Jeff Shaara: The Frozen Hours

On September 15, a force of nearly forty thousand American Marines and soldiers surges ashore at the port city. Facing almost no opposition, they capture Inchon in a matter of hours. The next phase of the invasion begins: crossing the Han River, and liberating the South Korean capital of Seoul. If Seoul can be swept clear of North Korean troops, MacArthur’s forces will drive farther inland, cutting off the North Korean troops still waging war along the Pusan Perimeter. There, Walton Walker’s Eighth Army is to begin a hard push of their own, a breakout designed to throw the North Korean forces into disarray. If Walker succeeds, the North Koreans will retreat northward, directly into the arms of the forces moving inland from Inchon.

An ecstatic MacArthur reacts to his success by predicting the war’s end in a matter of weeks. To many in his command, he has elevated himself to a position of infallibility, a view not shared by official Washington, including President Truman. But victory inspires confidence, and no one is prepared to take anything away from Douglas MacArthur, including his absolute authority over the decisions that will determine the progress of the war.

As the Americans and their allies build up their military presence in South Korea, the Soviets keep a watchful eye on events, seemingly grateful they stayed away. But the Chinese observe as well, anxiously curious what MacArthur’s success might mean for Chinese sovereignty.

OLIVER P. SMITH

Born 1893, in Menard, Texas, Smith attends the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1916. He is first employed by the Standard Oil Company, but Smith understands the appeal of travel and so, in 1917, he joins the Marine Corps and receives a commission as second lieutenant.

In 1917, Smith marries Esther King, and within three years she gives birth to two daughters.

Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, Smith serves in a vast variety of posts, including Guam, France, Haiti, and Iceland, and domestic bases at Fort Benning, Georgia, and Quantico, Virginia.

In 1936, his reputation as an academic is enhanced significantly by his post as instructor at the Marine Corps School at Quantico, Virginia. Nicknamed the Professor, he is considered scholarly and rule-bound, though is highly respected as an expert on amphibious warfare. For the first three years of World War II, Smith remains in Washington, in command of the office of Plans and Policy. But his reputation for efficiency lands him posts in the Pacific Theater, participating in operations at New Britain and Cape Gloucester. In 1944, he is named assistant commander of the First Marine Division and leads his forces onto the beaches at Peleliu, in one of the bloodiest Marine engagements of the war. In spring 1945, he serves as chief of staff to the American Tenth Army during the campaign for the capture of Okinawa.

After the war, he returns to Quantico, is named commandant of the Marine Corps schools, and continues his duties as an instructor. In 1948, he is named chief of staff for the Marine Corps, and assistant commandant.

In June 1950, Smith receives command of the First Marine Division, which includes four regiments and is the sole Marine force sent to Korea in response to the invasion by the North. Unlike many of the army’s forces already in Korea, and those hastily assembled to answer the threat, Smith knows his Marines are well trained, many of them veterans of World War II. If the tide is to be turned against the North Koreans, Smith knows his Marines must bear a significant part of the load. As plans for MacArthur’s invasion of Inchon take shape, it is Smith’s Marines who will lead the assault.

On September 16, 1950, Smith observes the ongoing invasion from the command ship, USS Mount McKinley, along with the rest of the Allied high command, including MacArthur. After only a single day, the advance has secured most of Inchon, and has driven more than five miles inland. Smith then does what he has done on so many landing zones in the Pacific. He moves among his men, surveys the faces, the mood, the buoyant morale, all the while holding to the agonizing hope that their astonishing good fortune will continue.

PETER “PETE” RILEY

Born in 1923 in York Springs, Pennsylvania, Riley is an only child. He grows up in the orchard country of south central Pennsylvania, gaining a deep appreciation of the land and its bounty. His family struggles through the Depression and Riley is forced to find work in the orchards. He does not complete high school. In 1940, with little hope for a better job, Riley enlists in the Marine Corps.

When the war breaks out in December 1941, he is in Marine boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. His first assignment places him with the Third Defense Battalion at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where he is witness to the grotesque aftermath of the Japanese attack. Chafing to participate in the campaigns in the Pacific, he finally receives assignment to the Seventh Marine Regiment in June 1943. He participates in severe combat on New Britain, Peleliu, and Okinawa, where he meets and forms a lasting friendship with Hamilton Welch. Both men continue in service to the Corps after the war’s end, when the First Division is assigned to occupation duty in China. In late 1945, as a result of the massive downsizing of the American military, Riley and Welch are both ordered to civilian life.

Riley returns to Pennsylvania and marries high school sweetheart Ruthie Biesecker. They settle in the small orchard community of Arendtsville, where once again Riley returns to the tedious labor of the fruit orchards and processing plants. In November 1946, Ruthie gives birth to a son.

In June 1950, with the sudden breakout of fighting in Korea, Riley responds to calls for veteran Marines and reenlists, reuniting with his friend Welch. He is assigned to Fox Company, the Seventh Marine Regiment, First Marine Division. His commanding officer is Oliver P. Smith. Like many who reenlist, Riley is not completely certain just where Korea is, or just what the Marines are expected to do there.

SUNG SHI-LUN

Born 1907, in Hunan Province, China. As a young man, he attends the Whampoa Military Academy, Guangzhou, China, graduates with high honors, attracting considerable attention from his superiors. As part of his lessons at the academy, he learns rudimentary English.

Sung despises politics, and with the country embroiled in conflicts from the heavy-handed corruption of Chiang Kai-shek’s government, Sung is disgusted by the abuses he witnesses on both local and national levels. He considers himself a patriot to China and willingly joins the army of Mao Tse-tung, embarking on the struggle to rid the country of Chiang’s despotic rule.

In 1934, he participates in the Long March, Mao’s desperate gamble to escape Chiang’s military forces. The march, more accurately a military retreat, covers more than five thousand miles and requires a full year. Much of Mao’s strength and support comes from the vast numbers of peasants he champions, waging war against Chiang’s machine of corruption and betrayal of the Chinese people, bolstered by guns and money from the West. Those who survive the march pledge a loyalty to Mao that is unshakable, and Mao’s command of the Communist Revolution in China becomes unquestioned.

During the vicious struggle against Chiang’s forces, Sung is promoted multiple times and builds a well-earned reputation for combat, leading troops in a number of bloody campaigns. In 1949, when Mao’s final victory secures control of all mainland China, Chiang flees to the island of Formosa, now Taiwan, where Chiang establishes his republic as a government in exile. Mao’s victory is celebrated by communist governments the world over, and adds greatly to the lore that Mao espouses, that the communists are certain to achieve a worldwide revolution.