The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Start of the Korean War (6/25/1950)

Operations

During 15-24 June 1950, the North Korean High Command assembled some 90,000 men- 7 infantry divisions, 1 armored brigade, 1 separate infantry regiment, 1 motorcycle regiment, and 1 Border Constabulary brigade- supported by 150 Soviet T34 tanks near the 38th Parallel. At 0400 on 25 June the North Koreans launched a coordinated attack on South Korea that ran from coast to coast. The assault began on the Ongjin Peninsula on the western extreme of the parallel, but the North Koreans concentrated half of their forces on the Uijongbu Corridor, an ancient invasion route that led directly south to Seoul. The ROK 1st, 2d, 7th, and Capital Divisions defended the area north of Seoul, but the suddenness of the North Korean attack and the shock of enemy armor rapidly pushed the ROK Army back toward Seoul. In the early hours of 28 June the South Korean vice minister of defense ordered a premature blowing of the Han River bridges, located on the southern edges of Seoul, to slow the North Korean advance. This was catastrophic for the ROK Army. Much of the Army was still north of the river and had to abandon transport, supplies, and heavy weapons and cross the Han River in disorganized groups. The ROK Army numbering 95,000 on 25 June could account for only 22,000 men at the end of June.

Two American soldiers with a North Korean prisoner of war, 5 August 1950 (National Archives)

The UN Security Council met on 25 June and passed a resolution that called on North Korea to cease hostilities and withdraw to the 38th Parallel. President Truman authorized ships and airplanes to protect the evacuation of American dependents in Korea and also use of American air and naval forces to support the Republic of Korea below the 38th Parallel. On 27 June the UN Security Council passed another resolution that recommended UN members assist South Korea in repelling the invasion. The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a directive that authorized MacArthur to assume operational control of all American military activities in Korea. MacArthur then sent the General Headquarters Advance Command and Liaison Group in Korea (ADCOM), headed by Brig. Gen. John H. Church, from Japan to South Korea to administer KMAG and assist the ROK Army. On 29 June MacArthur personally inspected the situation at the Han River and urged the immediate commitment of American ground forces. President Truman then authorized the employment of Army combat troops to ensure a port and air base at Pusan, South Korea, and more importantly, approved sending two Army divisions from Japan to Korea and the establishment of a naval blockade of North Korea.

Following the breakdown of the ROK Army at Seoul, elements of the North Korean 3d and 4th Divisions captured the South Korean capital on 28 June. The North Koreans then repaired a railroad bridge over the Han River, and by 4 July these two divisions, with T34 tank support, were poised to resume their drive south. In Tokyo on 30 June General MacArthur instructed Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker, Eighth U.S. Army commander, to order the 24th Infantry Division, stationed on Kyushu, to Korea at once. Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, commander of the 24th, was to send immediately to Korea by air a delaying force of about 500 men, and the rest of the division would soon follow by water. General Dean would assume command of USAFIK, reinstated as a provisional headquarters, upon his arrival. Lt. Col. Charles B. Smith, commander of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, of the 24th Division, led the delaying force, called Task Force Smith. On 5 July he established a defensive position three miles north of Osan, assisted by elements of the 52d Field Artillery Battalion. Task Force Smith took on two regiments of the North Korean 4th Division and thirty-three T34 tanks. Badly outnumbered and without armor, effective antitank weapons, or air support, the U.S. force was overrun. The next day, Colonel Smith could assemble only 250 men, half his original force.

Medics evacuate wounded of the 5th Regimental Combat Team hit near Masan, 30 August 1950. (National Archives)

On 4 July General Dean assumed command of USAFIK and established his headquarters at Taejon. The 34th Infantry, another organic regiment of Dean’s 24th Division, and the rest of the 21st Infantry arrived in Korea during the first week of July. During that week General MacArthur ordered General Walker to deploy from Japan and assume operational control of the campaign in Korea. Walker set up his headquarters for the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea at Taegu and on 13 July assumed command of USAFIK. Shortly thereafter, he also took command of ROK ground forces. Walker’s objectives were to delay the enemy advance, secure the current defensive line, and build up units and materiel for future offensive operations. On 7 July the UN Security Council passed a resolution that recommended a unified command in Korea. President Truman then appointed MacArthur commanding general of the military forces under the unified command that became the United Nations Command. MacArthur’s strategy in the early stages of the Korean War was first to stop the North Koreans and then use naval and air superiority to support an amphibious operation in their rear. Once he realized that the North Korean People’s Army was a formidable force, MacArthur estimated to the Joint Chiefs of Staff that to halt and hurl back the North Koreans would require four to four-and-a-half full-strength infantry divisions, an airborne regimental combat team, and an armored group of three medium tank battalions and reinforcing artillery.

