OCCUPATION FORCES

Korea Under the American Military Government, 1945-1948

Hardcover: 232 pages Publisher: Praeger Pub Text; ISBN: 0275974561; (May 30, 2002)
Price: $64.95

Kalani O'Sullivan Note: There is a 1950s publication with a similar title that covers the Chollanam-do area and the Military Government performance. The judgement was that the Military Government was ineffective at best. The organization of the Military Government was such that though there were "free elections," but the elected officials reported to the Military Government...not the people.

Korea Between The Wars
A Soldier's Story

ISBN 915241-02-1, paperback, 332 pages including 12 pages of photos.
Price: $19.95

Published by Vincente Books, Inc., PO Box 50704, Sparks, NV 89435. Also available direct from the publisher, postpaid, $19.95.

Amazon.com readers rate this book as a 4 1/2 star offering. It contains a wealth of information not only of the conditions during this period, but also information on Kunsan City of today.

History books are silent on the experiences of United States Army ground troops that occupied South Korea during the period between the end of World War Two (1945) and the beginning of the Korean War (1950).

Ample material can be found describing the political events and the military strategies of the time, but the realities of life during the occupation, as seen by the soldiers on the ground in Korea, are locked in the memories of the men still living who served there -- men now approaching the ends of their lives.

Korea Between The Wars was written by a soldier who served in the 63rd Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division during the American occupation of South Korea. The book includes photographs and many excerpts from almost 200 letters written to his family between 1946 and 1948.

Korea Between The Wars is personal memoir and a history of that time and place. The author, stationed at Camp Hillenmeyer, on the shore of the Yellow Sea near Kunsan, Korea, tells of bone-chilling cold, shortages of fuel, few weapons, dirty bodies, grimy clothes, and hunger to the point of starvation.

The book includes much more than army life. Based on his many letters to his family, the author describes Korean towns and countryside, the people, their homes, their ways of life and work. It recounts the food shortages, the political turmoil, the difficult relations between the Korean people and the American soldiers, and the numerous signs of the war that was soon to come between North and South Korea.

The final chapter of the book looks back, with the benefit of time and study, in an attempt to understand how the military situation in South Korea and American foreign policy might have invited the Korean War.

Appendices include a brief history of the 6th Division and the 63rd Infantry Regiment, a list of references, and recommended reading. The book also includes 12 glossy pages of photos taken by the author in Korea.

The author was born in California in 1927, and grew up during the great depression of the 1930's. His ambition was to be an engineer. While waiting a military draft call and contemplating his inability to pay for a college education, he enlisted in the army to both fulfill his military obligation and to earn the college tuition benefits of the GI Bill.

He served in the army from late 1946 into 1948. He obtained a chemical engineering degree from Stanford University and later earned a Ph.D. in industrial hygiene from the University of California. His great interest in life was the prevention of diseases of occupations and worked at that profession until retirement in 1995.

The author may be contacted via his email address: ottoboni@reno.quik.com

Boy Soldier: Coming of Age during World War II

On April 14, 1945, Russell E. McLogan joined Company K of the 63rd Infantry...one of the many youngsters coming into the company...to fill the void left by casualties. Many of these boys, hardly out of high school, were soon shot. McLogan himslf got it on June 21, but fortunately survived to return home, have a family and in retirement write a history of his war experiences....He is a born researcher, a peruser of archives, an historian. John L. Munschaer, K Company Platoon Leader and Author in World War II Cavalcade: An Offer I Couldn't Refuse, Sunflower University Press, 1996

Many people have been aspiring writers, but few have become real writers. Russell McLogan is a real writer. John Klein, Publisher, Community Plus+ Magazine upon awarding him first prize for the best short story in the 1996 fiction contest.

Book Description
It is said that in order to completely understand a man you should probe the world as it existed when he was 19 or 20 years old--at the moment he became mature and autonomous as a man. Russell McLogan has done just that in this well-written autobiography. Drafted out of college at age 18 in 1944, he was trained as a rifleman and then sent to the Philippines as an infantry replacement. There he joined the battle hardened 6th Infantry Division on the Shimbu Line near Manila. Wounded in combat in northern Luzon, he spent 89 days in Army hospitals on Luzon and Leyte. When the atomic bomb abruptly ended the war, he was returned to duty just in time to sail off to Korea where he served in the Army of Occupation. Boy Soldier is about a young man's coming of age during this period of tremendous historical change. It includes much well-researched history of the Army's replacement training system, the Liberation of the Philippines, the dropping of the atomic bombs, the American-Russian occupation of Korea, and the Army's post-war demobilization--the people, places, and events that shaped a young life. Although written in a scholarly mode with endnotes, bibliography and index, it is very readable with the humor, violence, sexual situations and sometimes raw language as it actually happpened. Text is supplemented with 72 illustrations and 15 maps.

About the Author
Russell E. McLogan, P.E., was born in Detroit, Michigan May 10, 1926. After graduating from the Henry Ford Trade School and finishing his first semester at the University of Detroit, he was drafted Sept 15, 1944 and received his infantry training at Camp Hood, Texas and Fort Ord, California. Russ joined the 6th Infantry Division on the Shimbu Line near Manila where he served in Company K, 63rd Infantry Regiment. Wounded in combat in Northern Luzon, he spent 89 days in hospitals on Luzon and Leyte. Returned to duty after the war ended, he served in the Army of Occupation in Korea and was discharged Nov. 2, 1946. Graduated from the University of Detroit,B.B.A., cum laude, 1953 and a Registered Mechanical Engineer in Michigan, he held engineering and management positions with major auto and aerospace companies for over 40 years and retired in 1989 to pursue a writing career. He has been published in the Emerald Coast Review, Catholic Digest, Purple Heart Magazine, Community Plus+ Magazine, and the Hillsdale Daily News. Russ married Terri (Lilly) McLogan in 1950. They have six children and ten grandchildren. Home has been Hillsdale, Michigan since 1964 with winters spent in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Review by Kalani O'Sullivan:

Only one or two chapters at the end deal with Kunsan AB. The 6th Infantry Division was sent up from the Philippines via LST to handle the surrender of Korea. Shipped directly from the warm tropics to frozen Korea, the troops had to use discarded Japanese uniforms to stay warm. The book was well-received. Margaret Everett from Destin, FL , March 11, 1999 wrote, "Boy Soldier is well written and realistic. Boy Soldier vividly gives the reader insight into the thoughts and emotions of an eighteen year old boy thrust into the infantry in World War II. The author is remarkable in his ability to recall the feelings of the "Boy Soldier." Each chapter flowed into the next chapter connecting the events of this great war in the Pacific and capturing the interest of the reader."

The chapters dealing with Korea provide some insights into the conditions in Korea at the time by a young 18-year old soldier. Starting his journey in Inchon (Jinsen) where they off-loaded from the LST he proceeded to Kunsan. The 63rd Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division were to take over the provinces in the southwest. On pg 300, he states, "It took all day to make the trip from Seoul to Kunsan, some 130 miles. It was dark when we arrived at the Japanese Air Base near Kunsan where the third battalion was billeted in wooden barracks." He described the barracks as "very long and constructed of wood. The interior walls were made of paper-tin plywood. A long, narrow, central hallway ran the length of the barracks some 250 or 300 feet. There were small rooms on both sides of the hallway housing offices and sleeping quarters of the men, six or eight to a room. They were unheated and veritable fire traps." He went on, "Apparently the Japanese military were hardy souls who could live in that climate without heating the barracks. We Americans, who had just arrived from a tropical island, were always cold. We had available for our use small portable kerosene stoves. They were about six inches in diameter and eighteen inches high, about the size of a kerosene lantern, with a single burner on top. We used these little stoves mostly to keep warm, but also to make tea or coffee or to boil fresh eggs which we obtained from the local Koreans. Later one of these stoves was accidentally tipped over and the whole barracks was destroyed. (SEE Japanese Aviation Training Base (1938-1945) which is what he saw when he arrived; Occupation Forces: 6th Infantry Division, 63d Infantry Regiment, 3d Battalion; A Soldier's Story (1945-1947) for the miserable conditions after he left; Occupation Forces: 63d Service Company, Kunsan Harbor (1945-1947) for the some photos of Kunsan and Iri; and Occupation Forces: Officer's Tour (1946-1947) for life within Camp Hillenmeyer (renamed for the Capt that he describes) by officer families.)

Later he wrote, "I was back into the routine of an infantry rifle company: close order drill, long marches, calisthenics, training and guard duty. ... It was rice harvesting time in that part of Korea. I spent many cold nights pulling guard duty in the fields. We would be trucked out to the rice paddies for four-hour stints of standing or sitting by piles of harvested grain. I was apppalled when I saw soldiers burning the rice to keep themselves warm."

He added, "When we were not occupied with military duties, we spent time looking around the place. There were hangers and Japanese airplanes to look at. Also a complete machine shop and maintenance stores." This statement is interesting as by 1946, there was only ONE aircraft that was methodically stripped by the Koreans.

He went on, "One building, which must have been officers' quarters, had a mini-swimming pool in it which turned out to be a communal bath tub. ... The Yellow Sea was within walking distance and we often walked down to the shore. The tides in this part of the world are enormous, sometimes running as high as 30 heet. When it was at low tide we could stand on the beach and look out over miles and miles of mud flats with the ocean barely discernible on the horizon. ... We could also catch a ride to town, which was a congested, smelly place of mud houses with thatched roofs. The shops were full of junk that we weren't interested in buying. Hair pomades, for instance. There seemed to be hundreds of jars of the stuff in every other shop. They were also overstocked with incense and equipment to burn it. Some soldiers bought some but got a lot of complaints when they tried burning it in the barracks. ... We were forbidden to eat or drink any of the native foods because they didn't have much and needed what little they did have to keep from starving, and their standards of public health were much lower and the prevalence of communicable intestinal diseases, principally typhoid fever and cholera, was very high. This was because they used human excrement as fertilizer on their farms."

One humorous statement was the combination of human excrement and KIMCHI was the reason for the rank smell of Kunsan. He went on, "Actually, Kunsan was a fairly large city of some 40,000 people at that time. It was Korea's sixth largest port and could accommodate ships of 4000 tons. However, a ship drawing more than eight feet of water could reach the harbor only at high tide. Kunsan was being used to ship out the Japanese and bring in the repatriated Koreans. I heard some mdics talking once about how they had to meet the incoming ships, mostly LCIs and LSTs, and spray delousing powder on the Koreans before they were allowed to board trains for their home towns."

He went on to describe the explosion in the Japanese ammo dump on the South side of the base on Nov 30, 1945. (NOTE: This site remained the ammo storage area for Kunsan AB (K-8) during the Korean War and is the current location of the 8th FW munitions storage area.) Col. Arndt Mueller wrote that Capt. (Henry R.) Hillenmeyer, the S3 Operations Staff Officer along with another officer was killed in this explosion. Col Mueller stated, "There were numerious Korean casualties. Some were the brave firemen...the rest were in the neighboring village. Most of the houses were flattened. A fierce fire broke out. The figure of 300 Korean caualties is not out of line and may even be a low figure. ... This was a tragedy waiting to happen. Every time I went into that dump, my skin would crawl ... Ammo, black powder, picric acid explosives, fuses and blasting caps were all mixed up. Black powder had been spilled on the ground. The Japs did not obeserve the strict ammo storage procedures that we did..." He stated that "Division sent us an explosives expert who was to supervise the job of reducing the dump ... An engineer Lt. in charge of repair of a nearby bridge said that the last he saw of the expert, (just before the explosion), he was standing on top of a pile of explosives directing the Korean firemen in their attempt to put out a fire in the rice stubble inside the dump."

