Son of SandorJune 26, 1950 #KoreanWar The invading North Korean Army has reached the outskirts of Seoul. The South Koreans are retreating in confusion. The South Korean Defence Minister, Sihn Sung-mo, said in Seoul to-night that the position is "alarming". MacArthur announced that South Korean pilots would take delivery in Japan of ten Mustang fighters.
June 26, 1950 #KoreanWar Nine members of the United Nations Security Council raising their hands as they voted for the cease-fire and withdrawal of invasion forces in Korea. The vote was nine to nil, with Yugoslavia abstaining. Russia did not attend the session. #UN
June 27, 1950 #KoreanWar President Truman today ordered United States air and sea forces into action in Korea. The President said: "The attack on Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that Communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war."
June 27, 1950 Just days into the #KoreanWar, a US Air Force F-82 Twin Mustang scored the conflict’s first air-to-air victory by downing a North Korean Yak-11 near Gimpo Airfield. https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/today-in-aviation-history-first-air-to-air-victory-of-the-korean-war.html
Today in Aviation History: First Air-to-Air Victory of the Korean War - Vintage Aviation News
On June 27, 1950, just days into the Korean War, a U.S. Air Force F-82 Twin Mustang scored the conflict’s first air-to-air victory by downing a North Korean Yak-11 near Gimpo Airfield. Originally designed as a long-range escort fighter in WWII, the F-82 proved its worth once more in the early days of jet-era combat, marking a significant milestone in aviation history.
June 30, 1950 #KoreanWar General Douglas MacArthur (right) is greeted by Brigadier General John Church, chief of the United States Military Forces in Korea, when he landed at a South Korean air base to make a first-hand survey of the Communist invasion. (Radio-picture.)
June 30, 1950 #KoreanWar Russia has ignored a request by the United States to "disavow responsibility" for the invasion of South Korea. In a reply yesterday to the US request that Russia should use its influence to stop the invasion, Russia laid the blame on South Korea and "those behind her."
July 8, 1950 #KoreanWar General MacArthur announces that the latest combat casualties to the American ground forces are estimated to be 249, of whom 192 are missing. Some of the missing may have become separated from their units and may possibly infiltrate back to friendly lines.
Sep 3, 1950 #KoreanWar The Marines' 43-ton tanks clashed head on with Russian-built North Korean tanks 2,000 yards west of Yongsan. The Marines' tanks, without loss, reduced three Communist tanks to blazing hulks. The Americans are using a 47-ton tank, the Patton, on the north-eastern front. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M46_Patton
Sep 3, 1950 President Truman in believes the Communist invasion of South Korea has reached its peak and that the United Nations will win the war in a nation-wide broadcast he said that fighting would not spread into a general war unless Communist imperialism drew other armies and Governments into the fight against the United Nations.
China became a late but important belligerent during the Korean War and played a significant role in the conflict. The People's Republic of China entered the conflict in October 1950, with the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) units crossing the Yalu River in secret, in support of North Korea. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_in_the_Korean_War
Sep 7, 1950 #UN Russia yesterday vetoed an American Security Council resolution condemning North Korea for its continued defiance of the Council. It was the 44th time the Soviet used the veto in the Council. It condemned the North Korean authorities for their continued defiance of the Council.
Sep 11, 1950 #ColdWar TIME The North Koreans were finding it harder & harder to regroup for offensives and to bring up supplies. One event that could still upset the balance of war against the US was direct intervention by China or Russia. Said one US officer last week: “I am not sweating out the North Koreans anymore. I am sweating out the Chinamen.” https://time.com/archive/6615475/gettysburg-on-the-naktong/
Sep 14, 1950 Most British newspapers today express enthusiastic approval at General George Marshall's appointment as US Secretary of Defence. "The Times" says the appointment is "an event of great importance in both world and American affairs." No single man could command greater unity and respect in his own department, in the Administration as a whole.
* The appointment required a congressional waiver because the National Security Act of 1947 prohibited a uniformed military officer from serving in the post. This prohibition included Marshall since individuals promoted to General of the Army are not technically retired but remain officially on active duty.
#KoreanWar At 06:30 on Sep 15, 1950 (KST), the lead elements of X Corps hit "Green Beach" on the northern side of Wolmido. The landing force consisted of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Taplett. The KPA defenders were outnumbered by more than six to one by the UN troops. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inchon
Admiral Samuel J Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, traveled to South Korea to participate in the 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the Incheon Landing Operation, a pivotal moment in the Korean War on Sep 14, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. https://www.pacom.mil/Media/NEWS/News-Article-View/Article/4303368/usindopacom-commander-commemorated-75th-anniversary-of-incheon-landing/
Sep 15, 1950 #KoreanWar UN forces landed in force today behind the Communist lines on both east and west coasts of Korea. The main landing was at Inchon, on the west coast. By this evening the Americans had driven 12 miles inland to within 10 miles of Seoul. They seized Kimpo airport, south of Seoul. General MacArthur planned the giant amphibious operations, inspected the beaches at Inchon, and directed the landing there.