After the defeat of Task Force Smith, General Dean employed the 34th and 21st Infantries in additional delaying actions against the advance of the North Korean 3d and 4th Divisions along the corridor that ran south of Osan toward Taejon. Fighting occurred at P’yongt’aek, Ch’onan, Chonui, and Choch’iwon. Dean sought to delay the enemy’s approach to the Kum River to support the ROK forces’ left flank that was retreating through the central mountains of South Korea. By early July the ROK Army, which became badly disorganized after the fall of Seoul, had re-formed to some extent. From west to east, the ROK Army line was held by the 17th Regiment; the 2d, Capital, 6th, and 8th Divisions; and the 23d Regiment of the 3d Division. The major part of the NKPA conducted a main attack on a wide front against ROK-defended territory, which was everything east of the main Seoul-Taegu railroad and highway. Five divisions moved south over the two mountain corridors, while a sixth, the 2d Division, followed the road from Ch’ongju through Poun to Hwanggan where it entered the Seoul-Taegu highway. The North Korean 1st, 13th, and 15th Divisions moved over one mountain corridor and across the Mun’gyong plateau, while the 8th and 12th Divisions came down the eastern corridor. On the east coast along the Sea of Japan, the North Korean 5th Division and the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment marched south and met virtually no opposition. The trackless mountains of the Taebaek Range effectively separated the east coast of Korea below the 38th Parallel from the rest of the country.

In mid-July 1950 General Dean’s 24th Division continued as the primary U.S. Army fighting force in Korea. Taejon, located 100 miles south of Seoul, served as an important road and communications center. The Kum River makes a semicircle to the north around Taejon that constitutes a protective moat. Dean placed his 24th Division in a horseshoe-shaped arc in front of Taejon—the 34th Infantry on the left, the 19th Infantry on the right, and the 21st Infantry in reserve. By positioning elements of the 34th at Kongju, located about twenty miles northwest of Taejon, Dean hoped to prevent the North Koreans from an early crossing of the Kum River and an immediate drive on Taejon. Since the division had only about 4,000 men at Taejon, the 24th could not effectively delay two enemy divisions. During 14–16 July the North Korean 4th and 3d Divisions, operating west to east, penetrated the 34th and 19th Infantries’ forward defensive positions on the south side of the Kum River and inflicted substantial casualties. Dean then pulled his regiments into a tighter defensive perimeter around Taejon, and the North Koreans launched their attack on Taejon on 19 July. The men of the 24th at Taejon enjoyed one positive development. They had just received a weapon that was effective against the T34 tank, the new 3.5-inch rocket launcher. The five-foot hand-carried launcher fired a two-foot-long eight-and-a-half-pound rocket with a shaped charge designed to burn through any tank then known. U.S. Army soldiers destroyed ten enemy tanks in Taejon on 20 July, eight of them with the 3.5-inch rocket launcher.

The superior numbers and relentless assault of the North Koreans forced the men of the 24th Division to abandon Taejon on 20 July and withdraw to the south. General Dean experienced one of the most dramatic adventures of the withdrawal. Moving down the road to Kumsan, Dean and a small party encountered an enemy roadblock. Forced back, Dean’s party, with some wounded, set out on foot after dark. While trying to fetch water for the injured, Dean fell down a steep slope, was knocked unconscious, and suffered a gashed head and a broken shoulder. Separated from his men, Dean wandered alone in the mountains for thirty-six days trying to reach the American lines and was betrayed by two South Koreans to the North Koreans. He would spend the next three years as a prisoner of war. Dean was awarded the first Medal of Honor for service in the Korean War for his leadership and personal bravery with the 24th Division at Taejon. The division suffered a 30 percent casualty rate there and lost all of its organic equipment. The unit had endured many deficiencies since its arrival in Korea. Among them were new subordinate unit commanders who were unfamiliar with their men, poor communications equipment, a shortage of ammunition, outdated maps, and large numbers of young soldiers in the ranks who were inadequately trained for combat. As for the North Koreans, in five days they had executed two highly successful envelopments of American positions, one at the Kum River and the other at Taejon. Each time, they combined strong frontal attacks with movements around the left flank to establish roadblocks and obstruct the escape routes.

Captured enemy weapons (National Archives)

