[377] See Ridgway’s Declaration of Faith, Chapter 1.

These lines would have made a fitting epitaph for Marines who gave their lives in Korea. They had as worthy a cause as any fighting men of our history, for it had become increasingly plain since World War II that a stand must eventually be made against Communist encroachments. By going halfway around the world to fight the enemy on his own doorstep, Americans may well have spared themselves a more bloody and costly future struggle nearer to their own homeland if not actually on their own soil. The designs of Red China and Soviet Russia were unmasked in Korea, and the people of the United States awakened to their peril after neglecting the Nation’s defenses since 1945. To that extent, therefore, the operations in Korea were a defeat for Communism.


APPENDIX A
Glossary of Technical Terms and Abbreviations


APPENDIX B
Effective Strength of 1st Marine Division

Listed below are selected dates and figures which represent the effective strength of the 1st Marine Division throughout the period 1951–1952.

DateOrganic
USMC
and USN
Attached
U.S.
Army
Attached
KMC
Total
30 Mar 5125,8312363,12829,195
30 May 5125,8203023,26629,388
30 Sep 5124,160 543,03527,249
30 Mar 5226,140 594,37830,577