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The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin: An Oral History

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Knox, Donald The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin
An Oral History

The joys of doing book reviews of this sort, and the dogged research necessary to prepare them, is a path fraught with unexpected pain and pleasure. So it was with this book. I was looking in my local library (Amherst, Massachusetts) for this copy of Knox's book when I found, to my shock, chagrin and unbounded pleasure, that a sequel exists. The sequel will be reviewed in a few days.
I was not aware such a sequel existed. I checked out the first copy of this book when I spent six months in Kunsan on assignment a few years ago. I have read Knox's first book no less than twenty times. A similar fate awaits the second......

In any case, Knox's Pusan to Chosin deserves close reading by all Korean War buffs. This book is not a first person account of one part of the war, which many narrative war histories consist of. Instead, it is a roving compilation of memories and narratives of the war by scores of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who fought in the wars's early months. Between early summer and Christmas, 1950, the front line between the combatants surged south to the dangerously vulnerable Pusan Perimeter, north to the Yalu, and finally back below the 38th parallel in the rout caused by Chinese intervention. The despair of the early retreats from Chonan, Pyongtaek, and Taejon stands in stark contrast to the brisk, confident advances after Inchon. Somehow Knox, while dancing around the Peninsula and across these broad tides of optimism and defeat, manages to produce not just a coherent story of the war, but a memorable one. He accomplishes this by allowing the men on the field to tell their story in parallel fashion. The reader sees the Inchon landings, the Pusan defenses, or the Chosin debacle through the eyes of dozens of infantry, officers, artillerymen, medics, or chaplains. In short, overlapping and interwoven narratives, the Korean War's earliest phases unfold briskly. Its almost like the author has the participants sitting around a table, years later, telling their stories to you directly. It is that gripping. Maps make the campaigns easy to follow.

Highlights Include:
-Captain Norman Allen's narratives about ITEM company north of the Naktong in central South Korea is excellent; with good sketches of the terrain (not just maps!), discussion of the uses and limits of artillery support, and the agonies that come from being a leader of men in war.
-Marine Lieutenant Frank Meutzel chewing out a supply officer in order to make sure he gets a new pair of combat boots. In a country where lieutenants used photocopied maps from the Japanese occupation, supplies were hard to find. Meutzel made the supply officer understand climbing those hills in Korea did a job on the soul and the sole.
-James Ransone's description of the tragedy suffered by task force Faith east of the Chosin reservoir. The Army brass does not make a good show for itself in these pages. Even given the circumstances that plagued task force Faith, the Army's collapse at Chosin is a stark contrast to the valour and orderly retreat of the USMC. </li>

This is the best military oral history I've ever read, and it's as close as you will get to having been there. Although there are interviews and statements from all ranks, the concentration at the company level made this book especially compelling in giving a sense of the daily combat for those hundreds of nameless hills in korea. It gave a real feeling of life and death to the thousands of men who were wounded and killed. The interviews on the first month of the war on being overrun and then forming the Pusan perimeter are particularly vivid. For anyone who is reads military history this is a must read.

I first met Frank Muetzel at my father's funeral. My father had been Muetzel's battalion executive officer. He recommended this book to me. I have read it many times since. I have read much military history -- am currently reading Ambrose's D-Day -- but nothing has come close to this book's ability to give the sense of being there -- the horror, the unremarked heroics, the irony, and the humor. It does far better than even recently released movies in putting one there.

This book was my introduction, appart from what little I was tought in school, to the Korean War. Knox does an excellent job of bringing the Korean War to life by letting the actual soldiers tell their tales. From the initial reaction of the troops in occupied Japan who were first sent there, to the bitter fighting at the Chosin Reservoir, Knox weaves an inthralling picture of what happened through the eyes of the soldiers who were actually there. If you are looking for a good narative that incompasses both the strategic and tactical aspect of the ground war in Korea, this is the book for you.

I like is book mainly because it gave me a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings the troops had in the different conficts of the Korean WAR.

I have review other books on the subject but I believe this book gives the reader a more personal look at this difficult time. It is worth the time to read and ponder the words. Thank you for a book well written.

The area of the book that I feel can be improved is a better matching of the military troop thoughts and the time frame of the conficts as to the duration of the WAR.

I became interested in the Korean War only after having joined the Army myself. My father fought in the war with the Army, but never talked about his role much, or what he went through. I bought Mr. Knox's book after glancing at it on the book store shelf. The first person accounts bring you right into the war. By allowing the participants to tell the story from the first-person the reader gets a 360 degree view of each battle. The book reads almost like fiction instead of history. I feel the adrenaline rush of battle, the exhaustion of victory and the frustration of grabbing that weapon for yet another 10 mile movement-to-contact without sleep. I feel the loss when one of the "characters" is taken away on a stretcher, knowing that I'll not be hearing from him again. I now have a slightly better understanding of what that dirty little "police action" was like. I don't think I'll be able to find many more books that can match the emotion of this.

I am a Army Cadet recently branched Aviaton and consider myself to dislike reading. This book is excellent. I can't wait to track down the sequel.