The 24th Division would soon share the defense of South Korea with the rebuilt ROK Army and two newly arrived U.S. Army divisions, the 25th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. On 24 July the ROK Army reorganized itself into two corps and five divisions. The ROK I Corps controlled the 8th and Capital Divisions, while the ROK II Corps controlled the 1st and 6th Divisions. A reconstituted ROK 3d Division was placed under direct ROK Army control. The ROK II Corps headquarters was at Hamch’ang with its 1st and 6th Divisions on line from west to east, and the I Corps headquarters was at Sangju with the 8th and Capital Divisions on line from west to east. The 3d Division operated on the east coast of South Korea. Large numbers of recruits and replacements had entered the ROK Army, which had regained its prewar strength of about 95,000. The U.S. 25th Division, with its three regiments—24th, 27th, and 35th—commanded by Maj. Gen. William B. Kean, arrived during 10–15 July 1950 at Pusan. General Walker ordered the 25th to bolster ROK defenses of the central mountain corridors. The 1st Cavalry Division, with its three regiments—5th, 7th, and 8th—sailed from Japan and landed at P’ohang-dong north of Pusan during 15–22 July. The unit assumed responsibility for blocking the enemy along the main Taejon-Taegu corridor. In late July both the 25th Division and the 1st Cavalry Division withdrew steadily in the face of aggressive North Korean attacks. On 29 July General Walker, with the support of General MacArthur, issued what the press called a "stand or die" order to the Eighth Army. Walker emphasized that the retreating must stop. The Eighth Army had been trading space for time and was running out of space.

One of the major problems of the retreat was the volume of refugees moving through Eighth Army lines. Their numbers were greater during July and August 1950 than at any other time in the war. During the middle two weeks of July about 380,000 refugees crossed into ROK-held territory. The North Koreans often exploited the situation by launching attacks that began with herding groups of refugees across minefields and then following up with tanks and infantry. The enemy also infiltrated U.S. Army lines by wearing the traditional white civilian clothing and joining groups of refugees, thus enabling him to commit a variety of surprise attacks on American soldiers. The commanders of the 25th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions attempted unsuccessfully to control the volume of refugees and enemy infiltration by searching displaced civilians and limiting the times and routes available for their movements. In late July General Walker, with the cooperation of ROK authorities, set explicit rules for the organized removal of refugees to the rear by the ROK National Police. By the end of July the ROK government had established fifty-eight refugee camps, most of them in the Taegu-Pusan area, to care for the homeless. But even with these efforts, refugees continued to hamper the movement of U.S. and ROK troops throughout the battlefield.

As the Eighth Army neared a natural defensive position along the Naktong River, the North Koreans accelerated their efforts to cut off elements of that army. After the fall of Seoul in late June the North Korean 6th Division had crossed the Han River and rapidly moved south over the western coastal roadnet. Eighth Army intelligence lost track of the 6th. The only UN forces situated at the time southwest of the Taejon-Taegu-Pusan highway were a few hundred ROK 7th Division survivors along with some scattered ROK marines and local police. On 21 July General Walker learned that a North Korean unit, presumed to be the 4th Division, was operating in the southwest area. Walker ordered the 24th Division, despite its deficiencies in manpower and equipment after the loss of Taejon, to serve as a blocking force in the area from Chinju in deep south central Korea northward to Kumch’on. Two battalions of the 29th Infantry, then stationed on Okinawa, and the ROK 17th Regiment would reinforce the 24th Division.

On 23 July the North Korean 4th Division moved south from Taejon with the intent of supporting the 6th Division in an envelopment of the United Nations’ left flank and driving to Pusan. The 4th pushed as far as the Anui-Koch’ang area, about fifty miles southwest of Taegu, by the end of July. During 25–28 July the two battalions of the 29th were driven back by elements of the 6th at Hadong, located about twenty-five miles west of Chinju. On 31 July the Eighth Army finally became aware of the 6th Division’s presence after the 6th took Chinju and forced one battalion of the 29th and the 19th Infantry of the 24th Division to withdraw to the east. Eighth Army rushed the 27th Infantry of the 25th Division, which had been in reserve, to reinforce American units in the Chinju-Masan corridor. The 24th and 25th Divisions, aided by the ROK 17th Regiment, finally managed to slow the progress of the North Korean 4th and 6th Divisions at what would become the southernmost sector of the Pusan Perimeter. By 3 August U.S. and ROK units had averted the immediate threat of a North Korean drive all the way to Pusan.

On 1 August the Eighth Army issued an operational directive to all UN ground forces in Korea for their planned withdrawal east of the Naktong River. UN units would then establish main defensive positions behind what was to be called the Pusan Perimeter. The intent was to draw the line on retreating and hold off the NKPA while the U.S. Army could build up its forces and wage a counteroffensive. The Pusan Perimeter assumed by U.S. and ROK forces on 4 August involved a rectangular area about 100 miles from north to south and 50 miles from east to west. The Naktong River formed the western boundary except for the southernmost 15 miles where the Naktong turned eastward after its confluence with the Nam River. The ocean formed the eastern and southern boundaries, while the northern boundary was an irregular line that ran through the mountains from above Waegwan to Yongdok. From the southwest to the northeast the UN line was held by the U.S. 25th and 24th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions, and then by the ROK 1st, 6th, 8th, Capital, and 3d Divisions. From south to northeast the North Korean units positioned opposite the UN units were the 83d Motorized Regiment of the 105th Armored Division and then the 6th, 4th, 3d, 2d, 15th, 1st, 13th, 8th, 12th, and 5th Divisions and the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment. The 5th Regimental Combat Team from Hawaii and the phased arrival of the 2d Infantry Division from the United States augmented U.S. Army forces. A third major reinforcement arrived in Korea on 2 August, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, about 4,700 men. UN combat forces at this point actually outnumbered the North Koreans, 92,000 to 70,000.

