Bud Hannings - The Korean War: An Exhaustive Chronology (3 Vol. Set)

Bud Hannings has done a masterful job in providing current and future generations with what can accurately be called the most complete and authoritative chronology ever compiled about the Korean War. All who read it will understand and fully comprehend why those who endured this most difficult confiict chafe when the war is referred to as a Police Action.

The Korean War: An Exhaustive Chronology is a superbly and skillfully written compendium of the often-called Forgotten War. It tells of the extreme hardships and privations suffered by the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines on the ground, in the air and at sea as they struggle to stem the tide of a seemingly unstoppable enemy. This is not a book on grand strategy. Rather, its primary focus is on the extraordinary achievements of small units and individuals.

The confiict began on June 25, 1950, when without warning tens of thousands of North Koreans surged over the border into South Korea and only one American soldier stood in their way as they attacked towards Seoul. This chronology begins when a scant American Task Force is sent to Korea from nearby Japan to become the first U.S. unit to engage the enemy. It then chronicles the other units that follow from Japan and the United States, as well as from other countries that participated under the fiag of the United Nations.

A desperate withdrawal quickly followed the initial invasion as the friendly forces pulled back from the 38th Parallel towards Pusan. The U.S. Marines arrived there during early August to bolster the U.S. Eighth Army as it battled for survival. Soon after, during September, as part of the strategic plan to conduct an amphibious assault against Inchon, the U.S. Eighth Army initiated its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter.

The book chronicles the perilous landing of the U.S. Marines at Inchon on 15 September, the subsequent drive to recapture Seoul, and the simultaneous advance of the U.S. Eighth Army as it moved to join the U.S. X Corps. From there, the book chronicles the U.S. X Corps as the cruel Korean winter set in, as if synchronized with the crossing of the Yalu River by the Chinese armies.

Of particular significance is the fierce and difficult combat under the worst possible weather conditions after the U.S. Marines became surrounded by hordes of Chinese at the Chosin Reservoir. During their movement to Hungnam, the reader is reminded of Admiral Chester Nimitzs famous comment during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, Uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Throughout this spectacular three-volume work, the reader will encounter the setbacks, the triumphs, and the agonies of the fighting men on the ground, moving from foxhole to

foxhole, rice paddy to rice paddy and hill to hill. Readers may better understand the thrill of being in the cockpit of a Corsair being catapulted from the deck of a U.S. Navy carrier or the clamor in the turret of a naval gun. They can also crawl alongside a dirty infantryman, the Queen of Battle, during a tortuous advance against an enemy machine gun or invincible tank. Eventually, readers will join in the negotiations at Panmunjom during the final days of the confiict when the repatriated United Nations forces arrive at Freedom Village.

Readers can then close the cover with the knowledge that those who served in Korea upheld the highest traditions of the American fighting men, while accomplishing a dual set

of noble achievementsthe containment of Communism and the sharing of one of their most cherished possessions: freedom.

No one who reads this book will ever think of the Korean War as the Forgotten War. And no one will ever forget the sacrifices that were borne by Americans and their counterparts from the United Nations. The Americans who served in the Korean War, like those who came before them and those that followed, all have additional bonds: the instinctive nature of their privilege to defend their country and their fiag and their determination to share their valor in the defense of others seeking freedom from tyranny.