By W.V.H. White - Originally Published July 1990
During the last week of June 1950, the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) moved southward against little or no resistance. About the only thing slowing the NKPA was that the roads were overflowing with refugees fleeing south, in front of the oncoming Communist tide.
Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, fell to the enemy on June 28. The day before, the South Korean government had moved to Taejon. American citizens had been flown out. North Korean forces paused to consolidate their gains and straighten their advancing line.
In the Far East, U.S. forces consisted of the 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions and the non-armored 1st Cavalry Division, all located in Japan. (Some additional Army forces were on Okinawa.) These units belonged to the U.S. Eighth Army, still on occupation duty following World War II. America was basking in the afterglow of total victory over Germany and Japan, and was enjoying the many "peace dividends."
The U.S. military establishment had been cut to the bone, and more cuts were planned. Combat units were seriously under strength, and arms and equipment were leftovers from the war which ended in 1945. Such U.S. tanks as were available in Japan, at the time, were light M24s because Japanese roads would not hold up under heavier ones. They would prove no match for the heavier Russian T34 tanks employed by the NKPA.
The United Nations established a unified command which would come under General Douglas MacArthur, with headquarters in Tokyo. The U.S. Eighth Army would be the major field command in Korea.
The Army's 24th Division was moved to Korea and was in combat during the first week of July. It would be followed by the 25th Division, which was on the ground by the end of the second week. South Korean forces were largely swept from the field, and, although they fought as well as could be expected, were vastly outclassed and outgunned by the enemy.
The U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division joined the fight, as did the 29th Regimental Combat Team, shipped up from Okinawa. Nevertheless, the United Nations forces were pressed steadily south toward a natural defensive line formed in part by the Naktong River. A possible disaster loomed, and might have occurred, except for the fire support rendered by U.S. Navy ships, carrier aviation, and U.S. Air Force bombers.
Meanwhile, Gen MacArthur, on July 2, had sent an urgent dispatch to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, requesting immediate deployment of a Marine Corps regimental combat team, with supporting aviation units, from the States. His initial plan was to hold the Marines in reserve in Japan.
On July 7, at Camp Pendleton, Calif, the First Provisional Marine Brigade was activated, under the command of Brigadier General Edward A. Craig. The major units were the Fifth Marine Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Raymond L. Murray, and Marine Aircraft Group 33, commanded by BrigGen Thomas H. Cushman, who would also function as assistant brigade commander.
The Marine forces on the West Coast, as elsewhere, were on a peace-time footing. This meant, for example, that the three infantry battalions of the Fifth Marines each had only two rifle companies, instead of the normal three. Efforts were soon underway to draw personnel from the rest of the Marine Corps to bring the brigade to wartime strength in accordance with the request from MacArthur.
On July 10, the general also dispatched a message to the JCS, asking that the remainder of the First Marine Division, with supporting air assets, be brought to wartime strength and sent to him on a most urgent basis. When informed by the JCS that this could not be accomplished until late fall, MacArthur fired back a dispatch restating his urgent need for the Division to arrive no later than September 10, in order to carry out essential plans that he envisioned for its employment.
Brigade organizations were moved from Pendleton and El Toro, Calif., to San Diego, and embarked in shipping. Heavy equipment rolled in from Barstow, Calif., where it had been "mothballed" following World War II. The Brigade sailed during July 12-14. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Clifton B. Gates, was on hand to see them off.
On July 25, the JCS gave in to MacArthur's demands and agreed to send him the other units of the First Marine Division in the time frame he had requested. The Organized Marine Corps Reserve had already been placed on alert to be called to active duty.
Editor's note: Information for this account was largely drawn from "U.S. Marine Operations in Korea. 1950-1953, Volume I, The Pusan Perimeter," by Lynn Montross and Capt Nicholas A. Canzonet, USMC.
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