The North Koreans had four possible avenues of advance leading to Pusan that could result in the defeat of U.S. and ROK forces, and in August they tried them all simultaneously. These approaches went through Masan south of the confluence of the Nam and Naktong Rivers, through the Naktong Bulge to the rail and road lines at Miryang, through Kyongju and down the east coast corridor, and through Taegu. During the first week of August General Walker decided to launch the first American counterattack of the war in the Chinju-Masan corridor. One of his purposes was to break up a suspected massing of enemy troops near the Taegu area by forcing the diversion of some North Korean units southward. On 6 August the Eighth Army issued the operational directive for the attack by Task Force Kean, named for the 25th Division commander. Task Force Kean consisted of the 25th Division, less the 27th Infantry and a field artillery battalion, with the 5th RCT and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade attached. The Army plan of attack required the force to move west from positions then held near Masan, seize the Chinju Pass, and secure the line as far as the Nam River. Task Force Kean launched its strike on 7 August but ran head-on into one being delivered simultaneously by the North Korean 6th Division. After a week of heavy fighting, neither Kean’s troops nor their opponents had made any appreciable progress. Even so, the Eighth Army had launched its first offensive in Korea and successfully halted an assault by an enemy division.

Infantrymen helping a wounded comrade (National Archives)

Seven air miles north of the point where the Naktong River turns east and the Nam River enters it, the Naktong curves westward opposite Yongsan in a wide semicircular loop. This loop became known to the American troops as the Naktong Bulge during the bitter fighting there in August and September. On 6 August the North Korean 4th Division crossed the Naktong at Ohang with the intent of driving to Yongsan located about ten miles to the east. The 24th Division defended that sector and the 24th commander, Maj. Gen. John H. Church, who had succeeded General Dean as division commander, placed the defense of the Naktong Bulge under Task Force Hill. Task Force Hill consisted of the 9th Infantry of the 2d Infantry Division along with the 34th and 19th Infantries and a battalion of the 21st Infantry of the 24th Division. Despite the efforts of Task Force Hill, by 11 August the 4th Division had penetrated to the vicinity of Yongsan. General Walker then added to the fray the 23d Infantry of the 2d Division, the 27th Infantry of the 25th Division, and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade.

General Church led the coordinated attack of Army and Marine Corps troops against the North Koreans that began on 17 August. By the eighteenth the American forces had decisively defeated the 4th Division, which had lost half its original strength of about 7,000 men.

Located about twenty miles south of P’ohang-dong on the east coast, Kyongju was an important rail and highway center situated within the Taegu–P’ohang-dong–Pusan triangle inside the Pusan Perimeter. The capture of P’ohang-dong and the nearby Yonil Airfield, used by the Far East Air Force, would open a natural and essentially undefended corridor for the NKPA to move directly south through Kyongju to Pusan. General Walker had only lightly fortified the east coast corridor because the enemy threat was more immediate on the western perimeter, and he doubted that the North Koreans could mount a major successful drive through the trackless mountains. In early August the enemy almost proved Walker wrong when three North Korean divisions—the 5th, 8th, and 12th—and the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment mounted strong attacks against the ROK defenders. By 12 August the North Koreans had pressed to P’ohang-dong and also threatened Yonil Airfield. The North Korean 5th Division cut off the ROK 3d Division above P’ohang-dong, and the 3d Division had to be evacuated by sea to positions farther south. General Walker reinforced the ROK units in the area with elements of the U.S. 2d Infantry Division. By 17 August ROK units and the 2d Division had managed to check the enemy drive at P’ohang-dong. A primary factor in stopping the North Koreans was logistics, as the enemy had outrun his supply line during the difficult trek southward through the mountains.

The natural corridor of the Naktong Valley from Sangju to Taegu presented another principal axis of attack for the NKPA. The sizable enemy forces assembled in an arc around Taegu in early August from south to north consisted of the 10th, 3d, 15th, 13th, and 1st Divisions and elements of the 105th Armored Division. Opposite the North Korean divisions were the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and the 1st and 6th Divisions of the ROK II Corps. The North Koreans crossed the Naktong River in several places within the arc around Taegu during the second week of August. When several enemy artillery shells landed in Taegu on 18 August, President Rhee ordered movement of the Korean provincial government, then in Taegu, to Pusan. The North Korean 1st and 13th Divisions posed the primary threat as they pressed toward Taegu by overland routes from the north and northwest. General Walker moved up the 23d and 27th Infantries, both fresh from defensive action in the Naktong Bulge, to reinforce the ROK 1st Division, which confronted the North Korean 1st and 3d Divisions in its sector. Although the North Korean 1st Division pushed to within nine miles of Taegu, the combined efforts of the ROK 1st Division and the U.S. 23d and 27th Infantries frustrated enemy efforts to penetrate to Taegu.