McLogan described how they disposed of the Japanese munitions by dumping them into the sea from flat-bottomed barges. Requests to use the Japanese regiment to do this labor was denied because of the fear that Japanese treachery would create a disaster. After the explosion, Col. Mueller stated, "Division said it was OK to use the Japs to dispose the ammo at sea. They did it without incident ... gave me no trouble -- followed all the rules I laid down to the letter. I even took my guards off their compound."

Later the 3d Battalion's camp would be unofficially be renamed, Camp Hillenmeyer, though the records indicate that it was officially called first Camp Iri and then Camp Kunsan. McLogan wrote, "The Regimental Headquarters had moved from Kunsan to Chonju on November 24. With the regiment spread out over Cholla Pukto province, it affforded a more central location. Chonju, population 47,230, was the provincial capital and like Kunsan was a crowded mass of houses and unpaved roads. The only significant industrieds were a hemp textile mill and a large tobacco factry and warehouse." He was reassigned as a clerk and later switchboard operator in Iri.

He wrote, "It was at ime of transition for the Regiment. Confusion abounded because the regiment had suffered a massive decrease of 715 men in Novemenber (70 officers and 645 enlisted men). Apparently a fourth of the regiment had arrived in Korea, served a few weeks andthen gone home on points. They were the oldest and most experienced soldiers left after had gone in September. Everyone was new on the job and I don't remember getting much direction." He goes on to relate various incidents of the NCO leadership being completely lacking.

An interesting note about the 63rd's history is on pg. 313. "The Unit History also says that by December 31, 1945, the 63rd Infantry had accomplished the following (abridged) missions in Korea:"

• a. Completed the occupation of Cholla-Pukto Province.
• b. Completed the disarmament and evacuation of 3,751 Japanese Army troops to Japan.
• c. Military Government in Cholla-Pukto Provice down to all 14 Guns (Counties) totaling 1,700,000 in population.
• d. Completed the evacuation of 22,095 Jap civilains to Japan.
• e. Established a processing station at the port of Kunsan. At total of 33,845 Koreans from Japan were unloaded and dispatched by rail to relocations centers in Korea. A total of 251 Chinese were dispatched by LST to China.
• f. Approximately 600 tons of Japanese ammunition and explosives were destroyed.

Margaret Everett from Destin, FL , March 11, 1999
Boy Soldier is well written and realistic.
Boy Soldier vividly gives the reader insight into the thoughts and emotions of an eighteen year old boy thrust into the infantry in World War II. The author is remarkable in his ability to recall the feelings of the "Boy Soldier." Each chapter flowed into the next chapter connecting the events of this great war in the Pacific and capturing the interest of the reader.

KOREAN WAR

All Used from $75.00
Hardcover Historical Aviation Album; ASIN: 0911852948; (December 1985)

Involuntary

Paperback: 156 pages ; Publisher: Xlibris Corporation; ISBN: 0738828939; 1 edition (December 1, 2000)
Price: $20.99

Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Sunfisher Books; ASIN: 0897450876; (May 1987)
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B-26 Invader Units over Korea

Douglas A-26 and B-26 Invader

Douglas A-26 Invader

F-80 Shooting Star Units over Korea

F-84 Thunderjet Units Over Korea

Republic F-84: Thunderjet, Thunderstreak, & Thunderflash: A Photo Chronicle (Schiffer Military/Aviation History)

Paperback: 207 pages ; Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.; ISBN: 0764304445; (February 1998)
Price: $29.95

F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units over Korea

F-51 Mustang Units over Korea

Corsair: The F4U in World War II and Korea

Paperback: 219 pages ; Publisher: Naval Institute Press; ISBN: 1557509948; 3rd edition (March 12, 2002)
Price: $13.27

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This is the remarkable story of an airplane that became a legend--with a sleek silhouette and bent wings, it doubled as a day and night fighter, could fly off carriers or from land, and served both as a dive bomber and reconnaissance plane. Filled with facts and figures, this fast-paced history begins with the nerve-wracking test flights of the 1940s and concludes with the F4Us that were active thirty-eight years later. Placed skillfully in between are the stories that gave birth to the legend: the exploits of the aces, including the Medal of Honor recipient who shot down twenty-five enemy planes, and the details of the combat missions of Charles A. Lindbergh. During thirty months of combat in World War II with the U.S. Navy and Marines, the Corsair shot down more than two thousand Japanese planes. In Korea the U-bird, as it was called, was credited with ten aerial victories. A trip down memory lane for anyone who has followed the career of this Cadillac of the props, this new paperback edition of a book first published in hardcover in 1979 offers fine historical aviation reading that presents a riveting picture of the men and machine that helped win two wars.

Reviewer: Dirk Broer from Leiden, the Netherlands Nice background read for Corsair enthousiasts, June 30, 2002 Though not the book I would recommend to my girlfriend, I read it in one session from front to cover. Is it because I was born too late to fly this plane myself? The nice thing for me about this book is that I got the feeling that it took me back in time and let me experience wat it was like -or at least what I thought it would be like-. There are enough photographs to prevent you from drowning in text and evere aspect of the plane gets covered, with the exception of what it was to maintain a Corsair airworthy for its groundcrews. This book was published in the States by the United States Naval Institute and in Britain by PSL (Patrick Stepens Limited)

Reviewer: Duncan C. McDougall from Campton, NH United States War Baby's View, December 30, 2001 Born in 1943, I spent my youth building balsa Corsairs (and Mustangs, Hellcats, Warhawks, Spitfires and Hurricanes) covered with silkspan, and reading of their exploits in WWII and Korea. There must be millions of us Fifty- and Sixty-somethings in America still feeling we were born too late to have a chance to fly the great fighters of WWII. For us, Tillman is a timely author. We buy and read his well-told histories with feelings of respect for the designers, builders, test pilots, pilots and crews who made that great age of the piston-powered warbirds possible.
Avoiding the dreary repetitiveness of some such books, which seem bound to chronicle every squadron's every mission, Tillman's Corsair is an exceptionally good example of its breed. It combines valuable historical detail with first-hand accounts of the plane and its pilots in action. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reviewer: Lance D. Johnson from Champaign, Illinois BarrettTillman's"Corsair", February 15, 2000 This offering by Barrett Tilllman is one of the more readable accounts of WWII naval aviation. Tillman goes into enough depth to give the reader an appreciation for the technology and engineering involved in the F4U Corsair, but rightly devotes most of the book to the stories of the aviators who flew the "Ensign Eliminator" in combat. Anecdotes related to the author by veteran Corsair drivers, added to Tillman's own knowledge and experience in flying WWII aircraft lend authenticity to the work. Very well researched, this book is a valuable resource for the student of WWII or aviation,but its style also recomends it to the casual reader. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Bent Wings - F4U Corsair Action and Accidents

Paperback: 376 pages ; Publisher: Xlibris Corporation; ISBN: 0738803464; 1 edition (May 1999)
Price: $18.00

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
You are in an F4U Corsair, turning toward the carrier and preparing all the controls for a night carrier landing. You are dive-bombing the Japanese battleship Yamato. You are in combat and watch your best friend get shot down

About the Author
Fred Blechman flew F4U-5 Corsairs with the VF-14 Tophatters. He made two Mediterranean carrier cruises, and numerous Caribbean carrier deployments from 1950-1952. Since 1961 he has written 750 magazine articles and seven books about microcomputers, electronics and flying.

Reviewer: Michael Masotto from Southern California Get into the Cockpit with Fred, January 9, 2001 Told as several short stories, Bent Wings is a collection of what would otherwise be a "Pilots' Hangar Talk," stories from one pilot to another. From the start, the author straps you in and puts you in control of his F4U Corsair. Soon, your at 30,000 feet flying among the rainbows. Many of the stories are devoted to activities of young F4U Corsair pilots, with actual accident reports and photos of both good and bad landing. An F4U Corsair pilot himself, the author reflects his experience as an aviator in a smooth easy to read style that both pilots and land-lovers will enjoy. If you've ever dreamed of what it would have been like to fly an F4U Corsair, read "Bent Wings."

Reviewer: Scott Lucas from Washington, DC Bent Wings - F4UCorsair Action and Accidents, February 28, 2000 I met my first Corsair in Ordnance School at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, on my way to Pensacola and a career in Naval Aviation. In the early summer evenings, I would go down to the hanger and sit in the cockpit, dreaming of things to come. Circumstances got in the way, the career didn't work out, and I never got to fly a Corsair. But I did fly the T-28 Trojan -- better visibility, yet the same kind of attitude, throaty roaring sound, and serious torque problems. Even without this familiarity, Fred makes it possible to fly with him and the other contributors in a series of vignettes every bit as exciting as an action/adventure literary effort. You can see the animated activity of the flight deck, you can feel the newness of it to these fledgling pilots, you can feel the excitement and yes, the terror, the fear of error. And you can almost smell the hot engine oil and hear the thunder of thousands of horsepower unleashed in that huge radial engine. Be in the air at night, with the golden sun dropping into the ocean, the majesty and beauty bringing tears to your eyes, and then the sudden horror at the realization; you have to put this pig down on a matchbook! One can see why it is widely thought that Navy pilots are the finest trained in the world. It's also easy to understand Fred's dubious achievement of being America's honorary Japanese Ace in Corsairs, having downed five of the aircraft one way or another. Come fly with Fred, come fly, lets fly away! --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reviewer: A reader from Mojave Desert Fun Read, January 18, 2000 I met Mr. Blechman at Chino Planes of Fame Corsair Demonstration Day and he enthusiastically signed his book for me! I could hardly wait to get home and read it and I was not let down. I have long been fascinated by the hog and the stories in his book helped me experience the art of flying the long nose bird vicariously. I finally have a good appreciation for just how difficult a machine it was to land aboard an air craft carrier. Well done Mr. Blechman.

Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.; ISBN: 0887407323; (January 1995)
Price: $25.00

Editorial Reviews
From Book News, Inc.
The story, by the test pilot, of the crash program (and attendant crash landings) to produce the Corsair, the Navy fighter that brought America air superiority over the Japanese Zero in WWII. With 16 pages of glossy b&w photographs. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description
Whistling Death is the true story, by the test pilot, of the rush to produce the F4U Corsair, the Navy fighter that brought America air superiority over the Japanese Zero in World War II. Here is the crash program - complete with crash landings - powered by the dedicated men and women of the home front who designed and built this revolutionary, tide-turning airplane. Boone T. Guyton, an experimental test pilot at Chance Vought during and after World War II, flew 105 types of aircraft in 45 years as a pilot. , 16 pages of photographs, 6" x 9"

Paperback: 58 pages Publisher: Squadron/Signal Pubns; ISBN: 0897473183; (January 2001)
Price: $9.95

Paperback: 144 pages ; Publisher: Motorbooks International; ASIN: 0879388544; ()
Used from $61.34

Reviewer: A reader from California,USA A good photo-summary..heavier on Korea than WWII, September 10, 1999 Not a bad collection of color F4U Korea photos, and general Corsair summary. Worth the $ to add to your library.

Reviewer: A reader from Portland, Oregon One of the best F4U books!, February 11, 1999 Well worth the price, and probably the best F4U book written to date. This book examines each model with stories from aces, test pilots, and others who flew the plane. Good coverage of the radar equipped night fighters, Corsairs in service in South America, in the movies, and RACERS! Too bad it wasn't put out in hardback.

Paperback: 100 pages ; Publisher: Voyageur Press; ASIN: 0933424671; (September 1996)
Used from $18.95

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
The WarbirdTech series is the first new, innovative look at military aircraft to arrive in the marketplace in the last fifteen years. Individual volumes in this series provide a first-ever "layman's technical" analysis and review of the world's most exciting combat aircraft. Included are photos, drawings and excerpts from previously "secret" and "restricted" technical manuals produced by the government and the aircraft manufacturers. Included are vintage photos of aircraft during prototype and manufacturing stages, exploded views, cutaways and phantom drawings form tech manuals, disassembled aircraft, rare variants and experimental models etc. Special emphasis is placed on the unique and ground-breaking design and performance aspects of each aircraft. This series is for the enthusiast who has read all the combat stories, seen all the camouflage and markings books and now wants to learn the fascinating technical details behind the design and performance of combat aircraft.

