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

"What occurred to me, Howe," MacArthur went on, "is that Hannibal, Napoleon, and Roosevelt had-and Presi-dent Truman now has-something I don't, and, I am now convinced, I really should have."

"What's that, sir?"

"And, come to think of it, that General Montgomery was wise enough to have during his campaigns in the Second War: experienced, trusted officers-aides-de-camp in the historical sense of the term-who moved around the bat-tlefield as his eyes and ears, and reported to him what they thought he should know, as differentiated from telling him what they think he would like to hear."

"Yes, sir, I suppose that's true."

"I don't know where I am going to find such officers to fulfill that role for me-it will have to be someone who is not presently on my staff-but I will. And just as soon as I can."

Here it comes.

But what did that "it will have to be someone who is not presently on my staff" crack mean?

"I'm sure that you would find that useful, sir."

"In the meantime, Howe, with the understanding that I am fully aware that your reports to President Truman enjoy the highest possible level of confidentiality, and that I would not ask you to violate that confidence in any way, I sent Colonel Huff to Haneda to ask you to come to see me in the hope that you would be able to share with me what you saw, and felt, in Korea."

The sonofabitch wants me to tell him what I'm reporting to Truman. Jesus Christ!

"I can see on your face that the idea makes you uncom-fortable, Howe, and I completely understand that. Let me bring you up to date on what has happened since you've been in Korea, to give you an idea what I'm interested in, and then I will ask you some questions. If you feel free to answer them, fine. If you don't, I will understand."

"Yes, sir," Howe said.

"I don't think I managed to convince General Collins that the Inchon invasion is the wisest course of action to take-" MacArthur interrupted himself, went to his desk and pulled open a drawer, took out a radio teletype mes-sage, and then walked around the desk and handed it to Howe. "Read this, Howe."

It was an eight-paragraph Top Secret "Eyes Only MacArthur" message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. MacArthur waited patiently until Howe had read it.

"Stripped of the diplomatic language, I think you will agree, Howe," MacArthur said, "that what that doesn't say is that the JCS approves of Inchon. That they agree with Collins that the invasion-and they don't even call it an `invasion' but rather a `turning operation'-should take place somewhere, preferably at Kunsan, but anywhere but Inchon."

"That's what it sounds like to me, sir," Howe agreed.

"But what it also doesn't say," MacArthur went on, `Is that I am being denied permission to make the Inchon landing. That suggests to me, frankly, that someone in Washington is reluctant to challenge my judgment about Inchon-and that someone is the President himself. Who else could challenge the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but the President? And why would the President, ab-sent advice he's getting from person or persons he trusts that I'm right about Inchon and General Collins is wrong, challenge the judgment of the JCS?"

I'll be damned. He knows-doesn't know, but has fig-ured out-that Pickering and I both messaged Truman that we think the Inchon invasion makes sense.

"I don't expect a reply to that, Howe," MacArthur said. "But let's say this: Absent orders to the contrary from the Commander-in-Chief, I will put ashore a two-division force at Inchon 15 September."

Howe looked at him, but didn't respond.

He must know that I'll message Truman that he said that. But Harry's no dummy. He knows that already.

"There are several interrelated problems connected with that," MacArthur said. "If you feel free to comment on them, I would welcome your observations. If you feel it would be inappropriate for you to do so, I will understand."

"Yes, sir?"

"The first deals with General Walker. I am sometimes, perhaps justifiably, accused of being too loyal to my subor-dinates. There has been some suggestion that otherwise I would have relieved General Walker."

"General, I'm not qualified to comment on the perform-ance of an Army commander."

"All right, I understand your position. But I hope you can answer this one for me. General Almond, for whom I have great respect, feels he needs the First Marine Division to lead the invasion. That means taking the 1st Marine Brigade-which is, as you know, essentially the Fifth Ma-rine Regiment, Reinforced-from Pusan, and assigning it-reassigning it-to the First Marine Division. General Walker, for whose judgment I have equal respect, states flatly that he cannot guarantee the integrity of his Pusan positions if he loses the 1st Marine Brigade to the invasion force-which has now been designated as X Corps, by the way. That problem is compounded by the fact that Gener-als Walker and Almond are not mutual admirers."

Howe looked at MacArthur without speaking.

"No comment again?" MacArthur asked.

"General, you're certainly not asking me for advice?"

"I suppose what I'm asking-the decision has been made, by the way-is what, if you were in my shoes, you would have done."

"I can only offer what any smart second lieutenant could suggest, General, that you had to make a decision between which was more important, a greater risk to the Pusan perimeter by pulling the Marines out of there, or a greater risk to the Inchon invasion because the Marines were short a regiment."

"And what do you think your hypothetical second lieu-tenant would decide?"

Howe met MacArthur's eyes for a moment before reply-ing.

`To send the Marines to Inchon, sir."

"And Major General Howe, after seeing what he saw in the Pusan perimeter?"

`To send the Marines to Inchon, sir," Howe said.

"History will tell us, I suppose, whether the hypothetical second lieutenant, the aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, and the commander forced to make the decision were right, won't it? X Corps will land at Inchon with the full-strength First Marine Division as the vanguard."

MacArthur picked up the coffee pitcher and added some to Howe's cup, then refreshed his own.

"There's one more delicate question, Howe, that you may not wish to answer."

"Yes, sir?"

"It has come to the attention of my staff that our friend Fleming Pickering has mounted one of his clandestine op-erations. I don't know how reliable the information my staff has is, but there is some concern that it might in some way impact on Inchon."

In other words, Charley Willoughby's snoops have heard something-how much?-about the Flying Fish Channel operation. Why should that be a surprise? They've been fol-lowing us around the way the KGB followed me around at Potsdam.

"I thought perhaps this operation might be connected with Pickering's son," MacArthur went on. "Who is not just a Marine aviator, but the son of the CIA's Director of Asian Operations."

So why don't you ask Pickering yourself?

"General Pickering doesn't tell me much about his CIA covert operations, General," Howe said. "But I'm sure there's more than one of them, any-or all-of which might have an impact on Inchon. If any of them did, I'm sure he would tell you."

"Well, perhaps after you tell him-you will tell him?- that the Inchon invasion is on, he'll come to me. If he has something to come to me with."

"I will tell him, General," Howe said.

MacArthur put his coffee cup down.

"Thank you for coming to see me, and with such alacrity," MacArthur said.

Well, I have just been dismissed.

How much did I give him that I should not have?

"I hope it was worth your time, General," Howe said.

MacArthur put his hand on Howe's shoulder and guided him to the door.

"Thank you again," he said, and offered him his hand.