Even though the North Korean People’s Army had seriously threatened the United States and ROK Armies within the Pusan Perimeter during August 1950, the defenders both successfully resisted the enemy attacks and continued the buildup of forces for a counteroffensive. The Far East Air Force had established air supremacy over the North Koreans early in the war and continued to influence the outcome of battles by multiple sorties in close support of ground troops, 4,635 in July and 7,397 in August. By late August there were more than 500 American medium tanks within the Pusan Perimeter. The tanks in tank battalions were equally divided between M26 Pershings and M4A3 Shermans, except for one battalion that had the newer M46 Pattons. On 1 September the United Nations Command had a strength of 180,000 in Korea: 92,000 were South Koreans and the balance were Americans and the 1,600-man British 27th Infantry Brigade. In August the North Koreans continued the plan and tactics begun at the Han River in early July with a frontal holding attack, envelopment of the flank, and infiltration to the rear. When the Eighth Army stabilized the line at the Pusan Perimeter, these tactics no longer worked and success could come only by frontal attack, penetration, and immediate exploitation. Generals MacArthur and Walker countered with classical principles of defense—interior lines of communications, superior artillery firepower, and a strong air force. By 1 September the North Koreans had assembled a 98,000-man army for a massive offensive against the Pusan Perimeter. However, they experienced substantial problems: a third of their ranks manned by forcibly conscripted and untrained South Koreans, a major shortage of small arms, and only enough rations for one or sometimes two meals a day.

Engineers probe for enemy mines ahead of a creeping tank

In early September as during August, General Walker faced dangerous situations in essentially the same places along the Pusan Perimeter: in the east at P’ohang-dong to include a potential severing of the corridor between Taegu and P’ohang-dong, north of Taegu where the enemy made disturbing gains, at the Naktong Bulge, and in the Masan area in the extreme south. Also as he had during the fighting in August, Walker continued his masterful tactics of shifting his forces from one threatened enemy penetration to another. In early September the ROK 3d, Capital, 8th, and 6th Divisions held the line farthest to the east against the North Korean 5th, 8th, 12th, and 15th Divisions. Maj. Gen. John B. Coulter, newly appointed deputy commander, Eighth Army, assumed command of American units in the eastern sector and employed the 21st Infantry of the U.S. 24th Division and other supporting units to bolster the ROK divisions. On 7 September General Church replaced Coulter as American commander in the eastern sector after General Walker ordered the entire 24th to reinforce the ROK divisions. A combination of ground fighting, predominantly by the South Koreans, along with American close air support and naval gunfire from offshore inflicted serious losses on the enemy divisions. The North Korean 1st, 3d, and 13th Divisions pressed the attack north of Taegu against the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, which prompted Walker on 5 September to move the main Eighth Army headquarters from Taegu to Pusan. The 1st Cavalry Division essentially checked the thrusts of the North Koreans north of Taegu, but fighting continued there into mid-September.

