It was often called the Forgotten War but it wasn't forgotten by author Jeff Shara. my brother-in-law ray Smith joined the Marines immediately after graduating from high school In MississippiShortly before the war in Korea began. some years later on the Great Mall in Washington DC i saw a general of the Marine Corps be honored at the memorial to the american soldiers of nurses who died in Korea On the same day I also saw the new Holocaust Museum Earlier that spring and the Lincoln Memorial for the third time. also the famous wall commemorating the fallen from Vietnam on the mall. Author
Jeff Shaara followed in the footsteps of his Pulitzer Prize winning fathers history of the battle at Gettysburg called the Killer Angels. Jeff has continued that tradition. His historical accuracy of American Military conflicts Is faultless And he tells a good story Which makes it interesting .
Let me assure you as a history teacher this is not a dull book of dates and facts and figures it's the story about the people who were there and who fought& in many cases died. the author tells this very well. he brings He brings the story to life By telling What individual people did. Of course in a war as in this case there were millions of people who fought. ; more recently only a few are still alive to give witness to the author it's now labeled as the forgotten war I'm sure you've heard of it But what really happened. maybeYou do not not have a clue or may have forgotten One of the things that Makes me think that it was forgotten isThat we didn't win The war And we didn't lose it as well there was peace treaty it just Ended Witha ceasefire no wonder it's forgottenThere's an old saying that I have no expeience with but perhapsas they used to say it was like kissing your cousinNot really something you likelyThought was the high point in your love life. President Truman did not have a dramatic opening to the war like president Roosevelt did dramatic opening like japan almost totally destroying our Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor Truman called it a "police action" maybe like a small Civil War that was supposed to have had election but it didn't. The Soviet Union occupied the North And the United States occupied the South political complications no doubt But hopefully not world war 3 .The world or the United Nations On the Southern side of the could it become a worldwarinvolvingcommunism \versus freedom.?or Russia versus Ukraine
What were the issues? And would they determine the direction of the story and who were thePeopleon both sides who would carry this storyBy telling what they saw and what they didout of the millions of soldiersWho fought on both sides?Lots of questions Indeed. General MacArthur an army general and the Navy led the attack against the country Japan which sank much of our navy in a sneak attack against Pearl Harbor. The American peoplewould not have hesitated a secondt o going after Japan first. But the commander in chief franklin Roosevelt and America's spies the believed Germans were already well underway researching some-abombs 5 years later Douglas MacArthur was doing a good job in Japan still with some occupying American troops turning Japan into a non-military democracy. simply they were not American troops We're not training for war and We're not well supplied with updated military equipment. they were not prepared for a wa rin Korea MacArthur seemed to have his job well in hand. In America the issue wasWhich party was to blame for the communists taking over China. MacArthur seem to blame blame The State Department run by the weak liberals. So cutting to the chase now who are the other individuals groups and that we're described by the author and of whom thiscomplex story atomabelieving thatSome progress was being madeAnd perhaps a super powerful with our British alliesunder attack and Europe already conquered by the German armies explosion abmb could be createdThe priority had to be put on defeating Germany firstJapan was already conqueringislandsAn American connection to the PhilippinesBut Japan did not poseThe threat the germans did Germany had conquered a EuropeAnd it's alliesbut not Great Britainyetaboutnn5 years after the war ended a different war was in the air the Cold War and President Truman again had to make a choice With the Cold War in progress now against former AllyThe Soviet Union Was it wise to take onwar That riskedDrawing in Communist China and the Soviet UnionWho wereAllegedly supplyingCommunist dominated North Korea\ conquer us in a possibly expanding warwar.But MacArthurWas in command of the armyfrom Japan where he's still residedWhen the Korean War broke out the army that was close byWas still in JapanAt that point Japan did not have its own armya small American army was there supervising the piece in Japan andSince it was an occupation armynotReady to fight a real warand not ready to Have all the equipment it neededto win. The weather that year was a challengefor both sides. Many froze and lost limbs of the conflictBut thenWas finally pushed back and lost this capital. General MacArthur with brilliant tactics is he often showed in war turn the tide of the war and the American Army supplemented by british and a few otherUnited Nations allies turned the tide and pushed north The yalu river border between North Koreaand China. There are several other soldiers and officers will you probably never heard of waffle narrate the storyAt every other level.Most are realA few are made upbeing soldiers who exemplifiedThelower rankingsoldiers and officersWho tell their storiesSo you canSee howWhat was happening toMost of the ranks. You cannot understand what turn who had been ordered by ed the battles in Korea from Sure disasterous loss to as a hidden Chinese army trapped in surrounded the Marines this book does not tell the story of all the battles in the ups and downs of a very long war it focuses on the first Marine Division and Oliver P Smith commanding Generalit was Marine General Smith who turned sure defeat from a vast nearly out numbered numberedmarine division trapped in well belowfreezingto a fightingEscape from the trap temperatures
macArthur to reach the line of the Chinese bordersIn the far north o f North Koreahours tells the story of Frozen chosen south of the Yellow River and China's bordersof the Korean peninsula and the hands of a brave band of marines battling both the elements and the determined implacable full defending their borderof the history of China this war and a marine author named Manchester who wrote the death of a president by about john Kennedy's assassinationand his wonderful biographyof Douglas MacArthurand his own experiencesFighting as a marineIn the battlesat Guadalcanaland elsewhere against Japan in the Pacific if you have any questions about my views on this book obviously I enjoyed it and thought it was well written but don't hesitate to ask if you want more details orWhat I saidAbout the book. To avoid total boredom in my present situation i've got lots of time to read and write book reviews nowIf spring ever gets here in Minnesota I'll be able to go outside once again without fear of falling on ice and breaking a hip since I don't haveThe legal right toDrive anymore. Most of my hobbiesLikefly fishingwhere I have a bad balance problemAnd don't feel going safeAll in their grizzly bear country of Montana as I and my two sons did for yearsI've always read a lot and done book reviews But as I said no I've got more time to do that doing things around my house such as removing tall ice stems in front of my sheds and so on where I'm downsizing for that hr
No comments:
Post a Comment