The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin: An Oral History
by Donald Knox

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Book Reviews of The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin: An Oral History

Book Review: Knox's Book Shows the Agony of War Through Many Eyes...
Summary: 5 Stars

The joys of doing book reviews of this sort, and the dogged research necessary to prepare them, is a path fraught with unexpected pain and pleasure. So it was with this book. I was looking in my local library (Amherst, Massachusetts) for this copy of Knox's book when I found, to my shock, chagrin and unbounded pleasure, that a sequel exists. The sequel will be reviewed in a few days.
I was not aware such a sequel existed. I checked out the first copy of this book when I spent six months in Kunsan on assignment a few years ago. I have read Knox's first book no less than twenty times. A similar fate awaits the second......

In any case, Knox's Pusan to Chosin deserves close reading by all Korean War buffs. This book is not a first person account of one part of the war, which many narrative war histories consist of. Instead, it is a roving compilation of memories and narratives of the war by scores of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who fought in the wars's early months. Between early summer and Christmas, 1950, the front line between the combatants surged south to the dangerously vulnerable Pusan Perimeter, north to the Yalu, and finally back below the 38th parallel in the rout caused by Chinese intervention. The despair of the early retreats from Chonan, Pyongtaek, and Taejon stands in stark contrast to the brisk, confident advances after Inchon. Somehow Knox, while dancing around the Peninsula and across these broad tides of optimism and defeat, manages to produce not just a coherent story of the war, but a memorable one. He accomplishes this by allowing the men on the field to tell their story in parallel fashion. The reader sees the Inchon landings, the Pusan defenses, or the Chosin debacle through the eyes of dozens of infantry, officers, artillerymen, medics, or chaplains. In short, overlapping and interwoven narratives, the Korean War's earliest phases unfold briskly. Its almost like the author has the participants sitting around a table, years later, telling their stories to you directly. It is that gripping. Maps make the campaigns easy to follow.

Highlights Include:
-Captain Norman Allen's narratives about ITEM company north of the Naktong in central South Korea is excellent; with good sketches of the terrain (not just maps!), discussion of the uses and limits of artillery support, and the agonies that come from being a leader of men in war.
-Marine Lieutenant Frank Meutzel chewing out a supply officer in order to make sure he gets a new pair of combat boots. In a country where lieutenants used photocopied maps from the Japanese occupation, supplies were hard to find. Meutzel made the supply officer understand climbing those hills in Korea did a job on the soul and the sole.
-James Ransone's description of the tragedy suffered by task force Faith east of the Chosin reservoir. The Army brass does not make a good show for itself in these pages. Even given the circumstances that plagued task force Faith, the Army's collapse at Chosin is a stark contrast to the valour and orderly retreat of the USMC. </li>

Summary of The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin: An Oral History

Asia Books

• Subjects > History > Asia
• Military > Korean War