The Korean War officially started on June 25, 1950 when North Korea suddenly invaded South Korea. Many of the North Korean troops had extensive battle experience, having fought on the side of the communists in the late 1940s during China’s civil war. The South Koreans, however, had much less combat training and were pushed all the way down the Korean peninsula to Pusan. During this attack, a United Nations force consisting of a large contingent of American units under the command of General Douglas MacArthur had entered the war, but they were unsuccessful in halting the advance.

In September, MacArthur led a daring and brilliant amphibious landing at Inchon, a port about 22 miles from Seoul, South Korea’s capital. This allowed the Americans to push the North Korean army out of South Korea and all the way back to the Yalu River, North Korea’s border with China.

Across the Yalu, the Chinese were poised to engage the American forces. MacArthur assured President Truman that China would not attack, but in November 1950 he was proven wrong as 200,000 Chinese troops charged into North Korea. Following this miscalculation and repeated disputes with MacArthur, the president asked the general for his resignation in April 1951.

Now under the command of General Matthew Ridgway, the UN forces stabilized the front along the 38th parallel, and by the summer of 1951, the war had assumed the pattern it would follow until it ended — bloody clashes in the hills and trenches separating the forces. Though representatives of the opposing sides began meeting in peace talks in July 1951, it would take them over two years to sign an armistice, and meanwhile, hundreds of thousands more died.

I arrived in Korea in June 1951, having been called up from the reserves. I met Lee Miller while we both served as rifle platoon leaders in I Company, 31st Infantry, 7th Division. We got to know one another pretty well and became good friends, not only fighting together in combat, but spending hours sitting around talking, planning missions, playing cards, even going on R&R together in Tokyo. Those are the kind of friendships that you never forget. By the way, I’m portrayed in the book by Lt. Jake Watts.

I had no idea that Lee recalled virtually everything that anyone had said to him and had taken so many pictures until I read this book and saw his photo album! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read it until after his death, but I’ve enjoyed it tremendously…it’s brought back so many memories.