In addition to its official mission in the Eighth Army line, the 1st Marine Division had conducted an active small-unit amphibious training program during its postwar Korea duty. All but two of its infantry battalions had carried out assault landings on Tokchok-to, off the Korean west coast south of Inchon, prior to its departure for the United States. The 3d Marine Division had also conducted an active training program, with numerous small-unit exercises and regimental landings staged at Iwo Jima and Okinawa as part of its continuous readiness conditioning.
For Marine air personnel, their official departure from Korea following the 1st MAW wartime assignment there, came the next year. Beginning in June 1956, initial units of the Marine aircraft wing were withdrawn from Korea and relocated at NAS Iwakuni, Japan. Plans called for the wing, then under Brigadier General Samuel S. Jack[690] and occupying bases in both Korea and Japan, to be permanently headquartered at Iwakuni and revert to CinCPacFlt control. The wing remained on station in the Far East as a component of postwar United States defense strength in that area.
[690] CGs, 1st MAW, in the immediate post-armistice period were: Major General Megee, until 4 Dec 53; Major General Albert D. Cooley, 5 Dec 53–25 Mar 54; Brigadier General McCaul, 26 May 54–24 Aug 54; Brigadier General Marion L. Dawson, 25 Aug 54–24 Sep 55; and Brigadier General Jack, 25 Sep 55–30 Jun 56.
The prewar Fifth Air Force and Eighth U.S. Army commands, under which Marine Corps air and ground units had functioned during the Korean War, were permanently deployed in the Far East as operative military echelons. EUSAK-FAF transferred from its wartime JOC location at Seoul to Osan-ni in January 1954 and in September of that year relocated to Nagoya, Japan. Eighth Army headquarters remained at Seoul.
CHAPTER XII
Korean Reflection
Marine Corps Role and Contributions to the Korean War: Ground, Air, Helicopter—FMF and Readiness Posture—Problems Peculiar to the Korean War—Korean Lessons
Marine Corps Role and Contribution to the Korean War: Ground[691]
[691] Unless otherwise noted, the material in this section is derived from: U.S. Dept. of Defense, Semiannual Reports of the Secretary of Defense, 1951–1954, hereafter Rpt of SecDef; PacFlt EvalRpts, No. 6, Chaps. 9, 10, No. 5, Chaps. 8, 9, No. 4, Chaps. 9, 10; Marine Corps Board Study, An Evaluation of the Influence of Marine Corps Forces on the Course of the Korean War (4 Aug 50–15 Dec 50), vs. I and II, hereafter USMC Board Rpt, held in James C. Breckinridge Library, MCDEC, Quantico, Va; A Summary of the General Officers’ Conference, HQMC, 19–21 Aug 53, hereafter Generals’ Summary, at Breckinridge Library; 1stMarDiv ComdD, May 53, App. IX, Summary of USMC Action in Korean War; USMC Ops Korea, vs. I, II, III, IV, passim; Cagle and Manson, Sea War, Korea; Robert D. Heinl, Jr., Soldiers of the Sea: The United States Marine Corps, 1775–1962 (Annapolis, Md.: United States Naval Institute, 1962), hereafter Heinl, Soldiers of Sea; Release “1st Marine Division ‘The Old Breed’” from 1st MarDiv folder, HRB RefFile; Release “Outline of the First Two Years of the 1st Marine Division in Korea,” HistBr, G-3 Div, HRS Folder; CheVron, MCRD, San Diego, Calif., V. 27, no. 31 (2 Aug 68), p. 4–5, “From Camp Pendleton to Inchon—18 Years Later, LtGen E. A. Craig, 1st Provisional Brigade CG, Recalls Experiences in Korea,” Cpl C. N. Damopoulos, hereafter CheVron.
Ground operations of the 1st Marine Division during the Korean War can be divided into six periods. These are the Pusan Perimeter defense (August-September 1950), Inchon-Seoul assault (September-October 1950), the Chosin Reservoir campaign (October-December 1950), East-Central Korea (January 1951-March 1952), West Korea (March 1952-July 1953), and the post-armistice period (July 1953-February 1955).