Jeff Shaara - The Frozen Hours

He is medically discharged from the Marine Corps in September 1951. For his extraordinary actions on Fox Hill, Hector Cafferata is awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman in November 1952.

He dies in 2016, in Venice, Florida, at age eighty-six.

GENERAL SUNG SHI-LUN

Despite the lessons he absorbs from his failures against the Americans and Allies during the Chosin campaign, Sung reluctantly follows instructions from Peking, that the strategy of all-out confrontation should continue. The Chinese launch several offensives against Allied positions in the South, absorbing an astonishing number of casualties. Sung continues to lead his troops in what soon become hopeless assaults against an increasingly better-equipped enemy. The resulting stalemates and the slow churn of victories for the Allies provide momentum that leads eventually to the protracted peace talks.

In 1954, Sung maintains his rank, is widely regarded as one of China’s finest military tacticians, which he does not publicly dispute, though he is quietly grateful he is never again called upon to lead an army in the field.

He retires from the army in 1969, returns to his home in Shanghai, avoids the purge of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which removes so many prominent military officials from their positions, including Sung’s friend and mentor, Peng Dehuai.

In 1989, during the violent protests that take place in Tiananmen Square, he bravely speaks out against his government’s oppressive tactics. “Since the People’s Army belongs to the people, it cannot stand against the people, nor kill the people. It must not fire on the people and cause bloodshed.” His protest is ignored.

He dies in 1991, at age eighty-four, and is buried in Shanghai.

MAJOR DMITRI ORLOV

Though Sung Shi-lun harbors nagging suspicions about Orlov throughout his presence with the Ninth Army Group, Sung is never made aware that his suspicions are accurate. Orlov the “observer” is a far more influential member of Stalin’s military, and is in fact not a major, but a major general in the Soviet army. Orlov returns to Peking in late December 1950, where he quietly supports Sung’s fading reputation, which adds considerably to Sung’s longevity in the Chinese military. Orlov returns to Moscow in February 1951 and reports to Stalin on conditions and tactics of the Chinese army, which does nothing to bolster Stalin’s enthusiasm for joining in the war as allies of the Chinese.

But Orlov’s observations about the inherent weakness of Chinese efforts points to the utter lack of air support, something Stalin begins to take seriously. Though Soviet MiG fighters have been deployed to bases in Manchuria as early as November 1950, their pilots are primarily North Korean and Chinese. Orlov’s observations convince Stalin to discreetly assign a larger number of Soviet pilots to the air war, though the Soviets do not officially reveal their involvement.

Orlov continues in service to the Soviet army until Stalin’s death in March 1953. Though Orlov attempts to keep clear of the political turmoil that follows, he is considered Stalin’s man, and is thus forced into retirement. He lives out his life in Ukraine, with his wife, Anya, and dies in 1985, at age eighty-one.

GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

Arguably one of the most colorful and popular military commanders in American history, he is never far from severe controversy. Though he will always have his admirers, some fanatically so, his critics are equally passionate in their disregard for the man’s skills as a strategist. Never to be regarded as open-minded, MacArthur’s utter disregard for the viewpoints of his superiors becomes his undoing. His distaste for following counsel or eventually orders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff causes enormous friction between his command in Tokyo and Washington, but MacArthur possesses an almost magical ability to intimidate, so much so that his superiors feel powerless to interfere in his control of the United Nations forces in Korea. His brilliant gamble that results in enormous success at Inchon only cements his authority, and inspires him to believe utterly in his own genius.

He is betrayed by many of those who serve him, including most prominently his intelligence officers, which fail completely to understand who or what kind of enemy they are facing in Korea. Fed blatantly erroneous reports by officers who seek only to gain his praise, MacArthur is not completely at fault for the astounding lack of awareness of Chinese intervention in the war, at a time when men on the front lines, including Oliver P. Smith, see a very different war than is being described to them from above.

It is MacArthur’s blithe dismissal of his president, Harry Truman, that causes his ultimate downfall. The two men generally despise each other, but Truman begins to understand that MacArthur’s dislike extends much further, into a general disregard for Truman’s authority as commander in chief. Though Truman tolerates MacArthur’s arrogance, he cannot ignore the potential danger that MacArthur’s belief in his own authority might portend for the country. MacArthur speaks openly of the use of nuclear weapons against either China or the Soviet Union, and though Truman reluctantly concedes that possibility, it is not a stance the president is willing to speak of publicly. MacArthur, on the contrary, is far more indiscreet in recommending an all-out war against China, which would include massive invasions of the Chinese mainland. That policy is not viewed favorably by either Truman or America’s allies, most notably the British, who begin to see MacArthur as a dangerously uncontrollable force.

The final straw comes for Truman when it is learned in Washington that MacArthur has privately expressed to officials from both Spain and Portugal that he was willing to order the invasion of China without full authorization from Washington. Though MacArthur disputes that account, it is a possibility that Truman cannot chance. Though he understands MacArthur’s enormous public popularity, Truman makes the decision that relieving him is a political gamble Truman must take. Despite the sudden reluctance by the Joint Chiefs, who seem anxious to defuse the controversy by minimizing MacArthur’s perceived crimes as nothing more than errors in judgment, Truman feels he has no alternative. On April 11, 1951, Truman relieves MacArthur of his command and replaces him with General Matthew Ridgway. A political firestorm erupts across the United States, newspapers and congressmen who support MacArthur calling for Truman’s ouster. Truman’s popularity rating drops to barely more than 20 percent, the lowest for any sitting president in United States history. For a long week, there is considerable anxiety in the Truman White House that MacArthur might ignore the order, and there is talk in Washington that MacArthur might in fact rally his enormous support and march on Washington, inserting himself in command of the government. But such talk seems overblown when MacArthur leaves Tokyo and returns home on April 18. He is then invited to address a joint session of Congress, during which he offers the now-famous quote, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” It is a moment of drama rarely equaled in American history. Support rallies around the general for a run for the presidency, and MacArthur joins the campaign in 1952. But his lack of campaigning skills and his political support cannot match that shown for another heroic general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who wins a landslide victory.

In 1952, MacArthur and his wife, Jean, move into the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, and later that year he is elected chairman of the board of the Remington Rand Corporation. Still respected for his vast military experience, he is sought out for counsel by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. He vigorously advises the latter two men against involvement in Vietnam.