More than 100 Korean War veterans were honored Monday during a ceremony on the 75th anniversary of Operation Chromite, the daring amphibious assault that turned the tide for South Korea and the US-led UN Command. South Korean, American and Australian veterans made a pilgrimage to Incheon Port. https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2025-09-15/korean-war-incheon-landing-anniversary-19096813.html
General MacArthur's son, Arthur MacArthur IV, has issued a rare statement to mark the 75th anniversary of the Incheon Landing.
Sep 17, 1950 #KoreanWar Observers believe that the fall of Seoul to United Nations forces is imminent. Some of these forces to-night had advanced to the city's outskirts, and were reported to be battling in the suburbs. General MacArthur, who is personally directing the main offensive, today stepped ashore at Inchon and headed for the front lines. Looking down on the bodies of four Communists on the Allied Inchon beachhead today, General MacArthur said: "That's a good sight for my old eyes."
Sep 21, 1950 #KoreanWar US Marines began an all-out assault on Seoul, capital of Korea, late this afternoon. Marines are already in the outer suburbs to the north and south. In Washington to-day, President Truman said he would abide by any United Nations decision whether Allied troops should cross the 38th parallel into North Korea.
Sep 21, 1950 #KoreanWar The United Press correspondent on the Inchon front says that the column of Communist reinforcements came from the Manchurian city of Antung, just over the border at the northwestern tip of Korea. There is no indication, however, whether these troops are North Koreans or Chinese Communists. The column has reached Kaesong, only 35 miles north of Seoul.
Sep 24, 1950 Battle for "Little Stalingrad". The big push for Seoul has begun American Marines, fighting on the fringes of the city's western suburbs, are confident they will enter the city itself within a matter of hours. More Marines are crossing the Han River and are moving up to the front line.
Sep 27, 1950 No doubt appeared to exist among the delegates or UN Secretariat officials that the 38th parallel could no longer arbitrarily divide Korea as it did before the Northern aggression. However the decision whether the UN forces should cross the 38th parallel has been delayed.
Sep 29, 1950 #KoreanWar In a colourful ceremony here today General MacArthur restored to President Syngman Rhee the capital city Seoul and seat of government of the South Korean Republic. South Korean forces racing up the east coast reached the 38th parallel late this afternoon, according to air observers.
Sep 29, 1950 #KoreanWar I KNOW that I speak for the entire American people when I send you my warmest congratulations on the victory which has been achieved under your leadership in Korea. Few operations in military history can match either the delaying action where you traded space for time in which to build up your forces, or the brilliant maneuver which has now resulted in the liberation of Seoul. I salute you all, and say to all of you from all of us at home, "Well and nobly done." President Harry S Truman
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/260/message-congratulating-general-macarthur-liberation-seoul
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/260/message-congratulating-general-macarthur-liberation-seoul
Sep 30, 1950 #KoreanWar General MacArthur receives this message from Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall. This message is known as the "blank check." It instructs MacArthur to feel "unhampered tactically and strategically to proceed north of 38th parallel.” It also informs him that the UN does not want to vote on this expansion of the Korean War, but would rather sanction it after the fact. https://www.macarthurmemorial.org/483/Korean-War-Messages
Sep 30, 1950 #KoreanWar The South Korean Government at Pusan said today that the South Korean National Assembly had decided unanimously to ask the UN General Assembly for authority to send the South Korean armies across the 38th Parallel. There was speculation, however, that the Allies might serve a formal surrender ultimatum on the North Koreans before crossing the old frontier.
Oct 2, 1950 South Korean troops on Korea's east coast today smashed through Communist defences along the 38th parallel and swept into North Korea on a broad front. On the west coast, US Marines are moving up slowly to the 38th parallel above Seoul. The North Koreans have not replied to General MacArthur's broadcast demand for surrender.
Oct 3, 1950 #KoreanWar Russia put before the UN her plan for ending the war in Korea and would introduce another resolution calling on the UN General Assembly to halt the "inhuman bombings of peaceful populations by American planes." It calls for an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of all UN troops.