An 01-45Hd-1 Pilot's Handbook Navy Models F4U-5, -5N, -5Nl, -5P Aircraft

Paperback: 102 pages Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.; ISBN: 0887408214; (August 1995)
Price: $19.95

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
A facsimile reprint of the pilot's handbook for the F4U-5, -5N, -5NL, and -5P., photographs and drawings, 8 1/2" x 11"

Reviewer: Claudio Bompadre from Rome Italy A rarity in technical publications, June 6, 2001 This facsimile reprint is the actual flight manual for F4U-5 Corsair, US Navy fighter aircraft. It is the Pilot's Handbook as published in 1951, when the plane was at the end of his career, following its tremendous success in II World War (it is basically the same type flown by Marine Major Pappy Boyngton, leader of the famous Squadron VFM 214 "Black Sheeps"). The handbook is a wonderful source of informations because the layout is forerunner of modern military aircraft manuals; as for its contents we can find all the details of cockpit arrangements, normal and emergency checklists, several descriptions on operational equipments such as the radar system used for the Night Fighter version. Finally, for the technicalities maniac, real operating instructions charts (referring to external load configuration), power plant and flying perfomance charts are available in appendix.
This is a useful tool for the warbird enthusiast to understand the aircraft achievements as narrated by many volumes such as " The Skull & Crossbones Squadron VF 17 in IIWW" or "Whistling Death-The test pilot story of the F4U Corsair", and to explain the longevity and versatility of this well-known airplane.

Paperback: Publisher: Squadron/Signal Pubns; ASIN: 0897471881; (July 1987)
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Reviewer: barker-smith@worldnet.att.net from Kenneth Smith, Belleview, Florida USA Excellent history of an outstanding plane., November 3, 1997 The author put togther a great history of a military aircraft that had a short history because of the timing of its birth. It was the best of the best, but was soon replaced by jets. The history is remarkable accurate. I know because I was there, and flew several hundred hours in the bird. The author captured the spririt of great plane, and gathered photos and names that portrayed it as it was. Good presentation of a rare subject.

Paperback: Publisher: Naval Fighters; ISBN: 0942612043; (March 1982)
Price: $14.98

In Mortal Combat : Korea, 1950-1953

From Kirkus Reviews , August 15, 1991
For an ostensibly forgotten war, the Korean ``police action'' has commanded a lot of literary attention in recent years. Unfortunately, Toland (Infamy, Adolf Hitler, The Last Hundred Days, etc.) does not add a great deal to available lore. In fact, though he draws on some fresh sources, there are no new or startling perspectives in this readable, if sometimes perverse and portentous, narrative overview of the conflict. A diligent researcher, Toland makes a generally good job of putting the war's first year into human-scale focus, documenting the murderous battles that raged from the mid-1950 Communist invasion of the South through the Pusan, Inchon, Chosin, and allied campaigns. He's equally competent, if often elusively contrarian, at capturing the big picture, offering short-take interpretations of the war's causes and course. He shows, for example, how the US failed to heed China's clear warnings that it required North Korea as a buffer state. Despite a conspicuous (and admitted) lack of evidence, however, Toland leaves open the question of whether the Allies employed biological weapons. Along similar lines, he taxes Truman with prolonging the stalemated fighting by virtue of his insistence on voluntary repatriation of all POWs. Like most annalists, Toland concludes that the Korean War ended when peace talks began at Kaesong. As he nonetheless makes clear in his summary coverage, it took two more years to negotiate a cease-fire, during which time American and Chinese troops engaged one another, sustaining tens of thousands of casualties in the bloody, purposeless process. A less-than-balanced accounting of what was won and lost in a clash of arms that aroused precious little interest, much less passion, on the home front. Among other superior alternatives, Bevin Alexander's Korea (1986) and Max Hastings's The Korean War (1987) stand out. The sparsely annotated text has 55 photographs and 18 helpful maps. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Synopsis
In this brilliant narrative of America's first limited war, Toland shows again why, for over 20 years, he has been one of the most respected and popular military historians. He lets both the events and participants speak for themselves, employing scrupulous archival research and interviews as the basis for the drama and accuracy of his writing. Photos and maps.

Rethinking the Korean War: A New Diplomatic and Strategic History

Hardcover: 304 pages ; Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691088535; (September 2002)
Price: $29.95

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Fought on what to Westerners was a remote peninsula in northeast Asia, the Korean War was a defining moment of the Cold War. It militarized a conflict that previously had been largely political and economic. And it solidified a series of divisions--of Korea into North and South, of Germany and Europe into East and West, and of China into the mainland and Taiwan--which were to persist for at least two generations. Two of these divisions continue to the present, marking two of the most dangerous political hotspots in the post-Cold War world. The Korean War grew out of the Cold War, it exacerbated the Cold War, and its impact transcended the Cold War.

William Stueck presents a fresh analysis of the Korean War's major diplomatic and strategic issues. Drawing on a cache of newly available information from archives in the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union, he provides an interpretive synthesis for scholars and general readers alike. Beginning with the decision to divide Korea in 1945, he analyzes first the origins and then the course of the conflict. He takes into account the balance between the international and internal factors that led to the war and examines the difficulty in containing and eventually ending the fighting. This discussion covers the progression toward Chinese intervention as well as factors that both prolonged the war and prevented it from expanding beyond Korea. Stueck goes on to address the impact of the war on Korean-American relations and evaluates the performance and durability of an American political culture confronting a challenge from authoritarianism abroad. Stueck's crisp yet in-depth analysis combines insightful treatment of past events with a suggestive appraisal of their significance for present and future.

From the Inside Flap
"This is a fresh, comprehensive, and balanced study that anyone interested in the Korean War--and, more broadly, in the development of the global Cold War--will find the need to read. Supported by insights gained from new sources and demonstrating a high sensitivity toward the international nature of the conflict in Korea, it is of great scholarly significance." (Chen Jian, University of Virginia)

This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History

Paperback: 540 pages ; Brasseys, Inc.; ISBN: 1574883348; 50th Annv edition (March 21, 2001)
Price: $24.95

Editorial Reviews

Washington Post "A comprehensve and impressively written history of the Korean War."

From Book News, Inc. Originally published by MacMillan in 1963 as This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness. Fehrenbach (a former commander of US Army units in Korea) presents a broad view of events in the Korean and international arenas along with the personal narratives of individual soldiers. Includes a chronology and a descriptive glossary of the principle weapons used. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reviewer: Michael Dickson from Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico Story of the Forgotten War, told by a Real He-Man, June 15, 2001 This book was republished in the late-1990s, and I suspect it was tidied up a bit to reflect modern society. The book I read was the original 1963 edition that I unearthed in an ancient library in the middle of Mexico. By "tidied up a bit," I mean that I imagine the references to the Chinese "hordes" of "little, coffee-colored" men have been deleted or altered to reflect the dainty political correctness loose across the land.
But, maybe not.
I was almost 6 years old when the Korean "Conflict" broke out. I wasn't paying much attention. Like most Americans, I grew up knowing little of the event because it has mostly been erased from the American consciousness. There are little, or no, reunions of Korean vets or POWs. It, like Vietnam, was a miserable mess, and the United States didn't win. However, unlike Vietnam, which the North Vietnamese won, nobody won in Korea. It was just a bloody disaster, bloodier than most people know. Over 2 million people died, 40,000 of them U.S. servicemen.
Our author, a thoroughly military T.R. Fehrenbach, does a complete job of writing history. Sometimes the details, however, are a bit much. Take this paragraph, for instance:
"When R/B (roadblock) is open, follow this priority for movement south: (1) 38th Inf (2) 2nd Recon Co, Div HQ, MP Co, 2nd Signal Co (3) Divarty (divisional Artillery) (4) 2nd Engr Bn (5) Rearguard - 23rd RCT (23red Inf, 15 FA Bn, 72d Tank Bn - Co C, Batery B of 82d AAA."
OK, thankfully, that type of paragraph is rare, at least in length. But there is a lot of military jargon in this book. Great for soldiers and staunch military buffs, I guess, but it's a little much for your average reader.
Of note also is Fehrenbach's hairy-handed chest-thumping. He's a real man's man, and if you didn't know it, he tells you, over and over. But, it's military history, so what do you want? Jane Fonda? Pee-Wee Herman?
The war went something like this: The North Korean hordes came crashing down into South Korea in June 1950. They and their tanks pushed the totally surprised and unprepared Americans and South Koreans into a southeastern niche of South Korea called the Pusan Perimeter. Fehrenbach attributes this in large part to the lackluster U.S. armed forces at the time, full of guys who didn't know what they were doing or why they were there. Military training after World War II became soft and sissy. Just ask Fehrenbach. He'll tell you.
After some heavy-duty attitude changing and reinforcing, the U.S., augmented by other United Nations troops, pushed the North Koreans back into North Korea and then on up to the Yalu River, the border of Manchuria. At that point, the Chinese, those little, coffee-colored Commies, got involved. They pushed the U.S./U.N. forces back down to near the 38th Parallel, about to where the original border between North and South Korea had been before the war.
At this point, about midway through the three-year war, everybody dug in. It became a war quite similar to the trench warfare of World War I. Peace talks began. And they dragged on...and on...and on...while people continued to die in droves along the front. There were artillery barrages and countless see-saw attacks on hills with names like Bloody Ridge, Pork Chop and Heartbreak. All for naught.
This is a good, solid history. It apparently is considered the definitive book on the Korean War. It was a sad, tragic war that ended without a formal peace. It ended just about where it began, except for all those corpses, parching in the sunshine. Fehrenbach hits all the bases: The Inch'on landings. Truman's sacking of the headstrong Gen. MacArthur. The conflicts of world opinion. The troubles with POWs, both North and South. The tough Turk troops with the long bayonets. Eisenhower's election in 1952. The list goes on.
I have a few more complaints. There are lots of photos, but the photo captions don't tell you who is who, which is ridiculous. There will be a photo of a bunch of guys talking. The caption will say something like: Gen. Walker confers with Col. Smith. It leaves you wondering. Which one is Walker? Which is Smith?
And Fehrenbach really can preach. A little less preaching would have been nice. He's always telling us how things should have been done, according to the Gospel of Fehrenbach. Maybe the book would have been shorter than the 700-plus pages in my edition if he had just put a lid on it.
But, I quibble. Good history, and I recommend it to you. As much as you will ever need to know about this terrible Forgotten War. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Reviewer: Larry R. Duncan (alizu@telcel.net.ve) from Maracaibo, Venezuela Memo to NYTimes: Read something besides your own scratchings, October 25, 1999 I read this book more than 30 years ago but the poignant, tradgic story, dealt with so unflinchingly here, about the blowing of the bridge over the Naktong River crowded with refugees has stayed with me. That this story, in the public domain for more than 30 years, would be played as a front page scoop by the NYTimes is ludicrous. Don't the editors of the US "newspaper of record" read anymore? This book is the definitive history of that war and is only one of only a handful of references available. Mr. Fehrenbach is still alive and writing, with the same elan and clarity seen in TKOW, a regular column in the San Antonio Express and no doubt available to the editors of the Times should they want to fact check their scoops. It's a real page turner, you will not be able to put it down. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Reviewer: A reader from Big D. From one who was there, its factual., April 29, 2002 Unprepared, Yes. But it was the people who ordered the Army divisions to the Yalu, knowing from the G-2 in Japan that the Chinese were inside Korea in October. Willoughby, the G-2 was specifically asked and the answer he gave, was at best evasive.
"They are just volunteers". If you've viewed the picture of two Army personnel, with a light 30 cal. machine gun, with an overview of Manchuria and the Yalu, then you will understand. It was grandstanding by Tokyo to release same but you wont see pictures of the 2nd and 7th Divisions going south to keep from being annihiliated, all for the ego of MacArthur. Feherenbach, tells you what he went thru, and the most remaining MIA's of that era are still in the northern part of Korea. Ask CILHI??? --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Reviewer: secession from Beverly Hills, CA USA Informative, but leaves A LOT to be desired...., March 29, 2002 As an American-born Korean, I obviously have some personal interest in the subject matter, and while I already was possessed of some basic knowledge about the events of 1950-53, I felt I needed a more thorough grounding in the actual battles and the characters of the Korean War. While Mr. Fehrenbach's volume did much to keep me informed about the major clashes, the involved units, and the prominent people, I often found myself bogged down in his often very confusingly organized prose. Never mind writing style -- I often found myself baffled as to just what he was trying to say, or about whom he was trying to say it. Not to mention abominable copywriting, which wouldn't normally bother me so much, except that the frequent punctuation errors and misspellings often just hampered the text's comprehensibility even more.
And as one reviewer here previously stated, Mr. Fehrenbach does indeed have a personal axe to grind, which in and of itself wouldn't be so remarkable (few historians can avoid inserting a healthy dose of their own personal biases into their works), except that it oftentimes leads him to keep reaching for the same tired metaphors that might've been meaningful used once, but just seem like laziness the second or third time around. (Yes, we know "there are tigers," Mr. Fehrenbach, but you don't have to keep saying so every other page....) Another big problem I had with this history was the total lack of maps illustrating what he was trying to describe in his often clumsy prose. Even as a Korean, I often had trouble following the litany of names of towns, rivers, and mountains, without a single point of reference to get a better idea of what he was referring to.
He obviously had a great passion for the topic, and many of his points about the changing nature of warfare were (and are) cogent, but its many shortcomings made for an oftentimes all-too-frustrating read.

