooka and demolitions. Demolition training consisted of the handling of explosives, principally TNT and C4 as well as deploying land mines, booby traps and removing same. The removing part was a whole lot more difficult than the deploying part. Metal detectors make the location of mines easier, but there are mines that have little or no metal in them. Our mine clearing exercises typically consisted of creeping forward (a baby creeps before it crawls) and probing the ground in front and to the sides with a bayonet. If an object were hit by the probing, the procedure was to carefully dig around the object being care...

The one indispensable country for beating the Nazis in World War 2 was the United States. It was not only the “Arsenal of Democracy” but the breadbasket as well. Without the productive capacity of the U.S., it is highly unlikely that the war in Europe could have been won by either side. Let’s go back to 1938 as a starting point before the war and compare it with 1944 towards the end of the war. The following GDP numbers are in international dollars with 1990 prices in billions. USA 1938 - $800 1944 -$ 1499 an increase of 87.3%; UK 1938 - $284 1944 - 346 an increase of 21.8%; USSR 1938 - $359 1944 - $362 an increase of 0.8% France 1938 - $186 1944 - $93 a decrease of 50% Germany 1938 - $351 1944 - $437 an increase of 24.5%; Austria 1938 - $24 1944 - $29 an increase of 20.8% Italy 1938 - $140.8 1944 - $117 a decrease of 16.9% Both France and Italy were out of the war in 1944 except for Free French Populations in 1938 in millions: USA 130.5; USSR 167.0; UK 47.5; UK Dominions 30.0; UK Colo...

As I was born in 1931, the only thing I am reasonably certain of is that I will not be around to see it. I would hope that people would spend some time contemplating the horrors of the 20th Century which culminated in World War II, probably the most destructive in human history. The stupidest ideas of the 19th Century became realities in the 20th with horrifying results. Eugenics which inspired Hitler and Margaret Sanger, among others, to a racist ideology. The idea of the perfectibility of man and the idea of perpetual progress with the resultant use of Procrustes Bed when man appeared to be resistant to such ideas. The deranged thoughts of Marx and Engels which produced such monsters as Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Che Guevara, the Kims and their ilk. The isms of Communism, Nazism, Fascism, Progressivism, et. al. The growth of the servile state, ethnic cleansing and the general inhumanity to man. The apparent “Suicide of the West” with birth rates well below replacement levels, hedonism, an...

The U.S.’s worst defeat was in WW2 with the Japanese invasion of and capture of the Philippine Islands. The U.S. and Philippine losses were 146,000 in killed, wounded, and captured (1) with the complete loss of the Philippine Islands. Total U.S. and UN casualties in the Battle of Chongchon River amounted to about 11,000 (2) while the U.S. was able to stabilize the font around the 38th parallel. U.S. forces were again advancing into North Korea until the truce talks began in July 1951 (1) Philippines Campaign 1941–1942 - Wikipedia (2) Battle of Ch’ongch’on River - Wikipedia