Griffin W.E.B. - The Corps 09 - Under Fire

"You have decided to make the Inchon invasion?"

"I hope to convince General Ridgway, and through him the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President, that not only would such an action bring this war to a satisfactory con-clusion very quickly, but also that it is the only way to avoid a lengthy and bloody conflict to drive the enemy from the Korean peninsula. The President committed the United States to the defense of South Korea, which means the defeat, total defeat, of North Korea's army. There is no substitute for victory, Fleming, as you are well aware."

"And you think that Ridgway is the key to JCS approval of Inchon?"

"Yes. And I don't see that as a problem. When I lay the operation on the table, he can't help but see-he has the reputation of being not only a fighter, but one of the finest brains in the Army-how it would cut the enemy's supply lines, leaving the troops now in South Korea unable to wage war, in a position where they can be annihilated."

"General, I'm way over my head here, but I understand there are problems involved in bringing an invasion fleet to Inchon."

"Ned Almond and I have considered them carefully," MacArthur said. "They can be overcome."

"Yes, sir," Pickering said.

"All of this is to bring a ray of hope-faint but real-into your painful situation," MacArthur said. "The situation as I see it is this: The North Koreans have failed to sweep us into the sea at Pusan. Walker's Eighth Army grows stronger by the day, and the enemy weaker. Willoughby believes, and I concur, that they are growing desperate. They will make every effort to continue their attack, and every day Walker will be better prepared to turn the attack. In that cir-cumstance, the movement of prisoners of war to North Ko-rea-if indeed they ever intended to do so-has a low priority.

"If Ned Almond can land with a two-division force at Inchon and cut the head of the dragon from its body-and I believe he can-then it is entirely possible that rapidly moving armored columns can sweep through the territory now held by the enemy and liberate our men from their prison compounds. In much the same way the First Cav-alry operated-you were there, you remember-when I returned to the Philippines."

"I remember," Pickering said.

That's more pissing in the wind. But right now, pissing in the wind is all I have.

"Your glass is empty, Fleming. Another?"

"Thank you, sir, but no."

"One more, Fleming, and then you can go. It will help you to sleep."

"All right," Pickering said. "Thank you."

[TWO]

Master Sergeant Charley Rogers was sitting in one of the armchairs in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel when Picker-ing walked into it. He was in civilian clothing, and there was a copy of Life magazine in his lap. He rose quickly and intercepted Pickering.

"Hello, Charley," Pickering said. "What's up?"

"General Howe thought maybe you'd feel up to a night-cap, General," Rogers said. "But he said it was a sugges-tion, not an order."

Howe has heard about MacArthur's limousine hauling me off.

"Sure," Pickering said. "Why not? How was dinner?"

"We went to a place that serves Kobe beef," Rogers said. "What that means is they massage the cattle to make it ten-der. The steaks were beautiful, cost an arm and a leg, and tasted like bread dough."

Pickering chuckled.

"I had ham and eggs for breakfast years ago in a hotel in-here, come to think of it, Yokohama-and it looked like a magazine advertisement. Just beautiful. But it was ice cold. They'd made it the night before and put it in the refrigerator."

Rogers smiled. "The CIA guy was here. Hart wasn't here, so I took the message. The CIA guy in Pusan got your message about McCoy."

"Thank you."

"How are you doing, General?"

Pickering shrugged.

"First, I feel sorry for my wife, then for me, and finally I get around to feeling sorry for my son. I think my priorities are screwed up."

"I lost a boy in War Two," Rogers said, and left it at that.

"Thank you for coming, Fleming," General Howe said. "Bullshit aside, I wondered what the Viceroy had to say." He turned to Rogers and signaled that he was to make Pickering a drink.

"He was very gracious about my son," Pickering said, "and I wondered how he found out. And then I got-now that I think about it-a very skillful pitch that I should do what I could to convince General Ridgway that Inchon makes sense."

"I got a message he and Harriman are in-I suppose were in-Hawaii. It was just a fuel stop," Howe said, and then asked, "What did he say about his going to see Chiang Kai-shek?"

"That the President misunderstood his intentions. He said he never wanted Chinese Nationalist troops because they'd have to be trained and equipped, and he went there solely to impress on the Communists that we were behind Chiang and wouldn't permit an invasion of Formosa."

"You believe him?"

Pickering nodded.

Master Sergeant Rogers handed him a drink. Pickering noticed that he'd made himself one.

Rogers is far more to Howe than an errand boy. What is that line, "Command is a lonely thing"? I guess the next step is "Even generals need friends."

I'll bet that when I get to my room, George Hart will be sitting there, waiting for me, wondering, worrying, where the hell I am.

"You mind if I message the President, and tell that to Harriman when he gets here?" Howe asked.

"No, of course not. I should have thought of messaging President Truman myself."

"You heard that, Charley," Howe said. "Find Sergeant Keller and have him get that off right now."

Rogers nodded.

"If you see Captain Hart, Charley," Pickering said. "He doesn't know where I went. Tell him I'm here."

"Ask him if he wants a drink, Charley," Howe ordered.

Rogers wordlessly left the room.

"You think he can carry it off, don't you?" Howe asked.

"The Inchon invasion?"

Howe nodded.

"Yes, I do," Pickering said.

"Right now, it's the Viceroy, that gang of sycophants around him, and you, versus the collective wisdom of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Howe said.

"I thought the Bible salesman had made a convert of you," Pickering said.

"I've been thinking about that," Howe said. "I started thinking about McCoy and Taylor. What that is, really, Fleming, is two junior officers, a squad of Marines, and maybe two squads of Korean policemen taking two small islands. The invasion can't succeed unless they succeed. On solemn reflection, that seems to be a lousy way to stage an invasion."

"What makes it worse," Pickering agreed, "is that Tay-lor's idea makes a hell of a lot more sense than what the Dai-Ichi planners want to do: take the islands on D Minus One."

Howe looked at him intently for a moment.

"Having granted my point, you still think it will work?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Is that what they call `faith'? As in `faith in God' or `faith in the Viceroy'?" Howe challenged, pleasantly.

Or maybe I think it will work because I desperately want it to work, so that one of El Supremo's armored flying columns can liberate Pick from a POW camp?

No. That's not it. I think it will work because MacArthur says it will. I thought that before tonight, even before Pick got shot down.

"I'd like to think it's a calm, professional judgment, but since I'm not really a professional, and with my son miss-ing, I don't suppose I'm thinking very calmly-clearly- either."

Howe opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when the door opened and George Hart came in.

"That was quick, George," Pickering said.

"Something was said about a drink," Hart said, and then blurted, "When I came back from the movie, and you weren't in the suite..."

My God, he was really worried about me!

"You must be the only man in the hotel who didn't know that Colonel Huff carried me off to meet with MacArthur," Pickering said.