22. Secret Military History

1950-1001, War, Secret, Pusan Convoy Catastrophe.
Shortly after the famous Inchon landing the North Korean army was in full retreat. The Eighth Army organized a convoy north out of the Pusan Parameter. The trucks were large and most had trailers, 2,000 vehicles in all with the 2D Infantry Division in the lead.
They got lost. The entire Eighth Army was stuck on a one-lane, mountainous, dead-end road. It took nine-days to get the convoy turned around. Engineers had to blast turnaround detours in the mountains. This story has been kept quiet.

1950-1101, War, Korea, 8th Cavalry Regt, Massacred.
This battle was the first between US and Chinese. The 39-Chinese-Inf Corp, attacks the 8-Cav-Regt.
On 4 December, when most of its survivors had returned, the 1st Battalion, 32d Infantry, counted only 181 officers, men and attached Republic of Korea troops, of the original 1,053 that had begun the operation. The other battalions in the perimeter had suffered equal losses.
This was not the immediate end of trouble, since the enemy still controlled much of the road between Hagaru-ri and the port city of Hungnam. But at Hagaru-ri the 1st Marine Division had a solid perimeter that included the airstrip and there were food and ammunition and medical supplies. From Hungnam the more seriously wounded were evacuated by plane. For the others, ten days of fighting lay ahead.

1950-1127, War, 7th Infantry Division Massacred.
On 1124, the USA beat North Korea. On the radio, GA MacArthur announced, everybody would be home by Christmas. MG Almond CDR, all US Military in Korea, has:
3-Army-Inf-Div, 1-Army-Div-of assorted-US combat units-Div, 1-USMC-Div, 1-Brigade of assorted foreign Units.
Far East AF30-thousand soldiers, on 1-road, headed N, to the Chinese border.
On 1127, O-6 MacLean CDR and the 1-K-men of the 31-Inf-Bde-Taskforce, Hokkaido-Island, Japan. His men and equipment landed in Inchon 70-days ago. have just convoyed 175-miles, from Inchon. The task for is at the town of Hagaru-ri, southern tip of the Chosen reservoir. They have not been in combat since arriving in Korea. His men have, the best combat gear of the day. His next higher HQ is 7-Div, 75-miles SW. on 1-MSR.
2100-Hours, bugles sound from every direction. 93-percent moon, snow on the ground, easy to see. 3-Chinese-Inf-Div, attack the Task Force.
On 1128, Navy Corsairs, bomb and machinegun the Chinese. They are everywhere. O-8 Almond arrives by helicopter, he likes to be called, “Ned” He gathers 31-Inf leaders, holds an award ceremony, gives a speech: the Chinese are fleeing north. Don’t let a bunch of Chinese laundrymen stop you. He leaves.
On 1129, the next morning, O-8 Almond orders O-6 MacLean to abandon all equipment and convoy south, to bugout. O-6 MacLean gives the bugout order, then is killed. All that day Navy/USMC-Air, parachute dropped food and ammo. Navy helicopters med-evacuated the wounded. Fighting going well.
On 1130, Navy/USMC-Air, 2-Medivac sorties, 10-fighter sorties, 100-cargo-parachutes.
2200-Hours, the bugles began to play…
2400-Hours, the first SOS: A Net-call goes out on all frequencies: HQ-7-Div, this is 31-Inf, we are surrounded. 7-Div never sent help; they were also being massacred.
On 1201-1000-Hours, a Marine fighter flew over, pilot radioed: There were no friendlies headed their way, bad weather coming. That was the only Aviation help that day.
1300-Hours, the 31-Inf fell apart, panic, no leaders, no sleep all vehicles destroyed. Individual soldiers begin walking south on the road. 16-other-US-regiments (Brigades) were under similar attack.
On 1202-0600-Hours, the next morning, fighting stopped. A Marine observation plane dropped notes to the stragglers giving them directions.
31-Inf-Regt-Taskforce, started with 3,400-soldiers, after 56-hours of constant battle. 3,200-KIA. 200-Soldiers survived.
16-other US regiments were attacked at the same time.
Total US, KIA in this battle, 2,657.

