United States in the Korean War

The military history of the United States in Korea began after the defeat of Japan by the Allied Powers in World War II.

[1] At the conclusion of World War II the Allied nations began the process of disarmament of Axis controlled regions.

In 1945, the decision was made to have American Marines forces oversee Japanese surrender and disarmament south of the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union would facilitate the change of power to the north.

Incheon is 25 miles from Seoul on the coast and only once during September is the water even deep enough to allow the 29 foot draft of American LSTs.

On September 15 the 1st Marine Division landed at the port city, taking the defending North Koreans completely by surprise, and by the end of the night over a third of Incheon was taken back.

[15][16] [17][18] As of 2023, The total number of MIAs and Unaccounted Remains is 7,428 [19] During the mid-1940s, Germany and Japan were both at a desperate state caused by World War II.

The American government turned to Japan for the favor, which eventually stimulated the manufacturing factories that were in jeopardy due to damage caused by World War II.

A controversial event in the war domestically was when President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur in April 1951.

In addition to these controversial events, the topic of nuclear weapons caused widespread debate among world leaders.

General Douglas MacArthur was a large proponent for the use of atomic weapons as he pushed for all-out war in Korea.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff were President Truman’s top military officials who offered a different perspective, thus they were very against the use of atomic weapons to end the conflict.

[21] These advisors aimed to end the war in a way that would not cause further conflicts for the United States, so they had to approach the situation with caution.

[23] America’s NATO allies, specifically Great Britain, were very opposed to the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict in Korea.

[24] These relationships had a heavy influence on U.S. decision-making, thus playing a large role in the decision to not use nuclear weapons in order to avoid further controversy.

[25] The United States needed to maintain positive relationships with her European allies as there was the looming threat of a future war with the Soviet Union which would have required an immense amount of support.