At the end of August the North Korean People’s Army also planned a crushing blow against the U.S. 2d and 25th Divisions in the southern part of the Pusan Perimeter. The enemy’s 6th Division would attack through Haman, Masan, and capture Kumhae, fifteen miles west of Pusan. The 7th Division was to strike north of the Masan highway, wheel left to the Naktong River, and wait for the 6th Division on its right and the 9th on its left and then resume the attack toward Pusan. The 25th Division held the southernmost sector that ran from the confluence of the Naktong and Nam Rivers to the southern coast, while the 2d Division was positioned in the area across the Naktong River north of the 25th. The North Korean 9th Division faced the 2d Division at the Naktong Bulge and had the mission of capturing the towns of Miryang and Samnangjin, thereby cutting off the Eighth Army route of withdrawal between Taegu and Pusan. During the first week of September the 9th Division penetrated the Naktong Bulge as far east as Yongsan, but a counterattack by the 2d Division together with the U.S. 1st Provisional Marine Brigade pushed back the 9th almost to the Naktong River. The 2d Division’s 23d Infantry beat back the North Korean 2d Division six miles north of Yongsan at Changnyong. At the same time the 6th and 7th Divisions mounted strong attacks against the 25th Division. Despite enemy penetrations into the sectors of the 25th’s regiments—the 35th Infantry’s sector west of Ch’irwon and the 24th Infantry’s sector near Haman that was effectively stopped by the 27th Infantry—the 25th Division repelled the NKPA’s offensive in the south. The Naktong River line held, and the Pusan Perimeter was secure.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on June 25:
1852 Antonio Gaud¡ Spanish architect (Sagrada Familia, Barcelona)
1864 Walther Hermann Nernst Prussian physical chemist (Nobel 1920)
1865 Robert Henri US painter, leader of the Ashcan school
1886 Henry (Hap) Arnold commanding general, US Army Air Force in WW II
1887 George Abbott Forestville NY, producer (Damn Yankees, Pajama Game)
1893 Charlotte Greenwood Phila, actress (Oklahoma, Moon over Miami)
1894 Hermann Oberth Germany, founded modern astronautics
1900 Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma, royal relative
1903 Arthur Tracy street singer (Vincent Lopez Show)
1903 George Orwell England, satirist/author (Animal Farm, 1984)
1906 Roger Livesey actor (Drums, Life & Death of Col Blimp)
1907 J Hans D Jensen Germany, physicist (atomic nuclei-Nobel 1963)
1915 Peter Lind Hayes SF Calif, comedian/singer (Peter Lind Hayes Show)
1924 Sidney Lumet Phila, director (Group, Pawnbroker, Fail Safe)
1925 Clifton Chenier blues singer (Bayou Blues, Bon Ton Roulet)
1925 June Lockhart NYC, actr (Lassie, Lost in Space, Petticoat Junction)
1925 Robert Venturi US, architect (Levittown NY, Las Vegas)
1925 Ziggy Talent Manchester NH, singer (Vaughn Monroe Show)
1933 Gary Crosby Calif, actor (Bill Dana Show, Adam 12, Chase)
1935 Eddie Floyd rocker (California Girl, Knock on Wood)
1935 Laurent Terzieff Paris, actor (Head Over Heels, Milky Way)
1940 Thomas K”hler German DR, luger (Olympic-gold-1964, 68)
1942 Patrick Michael Mitchell Ottawa, one of FBI's most wanted
1942 Willis Reed basketball hall-of-famer center (NY Knicks)
1945 Carly Simon NYC, singer (Anticipation, You're So Vain)
1946 Ian McDonald guitarist (King Crisom)
1948 Michael Lembeck Bkln, actor (Max-One Day at a Time)
1949 Brenda Sykes Shreveport La, actress (Ozzie's Girls, Getting Straight)
1949 Jimmie Walker Bronx NY, comedian (JJ-Good Times, At Ease)
1949 Kene Holliday NYC, actor (Tyler-Matlock, Carter Country)
1949 Phyllis George-Brown Denton Tx, Miss America (1971)/sportscaster
1950 Belinda Montgomery Winnipeg Manitoba, actress (Man From Atlantis)
1950 Tatyana Averina USSR, speed skater 1K, 3K (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 Tim Finn song writer (Puberty Blues)
1963 George Michael England, rocker (Wham-I Want Your Sex)
1963 Mike Myers Canada, comedian (SNL-Wayne's World)

Deaths which occurred on June 25:
1212 Simon de Montfort a leader of the crusades, dies at 67
1483 - Edward V, king of England (Apr 9-Jun 25, 1483), murdered
1876 George A Custer, US general, dies at Little Bighorn
1876 Lame White Man, Cheyenne, dies at Little Bighorn
1906 Architect Stanford White shot dead atop Madison Square Garden which he designed by Harry Thaw jealous husband of Evelyn Nesbit
1959 Charles Starkwether executed
1960 Walter Baade astronomer, dies
1976 Johnny Mercer, US songwriter (That old Black Magic), dies at 66
1988 Axis Sally, [Mildred E Gillars], US nazi propagandist (WW II), dies
1995: Warren Burger, 15th chief justice of the United States, died in Washington of congestive heart failure at age 87.
1997 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French oceanographer, dies of heart attack at 87