The Korean War

Paperback: ; Publisher: Touchstone Books; ISBN: 067166834X; Reprint edition (October 1988)
Price: $10.50

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Now Max Hastings, preeminent military historian takes us back to the bloody bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950. Using personal accounts from interviews with more than 200 vets -- including the Chinese -- Hastings follows real officers and soldiers through the battles. He brilliantly captures the Cold War crisis at home -- the strategies and politics of Truman, Acheson, Marshall, MacArthur, Ridgway, and Bradley -- and shows what we should have learned in the war that was the prelude to Vietnam.

Ingram
A vivid and meticulous assessment of one of the most misunderstood episodes in recent history, this is a look back to the first war we could not win--not just the big picture, but also a look inside the experience of soldiers in the battle. 76 black-and-white photos.

Reviewer: A reader from Planet Ohio See yourself as others see you., June 10, 1999 I thought it was a pretty good book. Hastings describes some of the American shortcomings as illuminated by declassified British military memos describing poor discipline during the early part of the war. He also describes the air war, including what was like to be stationed out in the Pacific servicing and arming B-29's. As a draftee I spent some time in South Korea in 1971 and 1972. It's good to have some more background on what went on there during the war.

Reviewer: Capt Keith Kopets, USMC from Eugene, Oregon Korean War Readers: Advance Cautiously, February 13, 2000 The interpretations of the Korean War are varied and number almost as many as the pages that have been devoted to the conflict's history. The Korean War is an attempt by the British author Max Hastings to paint a portrait of the war, focusing upon some human and military aspects less familiar to readers on both sides of the Atlantic. From the outset, Hastings does not purport to give a comprehensive account of the war and cites the works of David Rees (Korea: The Limited War, New York, 1964) and Bruce Cumings (Origins of the Korean War, New Jersey, 1981) as the best in these categories. The author also professes his belief in the rightness of the American commitment to Korea in 1950. One of the more interesting passages in the Korean War is the author's coverage of the Inchon operation. Hastings defends the decision of General MacArthur to maintain X Corps as a separate tactical unit from Eighth Army: ... there was an entirely legitimate case for placing the conduct of the Inchon landing in hands other than those of General Walton Walker. MacArthur well knew the low morale that existed in Eighth Army headquarters.... [Although] Walker had conducted a stubborn defense of Pusan.... there was grave reason to doubt his ability now to lead the sort of imaginative and dynamic operation MacArthur planned. MacArthur considered, and rejected, the possibility of relieving him [Walker] of his command.... MacArthur's compromise was to entrust the amphibious operation to Almond. The author's argument is plausible, but he fails to cite his references. One of the strong points of the Korean War is the author's analysis ofthe Chinese and their intervention in the war. Hastings visited Peking while researching this book and incorporates the oral histories gained from interviewing veterans of the People's Liberation Army. He succeeds in using this material (although his journalistic, vice scholarly use of oral history gives the book a spurious creditability) in supporting his main thrust regarding the Chinese; that patriotism, not Communism, drove their intervention. The Chinese viewed the naval blockade of Formosa as a threat to their sovereignty; the Chinese sought the liberation of Taiwan and now equated the attainment of this goal with the defeat of the United States. Additionally, the Chinese refused to remain idle with the approach of foreign troops towards their border: Throughout the Korean War, Washington persistently sought the communist ideological logic behind Chinese actions. It might have been more profitable to consider instead historic Chinese nationalistic logic. Korea had provided the springboard for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria only a generation before. As the Americans drove north after smashing Kim Il Sung's armies in September 1950, Peking was appalled by the imminent prospect of an American imperialist army on the Yalu. (p. 134) Hastings also refutes the belief by the United States that the Chinese were acting in concert with the Soviet Union. The Russians regretted the North Korean's invasion and wished to distance themselves from Korea; thus, the Chinese acted unilaterally Hastings, to his credit, also gives ample analysis of the misjudgments of the Communists. The Chinese, after their initial success in late 1950, were led into the same trap as the United States after Inchon: they allowed their military success to change their original political goals. However limited the war aims of the Chinese in November 1950, there is no doubt that their early triumphs opened up, in the eyes of Peking, illusory visions of absolute military victory in Korea, of an all-embracing Communist success. Hastings argues correctly that the Chinese would have greatly boosted their own prestige had they sought a negotiated end to the struggle after the winter of 1950. Nevertheless, his argument that China lost a prime opportunity to gain a seat in the United Nations by not negotiating a truce after 1950 is a weak one. Although the United States wished to downplay their support of Chiang and Nationalist China, they were far from formally recognizing the Communists. Another area receiving little attention elsewhere is the intelligence-gathering operations in Korea. Hastings boldly asserts that "the Korean War put the CIA on the map". The United States already possessed a growing hunger for information on their chief enemies; the Communists. They were prepared to seize upon any means in which to gain more knowledge and Korea provided an ideal opportunity. The author chronicles the buildup of the Central Intelligence Agency, beginning with the appointment of Bedell Smith as its first director. The CIA launched numerous operations in attempt to learn more of the Communists and their intentions in Korea. Hastings concludes, "it is difficult to judge that its [the CIA's] operations remotely justified the scale of resources it eventually deployed or the lives that were squandered in its name." Hastings does add that the initial errors made by the CIA in Korea resulted in a better intelligence gathering effort in Vietnam. The author makes sparing use of maps, but does provide a sufficient number to keep the reader oriented. Hastings also includes a helpful chronology of the war and a listing of the military assistance provided by each member of the United Nations in the appendix. Although Hastings may draw criticism for devoting an inordinate amount of attention to Britain's involvement in Korea, his argument that a "British officer's or private soldier's recollection of the experience of fighting the Chinese in Korea is no less valid ... than that of an American" is legitimate. To his credit, Hastings gives fair treatment to all parties by incorporating interviews with Americans, Chinese, South Koreans, and soldiers from other participating UN armies. Overall Hastings presents some valid arguments and his writing style is good. As the editor of the Daily Telegraph in London, Hastings writes with a more journalistic than scholarly style and sometimes lacks the in-depth analysis to carry some of his arguments to completion. Nevertheless, his work still has value among the sociopolitical literature on the war. I would recommend this book as supplemental reading to those already possessing a solid understanding of the war.

Reviewer: jcj7t from Charlottesville, VA United States In-depth view of a seldom discussed war, April 19, 2002 Hastings does an excellent job presenting the story of the Korean War in a readable manner. He tells many of the personal stories while keeping a big picture view. He also briefly describes Korea's place in the Cold War. Overall it was an interesting and entertaining historical work.

Reviewer: Kevin L Redd from Decatur, Georgia USA Solid book, July 24, 2001 Good book for those of us who know nothing or little about the Korean War. Hastings gives us a good overview of all of the different aspects of the war from a fairly unbiased view. Not too little info or too much. Solid Overview.

The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin: An Oral History

Paperback: ; Publisher: Harvest Books; ISBN: 0156472007; (April 1987)
Price: $14.70

Reviewer: Ben Evans from Pickerington, OH United States The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin, May 18, 2002 I like is book mainly because it gave me a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings the troops had in the different conficts of the Korean WAR.
I have review other books on the subject but I believe this book gives the reader a more personal look at this difficult time. It is worth the time to read and ponder the words. Thank you for a book well written.
The area of the book that I feel can be improved is a better matching of the military troop thoughts and the time frame of the conficts as to the duration of the WAR.

Reviewer: Richardson Dilworth from Philadelphia, PA, USA As Close As You'll Get, March 19, 2000 This is the best military oral history I've ever read, and it's as close as you will get to having been there. Although there are interviews and statements from all ranks, the concentration at the company level made this book especially compelling in giving a sense of the daily combat for those hundreds of nameless hills in korea. It gave a real feeling of life and death to the thousands of men who were wounded and killed. The interviews on the first month of the war on being overrun and then forming the Pusan perimeter are particularly vivid. For anyone who is reads military history this is a must read.

Reviewer: John A. McCormack (johnnyboston@hotmail.com) from Fort Hood, TX I cannot put the book down!, August 27, 1999 I became interested in the Korean War only after having joined the Army myself. My father fought in the war with the Army, but never talked about his role much, or what he went through. I bought Mr. Knox's book after glancing at it on the book store shelf. The first person accounts bring you right into the war. By allowing the participants to tell the story from the first-person the reader gets a 360 degree view of each battle. The book reads almost like fiction instead of history. I feel the adrenaline rush of battle, the exhaustion of victory and the frustration of grabbing that weapon for yet another 10 mile movement-to-contact without sleep. I feel the loss when one of the "characters" is taken away on a stretcher, knowing that I'll not be hearing from him again. I now have a slightly better understanding of what that dirty little "police action" was like. I don't think I'll be able to find many more books that can match the emotion of this.

Hardcover: 1136 pages ; Publisher: Times Books; ASIN: 0812916700; (September 1989)
Price: $18.95

Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
This masterwork of history combines battlefield-level and command-level action with domestic and international politics. Using official Army records and hundreds of interviews, best-selling military historian Clay Blair tells the whole story of the Korean conflict. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A very detailed book..., September 15, 2001 Reviewer: Michael Valdivielso from Alexandria, VA USA This book on the Korean War is very complete and very detailed. The book gets down to the battalion level, getting into the battles, the cold, the terror, the heroism and the mistakes. It even touches on the treatment of the black soldiers within the American units. The only problem a reader might have is the amount of details. It is 1136 pages long, the first 976 pages cover the war, the last hundred or so covering sources and notes. While there are few pictures, each one is powerful, no doubt carefully selected. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Reviewer: jimshive@iwu.edu from Bloomington, Illinois United States COMPREHENSIVE ORDER OF BATTLE AND UNIT HISTORY INFORMATION, September 6, 2001 This book reflects a colossal effort at detailing virtually a day by day and unit by unit account of the Korean conflict. If you need to know what happened in Korea at a particular time or place or to a particular military unit or commander, this book will tell you. Although well written and organized, I personally was bothered by the author's emphasis on the command level personalities and actions. This book could more accurately be titled 'A History of West Point Graduates and Their Careers in Relation to the Korean Conflict'. Reading this book could leave the impression that there were no enlisted men, non-commissioned officers or field grade officers involved in the war. Excepting mention of Medal of Honor recipients during the conflict, there is very little use of personal accounts or activities of participants below the rank of colonel. The author's ritual of calculating average ages of commanders during every command change was at first irrelevant and then became irritating. I also would have appreciated inclusion of a little more contextural information along with the battle outlines. Despite an enormous amount of command and maneuver information, very little information is included on weapons systems, civilian populations, and the opponent forces and strategy in North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union.