Oct 3, 1950 #KoreanWar The President of South Korea Dr Syngman Rhee said he saw no need for new elections in Korea. That UN forces must occupy all of Korea if any future war in Korea is to be avoided. "The restoration of the arbitrary boundary of the 38th parallel would leave intact the conditions which provoked this war."
Oct 3, 1950 #KoreanWar An American reconnaissance pilot reported today that a truck convoy "100 miles long" and including artillery is moving from Manchuria to North Korea. Earlier today a report from Taiwan said that the bulk of the Chinese Communist 4th Field Army had crossed into North Korea.
Oct 6, 1950 #KoreanWar General MacArthur said yesterday that the Korean campaign was one of the world's decisive battles and gave the Allies another chance to control the destiny of the world. He added that China and Russia would have intervened in Korea before now if they had intended to do so.
Oct 8, 1950 #KoreanWar American sources confirmed tonight that patrols of the US First Cavalry Division yesterday crossed the 38th "parallel into North Korea north of Kaesong". The patrols, the first American troops to cross the border, met no opposition. Other UN forces, including British and Australian troops, are expected to join the Americans soon in a crossing in strength.
Oct 9, 1950 #KoreanWar American, British, and Australian troops this morning launched a full scale drive into North Korea. By tonight the Americans had pushed about two-and-a-quarter miles north of the 38th parallel. Frontline reports say that great streams of tanks, artillery, Bren carriers and trucks are moving along the main road on the southern approaches to Kaeson.
Kaeson marks the spot near Kim Il Sung Stadium where Kim Il Sung delivered his victory speech after the liberation of Korea on October 14, 1945, entitled "Every Effort for the Building of a New Democratic Korea". At that time, the place was called the Pyongyang Public Ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaeson_Revolutionary_Site
Oct 9, 1950 #KoreanWar The last act of the Korean tragedy has begun. American forces have now crossed the 38th parallel into Communist territory in the wake of South Korean troops. At the same time, General MacArthur, as UN Commander-in-Chief, has issued a final surrender call to the North Korean army.
Oct 11, 1950 #KoreanWar Announcing that he would meet General MacArthur in the Pacific this weekend, President Truman said that he would discuss with the General "other matters" as well as Korea. It will be the first meeting between Mr Truman and General MacAithur, who have never even seen each other.
Oct 12, 1950 #KoreanWar Stalin's message was in reply to greetings which the Prime Minister of North Korea, Kim II sung, sent him on the second anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and North Korea. According to the Moscow Radio, Stalin said: "I wish the Korean people, who are heroically defending the independence of their country, a successful completion of their long years of struggle for the establishment of a united, independent Korea."
Oct 14, 1950 #KoreanWar General MacArthur today flew from Japan to Wake Island to meet President Truman in a momentous conference which may shape United States policy toward the Far East for years to come. This will be the first meeting between President Truman and his famous general and administrator, who has not visited the United States mainland for 15 years.
Nov 1, 1950 Enemy jet fighters and American Mustangs and jets (F-80) fought an inconclusive aerial battle over Sonchon, North Korea, today. This is believed to have been the world's first aerial battle between jet planes. Reuter says some American officers believe that, the Communist jets were Chinese.
Nov 3, 1950 Communist China is giving every indication of preparing for full scale intervention in Korea, says the Tokyo correspondent of United Press. Thousands of Chinese troops already are fighting the UN forces in Korea, and more are crossing from Manchuria daily, the correspondent adds. The Chinese leaders have not yet told the Chinese people that Chinese troops are in action in Korea.
Nov 4, 1950 The First Division attacked toward the vital Chosin reservoir after breaking the back of the Communist opposition yesterday. In one of the fiercest battles of the war, they forged ahead more than a mile into. Su, 16 miles south of the reservoir. In the first 21 hours, the Marines killed an estimated 800 of a regiment of crack Chinese troops.
Nov 6, 1950 TIME Early in the #KoreanWar US planners had been haunted by the possibility that Communist China might go to the aid of North Korea. But after UN armies broke out of the Pusan perimeter and turned the North Korean retreat into a rout, the planners breathed more easily. China’s chance to strike a decisive blow in the Korean war had passed. https://time.com/archive/6615999/war-late-entry/
Nov 6, 1950 MacArthur announced today that the Communists had moved a fresh army from Manchuria into North Korea. Later, in a special report to UN, he said that his fighting forces were "at present in hostile contact with Chinese Communist. Diplomats at UN Headquarters agree that China's intervention has created an explosive situation which could easily lead to a new world war.