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 MONGILARDI PETER JR. HALEDON NJ.
[REMAINS RETURNED ACCORDING TO SON 1994]
1966 MARIK CHARLES W. OAKLAND MO.
[GOOD CHUTE]
1972 SHUMWAY GEOFREY RAYMOND SKANEATELES NY.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
253 St Lucius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1096 - 1st Crusaders warm up for their Holy Land stint by slaughtering Jews of Werelinghofen Germany
1178 5 Canterbury monks report something exploding on Moon
1630 Fork introduced to American dining by Gov Winthrop
1638 A lunar eclipse becomes the 1st astronomical event recorded in US
1672 1st recorded monthly Quaker meeting in US held, Sandwich, Mass
1749 General fast because of drought in MA
1788 Virginia becomes 10th state to ratify US constitution
1798 US passes Alien Act allowing president to deport dangerous aliens
1835 1st building constructed at Yerba Buena (now SF)
1862 Day 1 of the 7 Days begins with fighting at Oak Grove
1864 Petersburg Campaign-Federals begin digging tunnels under Reb lines
1868 FL, AL, LA, GA, NC & SC readmitted to US
1870 - Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walkure" is produced (Munich)
1876 Custer & 7th Cavalry wiped out by Sioux & Cheyenne at Little Big Horn
1888 Republican Convention, in Chicago, nominates Benjamin Harrison
1903 Yanks & White Sox end deadlocked at 6-6 in 18
1910 - Congress passes the Mann Act, The law made it illegal to "transport any woman or girl" across state lines "for any immoral purpose."
1919 1st advanced monoplane airliner flight (Junkers F13)
1921 Jack Hutchinson becomes 1st American to win golf's British Open
1924 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1023 Thomana
1928 NY Giant Fred Lindstrom ties record of 9 hits in a doubleheader
1929 Pres Hoover authorizes building of Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)
1934 Yank pitcher John Broaca ties record by striking out 5 times
1935 Joe Louis defeats Primo Carnera at Yankee Stadium
1937 Cub Augie Galan becomes 1st player to switch hit HRs in a game
1938 Federal minimum wage law guarantees workers 40 per hour
1941 FDR issues Executive Order 8802 forbidding discrimination
1942 British RAF staged a 1,000 bomb raid on Bremen Germany (WW II)
1948 Joe Louis KOs Jersey Joe Walcott in 11 to reatain championship
1950 Israeli airline El Al begins service
1950 Korean conflict begins; N Korea invades S Korea
1951 1st color TV broadcast-CBS' Arthur Godfrey from NYC to 4 cities
1953 1st passenger to fly commercially around the world < 100 hours
1953 86ø F in Anchorage Alaska (more proof of global warming)
1956 51 die in collision of "Andrea Doria" & "Stockholm" (Cape Cod)
1957 Final Hudson automobile is built. As American Motors concentrates on the Rambler
1961 Balt & Calif use a record 16 pitchers in a game (8 each) in 14 inns
1961 Iraq announces that Kuwait is a part of Iraq (Kuwait disagrees)
1961 Yankee's Roger Maris hits his 40th of 61 HRs
1962 Supreme Court rules NY school prayer unconstitutional
1962 Yankee Jack Reed's 22nd inning HR wins a 7 hour game
1966 Beatles' "Paperback Writer," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
1966 Kosmos 122, 1st Soviet weather satellite, launched
1967 400 million watch Beatles "Our World" TV special
1968 Bobby Bonds hits a grand slam in his 1st major league game (Giants)
1969 Longest tennis match in Wimbeldon history, Pancho Gonzalez beats Charles Pasarell in 112 game (5hr12m) marathon
1972 Berenice Gera becomes 1st female umpire in pro baseball
1973 John Dean begins testimony before Senate Watergate Committee
1973 Udo Beyer of East Germany puts the shot a record 20.47 m
1975 Mozambique gains independence from Portugal (National Day)
1977 LBJ denies report he had a cancer during his presidency
1977 Roy C Sullivan of Va is struck by lightening for 7th time!
1978 Argentina beats Holland 3-1 in soccer's 11th World Cup at Buenos Aires
1979 E F Helin & S J Bus discovers asteroid #2343 Siding Spring,
#2392 Jonathan Murray, #2441 Hibbs, #2618 Coonabarabran,
#2619 Skalnate Pleso, #2628 Kopal, #2682 Soromundi,
#2704 Julian Loewe, #3129 Bonestell, #3205 & #3756
1981 Supreme Court upholds male-only draft registration, constitutional
1982 Porn star John Holmes acquitted on murder charges
1982 Sec of State Alexander Haig Jr resigns, replaced by Schultz
1982 SF holds its 1st County Fair
1983 Udo Beyer of East Germany sets record for shot put, 22.22 m
1984 STS 41-D launch attempt scrubbed because of computer problem
1985 Fireworks factory near Hallett, OK explodes (21 die)
1987 Pope John Paul II receives Austrian Pres Kurt Waldheim
1989 1st US postmark dedicated to Lesbian & Gay Pride (Stonewall, NYC)
1990 120ø F in Phoenix Arizona
1990 NBC decides to air episodes of "Quantum Leap" for 5 straight days
1991 Slovenia & Croatia declare independence from Yugoslavia
1996 - A truck bomb killed 19 U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia. Several hundred more people were injured.
1997 - Montserrat's Soufriere Hills Volcano, after lying dormant for 400 years, erupted, wiping out two-thirds of the Caribbean island and forcing most of the population to relocate.
2001 - Pope John Paul II, on a visit to Ukraine, offered a prayer for Holocaust victims at Babi Yar.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Gibraltar : Spring Bank Holiday
Mozambique : Independence Day (1975)
Virginia : Ratification Day (1788)
Newfoundland : Discovery Day (1497-John Cabot) - - - - - ( Monday )
National Accordion Awareness Month

Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Prosper
RC : Commemoration of St William, abbot
Luth : Commemoration of the Augsburg Confession
Luth : Commemoration of Philipp Melanchthon, renewer of the Church