Reviewer: Ross Pollack from Columbia, SC United States A thorough history and a must-read, August 18, 2001 While very long and very detailed, Blair proves himself by not leaving anything out. What is most impressive about this book is how Blair seamlessly transitions from discussions within the National Command Authority to battalion and brigade-level combat. It took me a few months to get through this one, but it was well worth the time. Superbly written for the lay historian.

Reviewer: Michael W. Gerrity from Buffalo, NY United States The Real Story told by a Real Soldier, September 18, 2000 Korea was a tragedy. What makes it such a great tragedy is that so many men died and suffered due to the incompetence and egos of men like Douglas McArthur who was rarely if ever under fire or understood the big picture what he was throwing men into. Yet it was a real success of sorts as the Koreans did want us --unlike Vietnam -- and we did succeed in keeping half of Korea as a free democratic (such as it is) country. Unlike Vietnam, we bothered to listen to those we were there to help and our objectives were highly compatible, definable and achievable. Precisely because they wanted to be free and not because of force of arms they were free. The will to be free was the real weapon, the force of arms was the means or one means to get there. This book gives a highly factual accurate riveting account of what was at stake in the world, for Korea, for us, for Japan, etc. and shows how important the actions of individuals - omissions (e.g., McArthur's weak G-2) and commissions (Matt Ridgway's real leadership of the men after McArthur's dismissal) can be to the outcome in history. The landing at Inchon was probably the luckiest landing in history and it made McArthur look good, but it was not the key to what eventually happened. Read on. You will be amazed how poor our intelligence was, how poorly equipped in the way of weaponry and clothing our men were. How nieve many of our commanders and McArthur was about the greatly limited ability to use tanks and heavy artillary (Korea is a rugged tough, mountainess country, not the rolling hills of WWII European mainland. Korea was perfect for ambushing and massacring larger forces. If you want the inspiring and heart wrenching truth of Korea told in a highly readable book, then this one is for you and all lovers of those who attempt to write accurate history (i.e., complete, factual renderings of the key parties, feelings, actions, and philosophies involved). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Pantheon Books; ASIN: 0394553667; (October 1988)
Used from $12.49

Reviewer: MSL from Minneapolis, MN United States An incredibly important addition to the available literature, October 2, 2001 This work is much shorter and easier to read than the gigantic double-volume "The Origins of the Korean War" (Vols. I & II), also by Bruce Cummings. This book is a must for any school or university library. It is also an important addition to the available literature in the English language about the Korean War. Halliday and Cummings give the reader a very good overview of the DOMESTIC KOREAN situation that resulted in the war. This is the information that is so desparately needed (and so consistently absent from mosts texts on the topic) to understand the war in its totality. IF YOU ARE A VET, OR ARE INTERESTED IN THIS TOPIC, OR IN THIS ERA OF US HISTORY, OR IN THE FIELD OF FOREIGN POLICY, I CANNOT GIVE A HIGHER RECOMMENDATION. I am an amateur historian who focuses mostly on 20th C. Korean history. This book, in addition to other, more well-known books that deal with the chrononlogy and individual battles of the war, are excellent sources of information on this topic. YOU MUST OWN THIS BOOK!

Paperback: 941 pages ; Publisher: Bison Bks Corp; ISBN: 0803277946; 1St. bison edition (November 2000)
Price: $29.95

Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir

Mass Market Paperback: ; Publisher: Ivy Books; ISBN: 0804116970; (October 1997)
Price: $24.95

Editorial Reviews
From AudioFile
Among the many legendary battles and campaigns of the United States Marine Corps there has been none like the breakout from the Chosin Reservoir deep in North Korea in early December of 1950. In the breakout from this trap, the Marines, although suffering grievous casualties, smashed close to ten Chinese divisions while coming out with all of their wounded and most of their equipment and dead. Owen, a graduate of Colgate University and a WWII veteran, describes his experiences as commander of his company's mortars section and a rifle platoon. He is eloquently direct in his depictions of the horrors of combat, the intense cold, and his love and care for his men and family. Rohan's reading is as disciplined and crisp as the text. His voice is precise and clear and adroitly gives character to the men (and some of these men really are characters) by intonation and accent. An exciting reading of an extraordinary deed. M.T.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Booklist
An enlisted marine who was eventually commissioned, Owen survived three years of World War II in the Pacific and six months in Korea in 1950 as a mortar officer. His Korean sojourn and his marine career ended with the First Marine Division's legendary march out from the Chosin Reservoir, during which he was severely wounded. His is a thoroughly gripping account of how a mixture of reservists and regulars were flung in the general direction of Korea, molded into an infantry rifle company, and compelled to fight their way to the sea. They faced not only the Chinese, but savage weather, short supplies, army units "bugging out," the problems of a newly integrated Marine Corps (whose African American members performed at a very high level, by the way), and gruesome terrain. The Chosin action is justly called epical; Lieutenant Owen tells the tale of the men who made it so. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
A splendid first-person account of what was arguably the most remarkable engagement of the Korean War. When word came that North Korean troops had invaded the partitioned south in mid-1950, Owen (a WW II vet who had returned to the Marines as a second lieutenant after graduating from Colgate) was lolling on a North Carolina beach at Camp Lejeune with his wife and two young children. He soon joined Baker Company of the 1st Marine Division's Seventh Regiment and was put in charge of a mortar platoon. Arriving in Korea shortly after the Inchon landing had given UN forces the initiative against their Communist adversaries, Owen and his men (a motley crew of raw recruits, inexperienced reservists, and salty regulars) fought their way inland, headed north toward the Yalu River. Strung out along narrow roads in mountainous terrain with winter coming on, the marines encountered unexpectedly strong opposition from the Chinese army, which had entered the conflict in October. Battling the elements as well as the Chinese, the regiment withdrew from the Chosin Reservoir (hard by North Korea's border with China) in good order and inflicted terrible punishment. But the butcher's bill was high on both sides: All but 27 of the 300-odd enlisted men and officers in Owen's Company were wounded, captured, or killed during the withdrawal. Owen himself was badly wounded before the final breakout. During his violent and bloody sojourn in Korea's frozen wastes, the author amassed a wealth of telling detail on the grim realities of mortal combat. Owen's flair for narrative and his gut-level perspectives on life and death in the front lines make for an eloquent tribute to the disciplined courage and esprit de corps displayed by his comrades in arms. (22 photos, 2 maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description
"A MUST READ . . . This book [is] one of the best on that war in Korea. . . . A wonderful account of common, decent men in desperate action." --Leatherneck

During the early, uncertain days of the Korean War, World War II veteran and company lieutenant Joe Owen saw firsthand how the hastily assembled mix of some two hundred regulars and raw reservists hardened into a superb Marine rifle company known as Baker-One-Seven.

As comrades fell wounded and dead around them on the frozen slopes above Korea's infamous Chosin Reservoir, Baker-One-Seven's Marines triumphed against the relentless human-wave assaults of Chinese regulars and took part in the breakout that destroyed six to eight divisions of Chinese regulars. COLDER THAN HELL paints a vivid, frightening portrait of one of the most horrific infantry battles ever waged.

"Thoroughly gripping . . . The Chosin action is justly called epical; Lieutenant Owen tells the tale of the men who made it so." --Booklist

Ingram
During the early days of the Korean War, WWII veteran and company commander Joe Owen saw how regulars and raw reservists hardened into a superb Marine rifle company. As comrades fell around them above Korea's infamous Chosin Reservoir, his Marines triumphed in one of the most horrific infantry battle ever. Joseph R. Owen, 1st Lt., USMC (Ret.), served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946 and from 1948 to 1952.

About the Author
Joseph R. Owen, 1st Lieutenant, USMC (Ret.), commanded the mortars and a rifle platoon in Baker, 1/7, one of the rifle companies that spearheaded the breakout from Chosin Reservoir. A 1948 graduate of Colgate University, he served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946 and from 1948 to 1952.

Owen has been active in Baker, 1/7, reunions and has written articles on the company's wartime experiences for the Marine Corps Gazette and short stories for Leatherneck Magazine. Now retired from his own marketing business, he and his wife divide their time between Skaneateles, New York, and Naples, Florida

Reviewer: Steven S. Berizzi from Hartford, Connecticut The Harsh Realities of the Korean War, December 8, 2000 Although I am an avid reader of American military history, I read few first-person accounts of war because I tend to prefer books about geopolitics, grand strategy, and decisive weapons systems. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book about a marine officer's experience during the Korean War. It was easy reading, its narrative was straightforward, informative, and, I believe, honest, and it provided some valuable insights into the harsh realities of the first of the Cold War's regional conflicts.
The United States' "forgotten war" began on June 25, 1950, when the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea). At the time, Author Joseph Owen was a Marine Corps lieutenant stationed in North Carolina, living with his wife and their two young children. According to Owen: "Nobody at Camp Lejeune had expected a shooting war. Nor were we ready for one." A captain who had been an adviser to the South Korean Marine Corps predicted Korea would be "[o]ne lousy place to fight a war. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and straight up and down mountain terrains all year round. Except for those stinking rice paddies down in the valleys. Human manure they use. Worst stink in the world." Nevertheless, according to Owen: "The possibility of American Marines in a combat role excited us." Owen writes: "The North Koreans continued to overpower the meager resistance offered by the South Korean soldiers....Seoul, the South Korean capital, fell with hardly a fight, and the Red blitzkrieg rolled southward. In response, President Truman escalated American involvement in the war. He ordered General MacArthur, America's supreme commander in the Far East, to use U.S. Army troops stationed in Japan to stem the invaders." And: "General MacArthur called for a full division of Marines to help him turn back the North Koreans. According to Owen: "The Marine Corps welcomed the call, but we did not have a full division to put in the field;" and "More than seven thousand of us at Camp Lejeune received orders to proceed by rail to Camp Pendleton. There they would form into companies and embark for Korea." Owen's unit, "Baker-One-Seven became one of three rifle companies if the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment....Our ranks were filled by 215 men and 7 officers who had never before served together....Many of [the privates] were beardless teenagers with little training beyond the basics of shouldering a rifle and marching in step." While training, there was much concern about the readiness of the Marines for combat. At one point, after a sergeant remarks that the troops need more training in boot camp, Owen succinctly invokes reality: "They are not going to boot camp. They are going aboard ship. And they are going to fight." On September 1, the company boarded a Navy transport for the three-week voyage to east Asia. According to Owen: "Ready or not, we were on the way to war." And, according to Owen, the 1st Marine Division's orders were "to go for the Yalu River," North Korea's border with China. At one point, a veteran officer provides this paraphrase of William Tecumseh Sherman's famous dictum: "War is hell, but you never know what particular kind of hell it's going to be." The Korean War hell was cold and barren. Owen writes: "We were chilled through and bone tired as we slogged our way back to battalion....The bivouac was lumpy with rocks and boulders;" "The cold weather was as formidable an enemy as the Chinese;" and "Rarely did the [daily action] reports exceed zero degrees, and there were lows of twenty below."
By the time Owen's outfit arrived in Korea, he writes, "we were making bets that the war would be over before we got into it." Owen's Marines could not have been more wrong. While Owen is inspecting his men's weapons, a private asks: "Think we'll get shot at today, Lieutenant?" Owen replies: "We're taking the point for the regiment. If the gooks are there, they'll be shooting at us." A few pages later, after the outfit's first experience in combat, Owen comments: "We were fortunate that the enemy had not chosen a "fight-to-the-death" defense of this hill, as they would when we advanced farther north." But some fighting was hand-to-hand. At one point, Owen writes: "Judging from the noise they were making, and the direction of their grenades, the North Koreans were preparing to attack, not more than thirty yards away." The Captain tells Owen and the other subordinate officers: "The Chinese have committed themselves to this war....The people we will fight are the 124th Division of the Regular Chinese Army....They're tough, well-trained soldiers, ten thousand of them. And all of their officers are combat experienced, their very best....A few hours from now we'll have the Chinese army in our gunsights. We'll be in their gunsights. You damn well better have our people ready for some serious fighting." The combat was, indeed, brutal. According to Owen: "The Chinese attacked in massive numbers, an overwhelming weight, but they also endured terrible casualties." Owen recalls that, while waiting for one Chinese attack, the "men stacked Chinese bodies in front of the holes for greater protection." And the fighting around the frozen Chosin Reservoir may have been the most brutal of the war. Owen ultimately suffered wounds requiring 17 months of treatment, and he never regained full use of one arm.
A few months ago, I reviewed James Brady's wonderful The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea here. This book has different charms. Whereas Brady is a gifted professional writer, there is no elegant prose here. But Owen provides an equally vivid account of this ugly war. Big, sophisticated studies of military history focusing on geopolitical principles and grand strategy rarely offer narrative moments like the ones in this book. Reader are unlikely to forget the Korean War after reading Joseph Owen's Colder than Hell.