Nov 7, 1950 Mr. Truman, who has gone to his home town of Independence (Missouri) to cast his vote, said there last night that Korea was proof that freedom could survive if the peoples who cherished it stood together. "Free nations must stand together and help one another if freedom is to survive." The President said that the United States in 1920 "ran out" on its responsibility for the preservation of world peace. He apparently was referring to the abandonment of the League of Nations by the United States. "We can't do that this time," he said, "and we are not going to."
Nov 12, 1950 Communist China yesterday flatly rejected last Wednesday's Security Council invitation to take part in its debate on General MacArthur's report on Chinese intervention in the Korean war. The cable said that the Communist Chinese delegation would discuss only Taiwan and "American intervention in Korea."
Nov 14, 1950 The first pilot to shoot down an opposing jet in the world's first jet-versus-jet fighter duel in aviation history tonight said that the Soviet MIG 15 back-swept wing jet, one of which he shot down, is at least 100 miles faster than the American Shooting Star jet which he was flying. He is handsome, 25-years old Lieutenant Russel Brown, of Pasadena.
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/8-november-1950/
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/8-november-1950/
Nov 30, 1950 #KoreanWar The entire US 1st Marine Division and two regiments of the US Seventh Division are isolated at the Changjin Reservoir. In massed attacks, the Communists swept round the American force and captured Kotori. In some cases the Americans are fighting from behind the heaped bodies of their enemy.
A force of nearly 120,000 Communist Chinese attacked the United Nations (UN) forces, mostly United States Marines, on Nov 27, 1950. The Marines held their position under staggering odds, until given the order to withdraw on November 30, which prompted Maj. Gen. Oliver Smith’s famous response, “Retreat Hell! We’re advancing in a different direction.”
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/552404/75th-anniversary-chosin-reservoir-picatinny-marines-korean-war
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/552404/75th-anniversary-chosin-reservoir-picatinny-marines-korean-war
75th Anniversary of Chosin Reservoir – The Picatinny Marines of the Korean War
PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - This Thanksgiving marks the 75th Anniversary of one of the most grueling and hard-fought battles in the history of the military of the United States. A force of nearly 120,000 Communist Chinese attacked the United Nations (U.N.) forces, mostly United States Marines, on Nov. 27, 1950.
Nov 30, 1950 Mr. Truman said that use of the atom bomb in Korea had always been under consideration. Whether it was used was up to American military leaders in the field. He personally hoped, he added, that it would not have to be employed. Mr. Truman added that the bomb could be used without UN approval.
Dec 3, 1950 #KoreanWar Under heavy enemy pressure, Allied forces in Korea continue to yield ground along their defence arc about 30 miles north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. The United States will stand firm on its demand that Communist China take its troops out of Korea before any peace negotiations can begin.
Dec 11, 1950 Allied troops claim that in their escape down the mountain corridor from the Chosin Reservoir they killed a large part of three Chinese divisions. When they reached the safety of the Allied perimeter, the troops were hollow-eyed, blood-splashed, and weary to the point of dropping. The men on foot arrived stumbling' and wincing from frostbite, many of them using their rifles as crutches. Some had blood frozen to their skin. The Chinese ambushers were apparently in an almost equally dispirited and weary state.
Jan 15, 1951 TIME SEOUL was all but dead. During the day, occasional bands of laborers trudged off to the north to work on the city’s last-ditch defenses. The rest of the remaining population seemed to be mostly kids. At night, the city lay black, empty and desolate in the moonlight. The crack of small-arms fire rang incessantly through the streets. Seoul’s last-ditch nightspot, the Consolation Club, which advertised “Fifty Beautiful Women Fifty.” Inside, a dozen odd bedraggled beauties gyrated round a scarred dance floor, their swirling Korean skirts revealing singularly unattractive expanses of olive-drab GI long Johns. #KoreanWar
https://time.com/archive/6616539/war-another-city/
https://time.com/archive/6616539/war-another-city/
Jan 19, 1951 #KoreanWar NYT Asked directly if he thought the atomic bomb should be used, General O'Donnell replied: “I personally believe we should have cracked them and cracked them hard as soon as it was determined it was the Chinese Communist army attacking us from across the border." The general, one of the leading figures in the #WWII bombing campaign against Japan.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/01/19/archives/odonnell-favors-using-all-weapons-bomber-head-in-korea-implies.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/01/19/archives/odonnell-favors-using-all-weapons-bomber-head-in-korea-implies.html
Feb 26, 1951 #KoreaWar NYT The thirteen members of the United Nations whose armed forces are fighting alongside United States and Republican troops in Korea have suffered a total of 2,785 casualties. United States casualties, according to figures of the unified command, total 49,132.