Religious History
1115 St. Bernard founded a monastery in Clairvaux, France. It afterward became a strategic center for the Cistercians, a religious order that flourished up until the Reformation.
1580 The German 'Book of Concord' was published, containing all the official confessions of the Lutheran Church. (English translations of the entire work were not available before 1851.)
1744 The first Methodist conference convened, in London. This new society within Anglicanism imposed strict disciplines upon its members, formally separating from the Established Church in 1795.
1865 English pioneer missionary J. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission. Its headquarters moved to the US in 1901, and in 1965 its name became Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International.
1957 During a convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the United Church of Christ (UCC) was formed by a merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop."

SITREP:IRAQ
Soldiers For The Truth ^ | 06-23-03 | Major Eric Rydbom

Posted on 06/23/2003 8:27 PM CDT by Stuckathome

06-23-2003

Sitrep: Iraq

Editor's Note: This is an open letter from U.S. Army Maj. Eric Rydbom in Iraq to the First Lutheran Church of Richmond Beach in Shoreline, Wash. Rydbom is Deputy Division Engineer of the 4th Infantry Division.

It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't sell.

The stuff you don't hear about on CNN?

Let's start with electrical power production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0 power being generated in Iraq. Just 45 days later, in a partnership between the Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now 3200 megawatts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national potential of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv) are being repaired and are about 70 percent complete.

Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, water treatment was spotty at best. The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for sediment settling (the Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi River) were in very short supply or not used at all. When chlorine was used, it was metered by the scientific method of guessing.

So some people got pool water to drink and some people got water with lots of little things floating around in it. We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to facilities that are only 50 percent or less operational are being let, chemicals are being delivered, although we don't have the metering problem solved yet ( ... but again, it's only been 45 days).

How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people! They have no other income, they produce nothing else. Oil is 95 percent of the Iraqi GNP. For this nation to survive, it must sell oil.

The Refinery at Bayji is [operating] at 75 percent of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk (Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what all Iraqis use to cook and heat with, is at 103 percent of normal production and we, the U.S. Army, are ensuring it is being distributed fairly to all Iraqis.

You have to remember that only three months ago, all these things were used by the Saddam regime as weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks stopped, water was turned off, power was turned off.

Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi people. Crude oil is being stored and the country is at 75 percent capacity right now. They need to export or stop pumping soon, so thank the U.N. for the delay.

All LPG goes to the Iraqi people everywhere. Water is being purified as best it can be, but at least its running all the time to everyone.

Are we still getting shot at? Yep.

Are American soldiers still dying? Yep, about one a day from my outfit, the 4th Infantry Division, most in accidents, but dead is dead.

If we are doing all this for the Iraqis, why are they shooting at us?

The general Iraqi population isn't shooting at us. There are still bad guys who won't let go of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi Party, but not as nice) who have known nothing but and supported nothing but the regime all of their lives. These are the thugs for the regime who caused many to disappear in the night. They have no other skills. At least the Nazis [in Germany] had jobs and a semblance of a national infrastructure that they could go back to after the war, as plumbers, managers, engineers, etc. These people have no skills but terror. They are simply applying their skills ... and we are applying ours.

There is no Christian way to say this, but they must be eliminated and we are doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at literally everyday by small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs). We respond. One hundred percent of the time, the Ba''ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick.

The most amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things more quickly and then leave back to the land of the Big PX. The more they shoot at us, the longer we will have to stay.

Lastly, all of you please realize that 90 percent of the damage you see on TV was caused by Iraqis, not by us and not by the war. Sure, we took out a few bridges from military necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to disrupt communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government headquarters buildings with 2000 lb. laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), [but] he had plenty to spare.

But, any damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities, refineries, pipelines, was all caused either by the Iraqi Army in its death throes or from much of the Iraqi civilians looting the places.

Could we have prevented it? Nope.

We can and do now, but 45 days ago, the average soldier was fighting for his own survival and trying to get to his objectives as fast as possible. He was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop 1,000 people from looting and burning a building by himself.

The United States and our allies, especially Great Britain, are doing a very noble thing here. We stuck our necks out on the world's chopping block to free an entire people from the grip of a horrible terror that was beyond belief.

I've already talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death - bottom line, who cares? This country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days than the U.S. Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (remember, this is a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we came here. If we find it great if we don't, so what?

I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500-acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the street and out into the countryside five miles away like I have and see all the families of 10 or more, all living in mud huts and herding the two dozen sheep on which their very existence depends ...then tell me why you think we are here.

WMD is an important issue. We have to find them wherever they may be (in Syria?), but that is not our real motivator. Don't let it be yours either.

Respectfully,

ERIC RYDBOM MAJOR, ENGINEER Deputy Division Engineer 4th Infantry Division

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