Had a great day but that's neither here nor there. Got some good deals in trade. Feeling limber. Exploring new artsy app.
Am finishing up a book written by a Marine who did a tour in Korea 1952-53. Very detailed with regard to tactics. He was a corporal squad leader. Went on to write several histories.
Much debated... like Vietnam, a terrible waste or they held the line. The awful thing is that it became, after the communists turned back and then the red Chinese entry, a war of attrition. A throwback to the trench warfare that everyone agreed they never wanted to participate in again. Also, truce negotiations were going on all throughout '52 and '53... who wants to be the last one to die when they call a ceasefire?
That's Colonel L.B. "Chesty" Puller above. Upon the Chinese crossing the Yalu and bottling up the Marine withdrawal at the Chosin Reservoir, he said, "We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem." Marines, when called to do 10 push-ups will hear, "And one more for Chesty!"
Of course the most notorious issue was MacArthur's firing in April, 1951 over the use (or Truman's restraint from) of nuclear weapons. But the story does not deal with command crises; it's all on the company level.
Naturally, MASH has made its imprint. I did not like the TV show and have only ever seen the occasional rerun. Alan Alda a mealy-mouthed actor and the scripts dull. Loved Robert Altman's film circa 1970. Spearchucker!
As I bare my soul on this blog, is this what it's like. Nekid afore ye world? I guess so.
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