The Korean War
The first major flashpoint in the Cold War was the Korean War. Though sanctioned by the United Nations, Americans did the brunt of the fighting alongside South Korean forces and smaller contingents from other countries to stop North Korea and China from overrunning the Korean Peninsula.
The Korean War saw emerging weaponry and technologies like jet fighters and helicopters, though infantrymen suffered as the war ground to a stalemate in some of the most inhospitable terrain and weather conditions imaginable.
Lou Barrientos fought in some of the Korean War’s bloodiest battles, but for him, Bloody Ridge was the worst. The carnage and intensity of that battle stands out in his mind even after witnessing several other vicious conflicts.
Lou Barrientos
Arthur Bjorhus
Perhaps nothing made fighting harder in Korea than the weather, particularly the bitter cold in the mountains. Tom Foley details how the solders there dealt with the conditions.
tom Foley
After being wounded in Korea, Chic Fries found it hard to readjust to normal life back in the states while recuperating. His family’s lack of understanding about what he’d been through didn’t help much either.
Chic Fries
The biggest howitzers of the field artillery in Korea required a crew of several men to operate. Robert Fleming details the process needed to fire the big guns.
Robert Fleming
The Korean War was the first major conflict to see the use of helicopters, and one of their valuable functions was transporting wounded from the front to MASH units. Bob Greeno was one of the pilots who flew those missions.
Bob Greeno
When the lines stalemated in Korea, the fighting continued with little ground being made. Ken Harris describes the artillery duels the Americans and Communist forces engaged in.
Ken Harris
For decades after his service in the Korean War, Al Jeffries stuggled to remember one of his combat experiences until he uncovered letters he’d sent home which confirmed a military blunder.
Al Jeffries
Few campaigns demonstrate the resilience of the United States Marine Corps more than the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir in the winter of 1950. Don Johnson is one of the “Chosin Few”. He describes the relentless Chinese attacks and bitter cold during the two week retreat.
Don Johnson
As part of a Marine unit that constructed helipads near the front lines, Bob Murphy’s helicopter unit was often called on to help transport men to the front and bring back the wounded and dead. He recalls one particular situation that affected him for the rest of his life.
Bob Murphy
Ben Smith witnessed the courage of Marine infantrymen when they were called upon to undertake near suicidal missions just to take a few hundred yards of ground or a single hill during the stalemate fighting in 1952. He also witnessed the toll it took on the officers who led them.
Ben Smith
During the Korean War, Air Force communications and intelligence personnel used the most sophistocated technology of the time to intercept and crack enemy codes. Joe Weibel details what high tech consisted of in the early 1950s.