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. Al