Reviewer: MDavino@aol.com from Honolulu, Hawaii An excellent personal narrative on the Korean War., January 1, 1998 Colder than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir. By Joseph R. Owen. Reviewed by Mike Davino Army Korean War expert Lieutenant Colonel Roy Appleman has called the 1st Marine Division of the Chosin Reservoir campaign "one of the most magnificent fighting organizations that ever served in the United States Armed Forces." The remarkable and inspiring story of the division at the Chosin Reservoir has been the subject of numerous books and several films. During their fighting withdrawal, the Marines decimated several divisions of the Chinese People's Liberation Army while at the same time fighting an exceptionally harsh winter environment. Joseph Owen's new book on the subject tells the story from the cutting edge perspective of a rifle company. The author served as a mortar section leader and rifle platoon commander in Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines from its activation in August 1950 through the Inchon-Seoul and Chosin fighting where he was severely wounded. There are many reasons given for the outstanding performance of the Marines in northeast Korea during the winter of 1950. It is clear from this book that a large measure of the credit goes to the Marines and their leaders at the small unit and rifle company level.
Owen's narrative covers the hasty activation and training of the company, its brief participation in the fighting north of Seoul after the amphibious assault at Inchon and the details of its intense fighting at Chosin. He candidly discusses the mistakes made by the leaders and Marines of Baker Company, to include his own. More importantly, Owen covers what they learned from these mistakes and how they used that knowledge to defeat the Chinese in a series of intense actions.
Although focused at the company level, the author frames his story with the overall conduct of the campaign. Refreshingly, unlike many books about the Chosin campaign, it is free of partisan sniping about the contributions made by the various services involved. Owen gives credit to the Army units that fought at Chosin as well as the contributions of naval and air forces and our British allies.
This book is rich in lessons about small unit leadership, training and combat operations. It is an excellent addition to the personal narratives on the Korea War.

Reviewer: Glenn B. Knight from Lower Slower Delaware Wow, just Wow!!!!, August 15, 2001 My dad served as a soldier in the Pacific War and has never talked about it--even after I saw combat as a Marine. So I was shocked when he handed me "Colder than Hell" and recommended it as a true account of what combat is really like. We agree and can't understand why it has not been made into a movie. This is a rare account of a subject that generally can't be explained unless you have experienced it. He captures the breathless horror that is combat. Combat vets will finish it and simply say "Yes". The rest of the world will say "Oh my God" and thank men like Owen who have faced the dragon. A must real for the universe. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea

Paperback: 256 pages ; Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback; ISBN: 0312265115; (June 2000)
Price: $10.47

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
America's "forgotten war" lasted just thirty-seven months, yet 54,246 Americans died in that time -- nearly as many as died in ten years in Vietnam. On the fiftieth anniversary of this devastating conflict, James Brady tells the story of his life as a young marine lieutenant in Korea.
In 1947, seeking to avoid the draft, nineteen-year-old Jim Brady volunteered for a Marine Corps program that made him a lieutenant in the reserves on the day he graduated college. He didn't plan to find himself in command of a rifle platoon three years later facing a real enemy, but that is exactly what happened after the Chinese turned a so-called police action into a war. The Coldest War vividly describes Brady's rapid education in the realities of war and the pressures of command. Opportunities for bold offensives sink in the miasma of trench warfare; death comes in fits and starts as too-accurate artillery on both sides seeks out men in their bunkers; constant alertness is crucial for survival, while brutal cold and a seductive silence conspire to lull soldiers into an often fatal stupor.
The Korean War affected the lives of all Americans, yet is little known beyond the antics of "M*A*S*H." Here is the inside story that deserves to be told, and James Brady is a powerful witness to a vital chapter of our history.

Ingram
Recounts the personal experiences of James Brady, who received a commission in the 1950 Marine Corps Reserve and fought in the war in Korea, where he and his fellow soldiers endured the harsh elements of the land and its battles. Reissue. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reviewer: Steven S. Berizzi from Hartford, Connecticut One Marine's View of the Early Cold War, May 27, 2000 James Brady, The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea (1990, New York: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin edn., 2000) This is a splendid little book about what one American statesman characterized, quite accurately, as "a sour little war." The reasons are clear. With the possible exception of the Falkland Islands War, no other conflict in the second half of the 20thcentury was fought over ground as consistently inhospitable as the three-year struggle in barren, frigid Korea. Author James Brady, who served as a Marine lieutenant there, describes the essence of the problem early in the book: "Hard enough fighting a war; in Korea, the cold could kill you." And he invokes the horrors of combat in the First World War and the Civil War when he makes this point: "In some ways, it wasn't a modern war at all, more like Flanders or the Somme or even the Wilderness campaign." Brady is a wonderful writer and creates marvelous word pictures of the war. Many operations took place after dark, and he writes: "The grenade, the knife, the shotgun, even the shovel and the axe were the weapons of night patrols." Brady also offers telling observations about matters important and trivial, including fearing the night as shells roared out "very low and directly overhead," feeling chagrined when he could not answer a colonel's question about the location of two machine guns which he commanded, using a wooden ammunition box as a toilet, urinating on his rifle to thaw it for firing, not changing underwear for 46 days while "on the line, living in holes," and subsisting for weeks at a time on c-rations. Nevertheless, according to Brady: "There was a purity about life on the line, a crude priesthood of combat." And he also remarks: "When you weren't fighting, the war was pretty good." Readers may be offended by some of Brady's recollection, including the incessant references to Koreans as "gooks" (except when he visits a village and addresses the inhabitants as "our Korean brothers"): The Korean bearers who deliver supplies to the line are known by everyone as the "gook train," and the universal eating utensil manufactured from a shell casing is known as a "gook spoon." Chinese soldiers always are "chinks." However, I found Brady's honesty engaging, even when it was politically incorrect. Brady's memoir is remarkably free of rancor, and, in fact, he appears to have respected his adversaries. Brady reports that some of the one million Chinese engaged in the war had been fighting continuously since the mid-1930s, first against the Japanese, then amongst themselves in the civil war which preceded the victory of Mao Zedong's Communists, and finally against the Republic of Korea, the United States, and their Allies. Nevertheless, Brady saves his highest accolades for his own First Marine Division, which he characterizes, without false modesty, as being "as powerful an infantry division as there had ever been in combat anywhere." Brady saves some of his most wry observations for superior officers, but he had unbridled admiration for his company commander Captain John Chafee, a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, who later was elected governor of Rhode Island and then had a distinguished career in the U.S. Senate. This book is not about grand strategy, national policy, or the geopolitics of the early Cold War. It provides a very narrow view of the Korean War. But, taken on its own terms, as the account of one Marine officer's experience, it is excellent.

Reviewer: Barron Laycock (Labradorman) from Temple, NH USA A Seductive & Absorbing Description Of Life On The Ground!, July 5, 2000 For anyone interested in learning more about the human experience of war, this is an unforgettable book. Expecting to avoid the futility of the draft by joining the Marine Corps right out of college, the author finds himself a young officer in Korea as a field officer commanding a rifle platoon. This memoir details what it is like to be a young, inexperienced, and frightened soldier on the ground when all Hell breaks loose. Like many of his generation, Brady discovers that time spent in trenches between episodes in combat are quite as burdensome as the firefights themselves, with too much time, too little comfort, and endless seas of ceaseless rain, snow, mud, and exposure to the elements for the uninitiated to wallow in.
Brady's account of the rapid education a naïve and untried young officer has to learn and accomplish to stay alive and in command as the fight erupts, evolves, and subsides. His description of the day-to-day experience of war in Korea is quite evocative, and he succeeds in spinning a very readable and entertaining introduction to the realities of life as a foot soldier. Defense of fixed-line trenches in a deadly barrage of enemy artillery is absolutely terrifying to the young marines, as are the long still nights, filled with a deceptive calm. The quick-changing extremes in Korean weather often provided additional challenges to the young marines, and he explains how the combination of sustained periods of cold with an eerie pregnant silence sometimes lulled the troopers into sometimes-deadly states of inattention. If war can be described as long periods of boredom punctuated by sudden explosions of murder and mayhem, then this book is a deadly accurate portrayal of the experience of war. Too many of our contemporary citizens lack an understanding of the extreme nature of the experience of combat, and that periods of actual combat are usually short and staccato experiences that come with absolute surprise and subside just as suddenly. As important in understanding the enormity of the experience of war are the other elements; loneliness, boredom, and exposure to the elements. Under the most difficult of circumstances, ordinary human beings are called upon to make the most solemn and extreme sacrifices, and this book details the terrifying context in which all this unfolded in Korea better than anything else I have read on the subject. I heartily recommend this book, and hope it will be widely read.

Reviewer: Larry Scantlebury from Ypsilanti, MI United States 90 day wonders with life and death decisions, July 14, 2002 James Brady's vignette, haunting, poignant, reflective, should take its place along side of William Manchester and John Keegan. The story he tells is not how it should have been, it's not even how he would have liked it to have been. It's like it was. Brady is like any other 19 year old, brash, filled with adventure, drunk on promise and the illusion of immortality. Then he signs up with the Marine Reserves if not avoid, then to postpone his own appointment with destiny. Unfortunately, destiny has a mind of its own, and a few years later he finds himself the Platoon Commander of a Marine Rifle platoon on Hill 749, in the winter of 1951, in Korea.
Brady doesn't judge. I like that most about his reflections on a horrible war in a freezing place. If you want to hang Truman, MacArthur, Eisenhower, and John Foster Dulles, this is probably the wrong book for you. It is brilliant but it tells only the story of one man-boy's experience placed in charge of 40 men in combat.
To some extent we look down on those boys. We judge them, forgetting that like us, they too were caught in the flotsam of other people's decisions. Although with most of us, the whole world doesn't subsequently judge us. War's change, the technology of killing becomes more sophisticated, sides change, enemies become friends, and bad guys become good guys. Frequenly we forget that it's the young men who take the fire. The greatest homily to Brady and the only self serving remark he makes would be truly understood by a few. When he leaves the fields where 54,000 died, he says, "I hadn't lost any men . . " Brady reminds us that young men are faced with terrible decisions when politicians, frequently never in harm's way, put them into unexplained and perhaps unnecessary combat. We should not judge those boys. And we should not judge them after they become men. 5 stars. A sobering read.To Jim Brady, if no one told you, welcome home.