Australia, Two hundred and sixty-five casualties, including forty-eight dead, 219 wounded, six missing and two prisoners of war. (Australia has about 1,000 men in Korea, including Air Force and Navy units, and her casualty rate is one of the highest.)
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/02/26/archives/13-allies-in-korea-list-their-losses-total-for-nonamerican-units.html
Feb 26, 1951 #MASH NYT When the call from the marines went out today to the Army to help take away soldiers wounded, Capt. JW Hely of St. Louis, Mo, was taking a ten minute break in the mud hardened tent the pilots share with surgeons of the mobile army surgical hospital where the wounded are taken for emergency surgery.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/02/26/archives/helicopter-unit-saved-200-in-korea-special-detachment-rescues-three.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/02/26/archives/helicopter-unit-saved-200-in-korea-special-detachment-rescues-three.html
Mar 10, 1951 #KoreanWar NYT The Chinese Communists pulled back yesterday on the central Korean front in what appeared to be a general withdrawal before the United Nations offensive. The United Nations forces made gains of up to four miles as they pressed a pincer attack on Hongchon, twenty miles south of the Thirty-eighth Parallel.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/10/archives/u-n-forces-gain-four-miles-as-reds-pull-back-in-center-general.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/10/archives/u-n-forces-gain-four-miles-as-reds-pull-back-in-center-general.html
Mar 11, 1951 NYT After six months of sweeping up and down the scorched, shell-pocked Korean peninsula, the opposing Communist and United Nations forces grapple in a war of thrust and parry. Across a battlefield made miserable by the last snows of winter and the mud and floods of approaching spring, the UN forces struggle to wear down the enemy's superiority in manpower. In primitive Korea air war leads to such strange incidents as rocket attacks on camel caravans, ox carts and dugout canoes.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/11/archives/pattern-of-warfare-in-korea.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/11/archives/pattern-of-warfare-in-korea.html
Mar 13, 1951 #KoreanWar NYT Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway declared to- day that if the war in Korea were to end with the United Nations troops at the 38th Parallel he would consider that result "a tremendous victory." However, the commander of the United Nations ground forces in Korea added quickly that, so far as he knew, there was no move under way to end hostilities at that latitude.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/13/archives/ridgway-sees-un-victorious-if-war-ends-at-parallel-but-allied.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/13/archives/ridgway-sees-un-victorious-if-war-ends-at-parallel-but-allied.html
Mar 17, 1951 #KoreanWar NYT The Marine Corps swore in a "Shamrock Platoon" yesterday morning in honor of Saint Patrick's Day. The sixty new marines left 346 Broadway for Parris Island, SC, where they will begin today the wearing of the green, marine style, in boot camp.
Pfc Francis H Killeen (whose parents came from Ireland) played his bagpipes during the ceremony. Private Killeen said he has been playing the bagpipes for nine years and had played them in combat in Korea. He was wounded twice, was treated in St Albans Hospital, Queens, and is ready for active service again.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/17/archives/marines-swear-in-a-shamrock-unit-kaplowitz-becomes-an-irish-name-an.html
Mar 24, 1951 NYT Thousands of men dropped near this village, ten miles behind the nearest sector of the enemy's front lines and only twelve miles south of the 38th Parallel. The airborne operation was designed to cut off about 10,000 North Korean troops who had been moving north from Seoul.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/24/archives/paradrop-in-korea-fails-to-flush-foe-jeeps-artillery-medical-team.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/24/archives/paradrop-in-korea-fails-to-flush-foe-jeeps-artillery-medical-team.html
Mar 25, 1951 #KoreanWar NYT General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and official Washington were feuding again today. Source of the trouble this time was General MacArthur's truce offer yesterday to the Chinese Communists. Washington's complaint: it wasn't consulted on the statement and wouldn't have approved the statement if it had been.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/25/archives/washington-and-macarthur-clash-anew-on-truce-offer-officials-say.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/25/archives/washington-and-macarthur-clash-anew-on-truce-offer-officials-say.html
Washington and MacArthur Clash Anew on Truce Offer; Officials Say They Did Not Know of His Plan and Would Not Have Approved It-- State and Defense Aides Confer M'ARTHUR IN CLASH WITH WASHINGTON Broad Implications Seen Russians Imply Intervention
Washington officials complain they were not consulted on MacArthur statement; say they would not have approved it; State and Defense Depts conf; see Acheson conf with Truman; State Dept issues 'clarifying' statement; comment
Tito Swineflu@SonOfSandor 8000 total kia seems like a tiny number for a battle like this.
AI6YR Ben@SonOfSandor Is this the episode which led the American retreat? I recall, this is where the US was throwing equipment off the side of the road and dragging whatever/whoever they could back to safety?