1950-1127, War, the 2D Infantry Massacred.
As the Chinese attacked in mass, the 2ID was in full retreat, they were “buggin-out.” Driving convoys South on Korean Highway-1 (MSR-1) on the western side of the peninsula. The division started the convoy south with 20,000 Soldiers and 1,000 vehicles. The Chinese set up a six-mile-long ambush known as “The Gauntlet.” The gauntlet was manned by a Chinese infantry division of 6,000-men. The convoy line up was five trucks one tank, five trucks, one tank, etc. When the trucks were ambushed, the tanks would push them off the road. The convoy kept rolling. For three days, the division was massacred by the Chinese. The road was blood red for six miles. Chinese soldiers would lay wounded US soldiers on the road to be run over by retreating US vehicles. Later, drivers called them “soft bumps.” By the time the division made it to safety, 5,000 2ID, Soldiers were KIA and 800 vehicles destroyed. This is known as the “Battle of Kunu-ri.”
There have been many books written about the courageous USMC retreat from the Chosen Reservoir. The Marines had air cover from the Navy. They even had helicopters to resupply ammo, radio batteries and food. Unlike the Marines, the Army did not have air cover. When the Chinese attacked, the USAF was buggin’-out.
1998-0515, Media, the book, “This Kind of War,” the classic military history of the Korean War, is issued to every CSM when he arrives in Korea for a 2-year tour with family.


1951-0823, UCMJ, West Point, 90 Cadets Caught Cheating.
Ninety West Point cadets are expelled for cheating, including most of the Academy's football team. Army used to be an outstanding football program. 1950 was a classic example. Army finished the season 8-1. Their only loss was to Navy. 1951 was a far different story.
In the spring of 1951, it was discovered that 37 of Army's football players had been in violation of the Army's honor code. All of them were dismissed.
Understandably, they struggled and went on to a 2-7 record the following season.

1952-0615, Sex, Rest and Relaxation in Japan During the Korean War.
After 30-days in combat US ground Soldiers were authorized a five-day pass in Tokyo. They would find Japanese women waiting for them. There was a shortage of men in Japan after WWII. The women were free and would take care of all their sexual needs. Many Soldiers said this was the best times of their lives.

1952-0901, Aviation, 66-percent of US Nuclear Bombers Destroyed.
Not from war, from strong winds.
2017-0616, Aviation, Nuke-Proof 'Doomsday' Planes Damaged by Tornado.
At Offutt AFB, specially reinforced "Doomsday" planes, designed to withstand the heat from a nuclear blast, were damaged.
The Boeing, 747, E4-B, built in 1975, are flying command centers that can stay safe for 10-days. It is reinforced against EMP and is shielded from a thermal blast. An advanced satellite communications system provides worldwide communication. It can unspool 10-Kilometers of low-frequency antenna to contact nuclear subs. The plane is also used by the Sec of Def as his personal transport.
Seven RC-135 reconnaissance planes suffered minor damage.

1953-0615, Health, Veterans and Lobotomies.
The US government lobotomized 2,000 mentally ill veterans during and after WW2. Besieged by psychologically damaged troops returning from the battlefields of North Africa, Europe and the Pacific, the Veterans Administration performed the brain-altering operation on former Troops it diagnosed as depressives, psychotics, and schizophrenics and on people identified as homosexuals.
The VA doctors considered themselves conservative in using lobotomy. Nevertheless, desperate for effective psychiatric treatments, they carried out the surgery at VA hospitals spanning the country, from Oregon to Massachusetts, Alabama to South Dakota.
The VA’s practice sometimes brought veterans relief from their inner demons. Often, however, the surgery left them little more than overgrown children, unable to care for themselves. Many suffered seizures, amnesia, and loss of motor skills. Some died from the operation itself.
The VA’s use of lobotomy, in which doctors severed connections between parts of the brain then thought to control emotions, was known in medical circles in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is occasionally cited in medical texts. However, the VA’s practice, never widely publicized, long ago slipped from public view. Even the US Department of VA says it possesses no records detailing the creation and breadth of its lobotomy program.
Between April 1, 1947, and Sept. 30, 1950, VA doctors lobotomized 1,464 veterans at 50 VA hospitals. Records from 22 of those hospitals list another 466 lobotomies performed outside that time, bringing the total documented operations to 1,930. Gaps in the records suggest that hundreds of additional operations likely took place at other VA facilities. Lobotomies faded from use after the first major antipsychotic drug, Thorazine, hit the market in the mid-1950s, revolutionizing mental-health care.
Rosemary Kennedy, sister to Jack, Bobby and Teddy was lobotomized in 1941, at age 23.