Reviewer: A reader Dissapointed with this book, April 19, 2002 I really felt this book gave too much detail. I found the authors writing style to be too dull.

Air War Korea 1950-1953

Hardcover: 160 pages ; Publisher: Motorbooks International; ISBN: 076030551X; (April 1998)
Price: $20.97

Crimson Sky: The Air Battle for Korea

Paperback: 240 pages ; Publisher: Brasseys, Inc.; ISBN: 1574882961; (September 1, 2000)
Price: $18.95

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
The Korean War was a crossroads in military aviation history. In Korea's unique combat environment, fascinating and significant battles took place that would profoundly affect the future of air warfare. It was the last hurrah for one generation of tactics and technology, and the proving ground for the next.
Crimson Sky examines in detail twenty of the most interesting aerial actions of the Korean War, including the first air rescue of a downed pilot, the Battle of Carlson's Canyon, and some of the most spectacular MiG Alley sorties flown by the F-86 aces. More than exciting accounts of military missions, however, Crimson Sky is also about the people who flew them, about their experiences and emotions as they performed dangerous duty half a century ago.

About the Author John Bruning is a historian, writing and designer of combat flight simulators and educational CD-ROM products. A graduate of the University of Oregon, he lives in Independence, Oregon, where he served as city councilor and a school board member.

Reviewer: Scott Espin from Reno, NV Interesting, Good first hand accounts, July 28, 2001 The first person accounts of the action are riveting. Being new to studying the Korean War the book helped me get a better understanding of the conflict and what our pilots faced. If you like first person accounts, then this would be a good book for you. The only disappointment I had was not enough "big picture" information and I felt that at times the book skipped through the war, just focusing on a few random battles. It left me wanting more, which is both good and bad.

Reviewer: A reader from Houston, TX A good remembrance, November 28, 2000 The author stated that he wrote "Crimson Sky" to remember Korean War aviators as the United States approached the 50th anniversary of the conflict's beginning. Mr. Bruning has done a good job. He has interviewed veterans and put their stories into the book in a fast-paced, you-are-there style. Bruning used episodes from the war to point out important chapters in the history of military aviation. For example, Bruning's first and second chapters are entitled "The First Jet Kills" and "The Birth of Combat SAR," respectively. Particularly worthwhile is the author's penultimate chapter, which deals with Soviet involvement in the Korean air war. At times, Bruning's episodic approach causes the narrative to seem disjointed. In addition, the author could have said more about the night air war, and some mention might have been made of UN pilots who were not American. Those things are the worst things that can be said about "Crimson Sky," however. The book is well-thought out and well written--well worth four stars.

Reviewer: Kalani O'Sullivan: Bought the book because I saw some entries on the 8th FBW. Getting into the book, I was somewhat disappointed that he chose to make this a story telling session, but never completed any of the stories. At the beginning we have a view of the 8th FBW completely unawares that a shooting war has broken out. He paints a good picture, then it stops. Suddenly we have narratives of the initial contacts. Though this is an excellent book, I found it a little weak on historical details. Most of the material, I had seen in print before and he never really got into any details. However, it remained a book which I found readable and interesting.

Reviewer: Mike M from Cincinnati Just OK, September 6, 2000 This book is a scholarly and detailed examination of the many aspects of aviation in the Korean conflict. It was interesting and informative, but lacked emotion and any real human energy or excitment. The author appears not to be an aviator and lacks some understanding of the difficulty and complexity of air combat, therfore no real emotional connection is made. It filled in some knowledge gaps and clarified others (Dambusters navy lore is completely different, so this explaination was worth the price of the book for me).
I would recommend this book for aviation history buffs, but not necessarily for those looking for aviation combat stories with gut churning reality and emotion. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reviewer: Daryl L Nichols Jr (snowleopard05@arcticmail.com) from Oregon, United States Well worth adding to your personal library. A good read., October 28, 1999 If you enjoy reading gritty, in your face, first person accounts of pilots in life and death struggles then this is your book. As I was reading this book it became clear to me that the author had spent a tremendous amount of time in research and conducted extensive interviews with Korean War pilots and it shows in the detail and depth of his accounts. I read a great deal of history and it is always refreshing to find a historian who explores new angles and ideas. As a real bonus Bruning makes this an exciting book to read, I laughed at some parts and nearly cried in others. If you have an interest in the air war over Korea or just in air warfare in general do not hesitate to add this book to your library. I certainly enjoyed this book. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Shadow Warriors: The Covert War in Korea

Hardcover: 260 pages ; Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 047114438X; 1 edition (April 4, 1996)
Price: $27.95

Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
In an engrossing tale of unsung heroes and high-risk missions, military historian Breuer (Feuding Allies, 1995, etc.) penetrates the little-known espionage, propaganda, and guerilla operations of the Korean war. When well-equipped, Soviet trained North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel on June 15, 1950, in what Breuer calls a ``second Pearl Harbor,'' the overmatched South Korean defenders were quickly driven into a small pocket in southeastern Korea called the Pusan Peninsula. There they held fast, with the emergency support of newly arrived (but inexperienced) American troops. The covert war began almost immediately. General Douglas MacArthur's special warfare unit spread disinformation before his surprise landing at Inchon in the enemy rear. Army and CIA units trained many South Koreans and sent them North to spy and to carry out guerrilla operations, often with great success. Yet the North Koreans and their Chinese allies had their covert victories, too. Communist forces often seemed to know when and where the UN forces would attack. Breuer tracks these leaks back to the highly placed British traitors Philby, Burgess, and MacLean, who sent copies of US plans to Moscow. And the Communist propaganda machine lied so effectively about American ``atrocities'' that some countries demanded investigations, while, Breuer reveals, the Communist military tortured and killed POWs (including Americans) and civilians. While China and the Soviet Union were officially neutral in the war's early days, Breuer finds that Chinese and Soviet soldiers and airmen (with their equipment and supplies) were covertly available to the North Koreans, as they were later to the Communists in North Vietnam. Built on personal interviews and sound secondary research, Breuer's account should please both students of modern military history and espionage enthusiasts. (30 photos, maps) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Praise for The Great Raid on Cabanatuan
"An exciting narrative presented by a first-rate storyteller."—Publishers Weekly
Acclaim for Feuding Allies
"An absorbing look at the impact of Alliance politics on the outcome of WW II."—Kirkus Reviews


Reviewer: nagaisan@hotmail.com from Amherst, Massachusetts Theater of War Extends Well Beyond the Battlefield, August 11, 1997 Breuer, William B. Shadow Warriors The Covert War in Korea DS 921.5 S7 B74 1996 The well published Mr. Breuer--he boasts 23 other war-related texts-- has quite a talent for writing gripping text. Readers will find alot about the Korean War here not described in other books. There is a detailed description of the myriad of deceptive tactics employed by the North Koreans to distract attention from their imminent attack in the Seoul Corridor. Several chapters describe the preparations for the Inchon landing. Operation Trudy Jackson, using surveillance garnered from the small island of Yonghung, twelve miles south of Inchon, gathered vital data on troop strength, tidal ranges, placement of enemy mines, etc. I am eternally grateful to Breuer for finally translating "Wolmi-Do" as 'moon tip island'. (By the way, sunset and moonset over the Yellow Sea are a joy to behold]

Breuer is a bit confusing when he talks simultaneously about Inchon being a 'secret', while soldiers in Pusan, Japan, and the US referred to it as Operation Common Knowledge. Not only had the Chinese wargamed an Inchon landing as a possibility (and never informed the North Koreans they had done so), but the NY Times itself ran an article suggesting the idea in its September 14, 1950 edition. Breuer acknowledges this, but then shifts his focus to the disinformation campaign designed to fool the North Koreans the landing would be at Kunsan. I think his point should be to make clear that secrets are hard to keep and it is best to sew confusion to obscure your true intentions.

Breuer says the damage done by the Philby/Maclean/Burgess spy ring was primarily leaks of UN battle plans in North Korea, especially the restrictions placed on MacArthur. The Chinese knew they did not have to worry about another amphibious landing, for example. (Even when Van Fleet wanted a series of amphibious assaults up Korea's east coast, it was shot down-- the US had decided on a limited war.) Although the spies did their best to hide evidence of planned Chinese intervention, enough evidence was available from Commanders on the ground, and through other channels (such as the Indian Ambassador).

Other intelligence operations had a mixed outcome. The Li-mi project, an attempt to distract and tie down Chinese Communist armies in Yunan Province, was largely a failure. The US missed a major propoganda coup when they failed to publicize that smallpox raged in the devastated Chinese/North Korean territory. Ironically, it was the US that later suffered a barrage of Communist accusations about 'biological warfare.' The North Koreans constantly deceived US aerial reconnaisance into thinking major damage had been inflicted on roads, bridges, tunnels, and supply convoys.

The authors references to spy operations in Manchuria are interesting but sketchy and incomplete. Readers looking for cloak-and-dagger intrigue in Manchuria might want to read Lawrence Gardella's "Sing a Song to Jenny Next," instead. And the elaborate preparations to kidnap Syngman Rhee--who was dismayed at the US's willingness to accept a permanent division of the Peninsula-- make amusing reading for those aware of the crosscurrents of loyalty vs. pragmatism in the Cold War era. Some spy operations pay off in ways that are unanticipated. Such was the outcome of operation Moolah, which offered a hundred grand to any communist who landed a MIG-15 at Kimpo airport. Two months after the War was over, North Korean Air Force Captain Ro Kum Suk did exactly that

Reviewer: A reader Exhilarating for any fan of military intrigue, May 12, 1997 In June 1950, North Korean communist soldiers crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea. The United States' stance against global communism would endure its first bloody test. Shadow Warriors: The Covert War in Korea documents the high level clandestine operations that encompassed the "Forgotten" War in the Far East. Breuer reveals that perilous cloak-and-dagger operations were equally common on both sides of the conflict. Whether it be evidence supporting direct Soviet military involvement in Korea or CIA operations deep into the Chinese mainland, Breuer writes with a flair that hooks the fan of political intrigue while presenting enough historical detail to satisfy the avid military historian.
Upon perusing Breuer's notes, most of his book is based upon memoirs of top-level officials in the Korean conflict and author interviews with key players. Nevertheless, further government documentation appears warranted to support the author's arguments. However, Shadow Warriors is highly entertaining as a work of literature and most informative into a realm of military history of which most casual

Darkmoon: Eighth Army Special Operations in the Korean War (Naval Institute Special Warfare Series)

Hardcover: 216 pages ; Publisher: United States Naval Inst.; ISBN: 1557502463; (November 1995)
Price: $32.95

Editorial Reviews
From Book News, Inc.
A chronicle of the US Eighth Army G-3 Miscellaneous Group's activities during the Korean War: intelligence gathering, raids, sabotage, POW rescues, and guerrilla forays. Evanhoe, a member of the group, combines a predisposition for exciting detail along with historical research portraying the US, British, and Korean forces involved as adventurous characters with unorthodox procedures and tactics which were both successful and tragic failures. The specific operations on which he focuses include: Operation Virginia I and II, Task Force Kirkland, and Operation Spitfire. Includes photographs. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Reviewer: Andrew Harrell from Vicksburg, MS USA Eighth Army Special Operations in the Korean War, August 17, 2001 This book, along with its companion in the series, "Raiders on the South China Coast" gives a lot of information about the history of the U.S. Army Special Forces in the Far East during the 1950's. Much of why we ended up so heavily involved in Vietnam can be better understand with the light of this information. The U.S. by the time of the Vietnam War occured had a long history of covertly fighting Communism in the Far East. In this book Mr. Evanhoe modestly says little about himself, but gives many details of the heroic behind the lines operations and sacrifices of these Korean, U.S., and British special forces personnel. He explains how personnel were selected, trained, and supportedly logistically... of the sacrifices and the costs that occured when they were actually conducted. He gives accounts of where the operations were based and these locations chosen. This is possible because Mr. Evanhoe is writing from the perspective from someone who has personal knowledge of conducting intelligence operations for several years while in the U.S. Army in the Far East. Even today, the U.S. military is still involved in the Korean Theater of Operations. This book gives useful information for someone to develop an informed perspective to make better foreign policy decisions there. Hopefully, the quality of the committment of those serving in this part of the world in the future for us and representing our interests will measure up to the glorious legacy of the people in this book.

NOTE: Ed Evanhoe was extremely helpful in providing the information of the feignt into Kunsan prior to the Inchon invasion. A few commandoes were killed during this operation. Though the island is unspecified, it is most likely Oshikdo -- now incorporated into the Kunjang Industrial area. This is info is under the Kunsan AB: How It Was pages dealing with early history of the war.

American Airpower Strategy in Korea, 1950-1953

Hardcover: 252 pages ; Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas; ISBN: 0700609911; (January 2000)
Price: $35.00

Air Superiority in World War II and Korea

Paperback: 132 pages ; Publisher: Unknown; ISBN: 089875738X; (March 2002)
Price: $27.50

The Nisei Soldier : Historical Essays on World War II and the Korean War, 2nd ed.

Paperback: 204 pages ; Publisher: J-Press; ISBN: 0966011155; 2nd Rev edition (April 30, 1999)
Price: $19.95

Editorial Reviews
Luke Bockman, history student Having a keen interest in WWII I found it interesting to be able to read of different perspectives and accounts of individuals involved instead of just the overall [events]. I was compelled to read each story twice!

Robert Geise, Professor of History "Fascinating reading . . . appealing . . . I think because it is so personalized. Fanaticism (by both sides) that was particularly the case in the Pacific war also comes through and it is always useful (though rare) to see conflict through the eyes of one's foes.

Reviewer: Midwest Book Review from Oregon, WI USA The narrative text is rich in descriptive detail, January 16, 2001 In The Nisei Solder: Historical Essays On World War II And The Korean War, Edwin Nakasone draws upon his expertise having taught Asian-American and World War II history from more than 25 years to write a highly informative account of Japanese-American soldiers called "Nisei", who fought to defend American interests, despite discrimination accorded them and their families by the people and government of the United States. The narrative text is rich in descriptive detail, based on Nakasone's own experiences (he served as a Nisei in the U.S. Army's occupation forces in Japan at the end of the war), supplemented with extensive interviews with Nisei soldiers. In addition to offering the reader an informative Japanese-American perspective, Nakasone's essays also explore the Japanese perspectives on World War II not often available to an American reader. The Nisei Solder is a very highly recommended addition to any personal, professional, academic, or community library World War II history collection.

Reviewer: A reader from U.S.A. Reading this book brought back all my war memories., July 21, 1999 The Nisei Soldier is a fascinating, fast moving account of major historical events. It is chronicled in such a way that one sees the faces of the protagonists and feels the psychological impact on them--ideal reading particularly for those interested in the contributions of the Nisei to our country's wars. I was a replacement with the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regiment. The Vosges Mountain campaign in France was my initiation into combat as an infantry-man. It was awful, with steel and tree splinters raining down on us--it was hell.

A Different Battle: Stories of Asian Pacific American Veterans

Paperback: 104 pages ; Publisher: University of Washington Press; ISBN: 0295979194; (January 2000)
Price: $13.27

Hardcover: 336 pages ; Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; ISBN: 0824825888; (October 30, 2002)
Price: $55.00

Remembering Korea 1950: A Boy Soldier's Story

Paperback: 176 pages ; Publisher: Univ of Nevada Pr; ISBN: 0874174821; 0 edition (April 2001)
Price: $12.57

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
When the North Korean army invaded South Korea in June 1950, H. K. Shin was a sixteen-year-old high-school student in Chinju, about ninety miles west of the port city of Pusan. The son of a poor civil servant, Shin had grown up in a traditional Korean household in a small agricultural town about fifty miles away. The invasion of a country still reeling from decades of Japanese occupation and intense post-World War II political turmoil created a national disaster. Shin's school was closed, and he and his younger brother returned to their home in Kochang. But the family was very soon forced to flee their home, and Shin ended up in alone in Pusan, a refugee without resources or any means of support. To save himself from destitution, he lied about his age and volunteered for service in the South Korean army.
Shin's account of the months that followed is a unique, vivid, and often intensely moving record of the Korean War from the perspective of an ordinary ROK soldier. He recounts his hasty training and subsequent experiences as a battlefield soldier in North Korea, as a guard in a prisoner-of-war camp, and as a refugee again in the massive flight of civilians and ROK military personnel retreating before the onslaught of the Chinese invasion. Through it all, Shin struggles to retain his humanity and pursue his education. In the process, the naïve schoolboy becomes a man.
Today, H. K. Shin is an internationally respected chemist, but in the pages of this memoir he carries us back to Korea during a pivotal moment in that country's history. This is the first account in English that describes the war from the perspective of a Korean who lived through and fought in it. Shin's detailed, remarkably readable and lively narrative will be unforgettable reading for anyone interested in the history of modern Korea. It is also a stirring monument to the survival of human decency and kindness in the midst of terror, cruelty, despair, and the destruction of a proud nation.

About the Author
H. K. Shin, a professor of chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno, has published widely in his field. A Boy Soldier Remembers is his first nonscientific work.

Reviewer: Wade MacTaggart from Abilene, TX USA Buy it used., February 6, 2002I really liked hearing about the Korean War from a Korean's perspective. I just thought it was too short. It is worth reading though. If you want to buy this book, I would buy it used and save some money.

Reviewer: Tom Bliss ) from New York A Fresh and Important Perspective, May 30, 2001 I thoroughly enjoyed this moving story of a boy removed suddenly and without ceremony from high school and thrown at an all-to-early age into combat and all variety of other circumstances of war.
While we in the USA have a tendancy to dwell on the impact to the USA and our soldiers, here is a local perspective. Ironically, in addition to seeing Korea through the eyes of this young soldier, we see the UN troops from his perspective and so get an additional point of reference on ourselves.
In addition to being a great, fresh perspective, what happens to Private Shin is incredible. It is a laugh, cry and be moved type of adventure that compells you to read it in one sitting.

AFTER THE KOREAN WAR

Price: $34.95

Hardcover (July 1996)
Malia Enterprises; ISBN: 1877597058

Major General John O. Moench, then a Colonel, commanded the 6175th Air Base Group in 1959. He made dramatic changes to the base to bring it up to standard to meet the needs of a contingency base for the Pacific area. When Col. Moench arrived he saw a base in disrepair and local thievery rampant. Remember that after the Korean War, the country was desparately poor. The country of Korea today bears no resemblence to the stark poverty of those years. This in turn affected the personnel assigned to a backwater base like Kunsan -- far to the south of Seoul and isolated from what Americans were used to calling "civilization." Kunsan had returned to being basically a poor fishing village with subsistence farming. Kunsan was not a choice location.

Contains many old photos that are examples of the types of structures on the base. The old photos in this book was used in the Cultural Assessment of Kunsan Air Base in 1999.

George D. Leible wrote, "I was a member of the 802nd Eng. Co."C" at Kunsan in l958 and l959. I have and have read the book "Taking Command" by Col. Moench and must admit while reading it, was a little confused by it all -- meaning the things he mentioned seemed somewhat removed from what I witnessed. I was a Cook at the NCO mess and worked with the Korean people on a daily basis and saw no hint of disloyalty to the U.S. As a matter of fact, I still correspond a Korean friend who is now in Seoul. I must admit the base seemed a little short on conveniences at the time but we made it thru. I could go on and on but will end here."

(SITE NOTE: John Moench attained the rank of Major General in a process that weighed not only his political acumen, executive leadership ability and a myriad of other intangible factors. But one item that would have eliminated him immediately would have been any exhibition of prejudice. Modern generals can NOT survive the microscopic examination if racial prejudice were ever even hinted at. Thus we can unequivocally say that simply by his attaining the rank of Major General, personal prejudice against the Korean people is -- and was NOT a factor. Instead we hope the people who read the book remember that the Korean people of Kunsan in 1959 were starving and poor -- and John was simply relating what he saw. The reader must remember that it is hard to be cultured and refined when you haven't had a bath in ages; body lice is crawling all over your body; you have to fight the rats for scraps of food; your home is a mud-wattle thatch-roofed hut (if you are lucky); and you don't know where tomorrow's meal will come from. Those who had a job on base were the lucky ones, but many of them were supporting themselves and their extended families as well. Kunsan was NOT a pretty place!!!)

"First, it was real. As I recall, when I queried the individuals in the base headquarters, I was advised that the cause of "no flags" was that "up the line" it was asserted that they were not in the budget for the base and that my staff had been told to place it in the coming year's budget. A lot of strange things were going on and I was not to be stopped on the basis of such information! I had not yet visited the Division or Wing at Osan and simply took things into my own hands -- as I had done so often in years past at Air Material Command, in the Pentagon, in USAFE and U.S. EUCOM. Fortunately, I had worked for very senior individuals who allowed me to do anything I decided was correct (using their stars as authority) SO LONG AS I DID NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKES! I knew how to cut a lot of corners and the fast delivery was the result of a RADNOTE to an Air War College classmate in the Pentagon. He immediately got the flags and placed them in a "pouch" for direct delivery to me -- and that resulted in the speed. It was not the postal system. As to the idea of the tailor shop making a flag -- all I can say is "preposterous." The tailors were not Betsy Ross individuals -- their work was mostly adjusting GI clothes for length, etc."

Reaching closer to the termination of life, I was cleaning out old files and records, tossing most but saving a few -- and passing some to archives, when I opened a file "No Margin for Error." The content (an article -- unpublished) dealt with a near World War III event that took place in Korea after I had left Korea and was Asst to P&O of PACAF in Hawaii. A side feature of the article was a crash at Kunsan.

Reflecting on Kunsan, I typed in "Kunsan Air Base" and hit GO. And, viewing a first item, I came to "Reviews of Books on Kunsan AB" Wondering if "Taking Command" was listed, I found that it was.

The reviews of "Taking Command" were most interesting. Naturally, I would argue with some of the statements. It seems that the reviewers found it difficult to deal with "faction" vice "fiction" and "historical writings." Bit that par for the course. "Taking Command" is on the order of 95% fact. I remain sensitive at revealing full truth when it comes to military things and still sit on a text about Kunsan that may never get released -- the title "They Are U.S." Back in about mid 1960's I was ordered never to reveal my thoughts regarding a potential enemy initiative. Decades later, I fictionalized the story and then set it aside out of concern of what it might initiate.

While I had records on Kunsan AB and cross-checked data with individuals and AFHRA holdings, at the time of writing "Taking Command," there was virtually nil in published form. Now one finds literally a library on Internet. As to historical errors, as Historian for the B-26 Marauder Historical Society (one of my books is "Marauder Men, An Account of the Martin B-26 Marauder") I have worked for over fifteen years tackling and trying to prevent errors in the record. One potential item that shows up regarding "B-26" when used with the Korea operation is that the "B-26" employed was actually the re-designated A-26 Invader. I have written an article on that -- authentic in that I was the individual that wrote the order. This error even popped up in the Doolittle book which referred to B-26 Marauders in Korea when, in fact, they were B-26/A26 Invaders. I used to give presentations on "errors in the record!

I thank you for the work you have done. I know it takes a lot of effort as, at eighty-two, I am still engaged -- and, especially with declining health, will never get everything done.

...

Major General John O. Moench, USAF (Ret)