1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:06,190 --> 00:00:08,960 Korea is a small country thousands of 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:12,100 miles away . But what is happening 4 00:00:12,100 --> 00:00:14,329 there is important to every American . 5 00:00:14,939 --> 00:00:17,420 We are united in detesting communist 6 00:00:17,420 --> 00:00:20,399 slavery . We know that the cost of 7 00:00:20,399 --> 00:00:23,299 freedom is high . But we are determined 8 00:00:23,299 --> 00:00:26,469 to preserve our freedom . No matter 9 00:00:26,469 --> 00:00:27,469 what the cause . 10 00:00:34,060 --> 00:00:36,830 The Japanese had occupied the Korean 11 00:00:36,830 --> 00:00:38,774 Peninsula for many years and after 12 00:00:38,774 --> 00:00:40,663 World War II , uh , and they were 13 00:00:40,663 --> 00:00:43,799 defeated . Uh , like in other locations 14 00:00:43,799 --> 00:00:45,855 you can think of , the peninsula was 15 00:00:45,855 --> 00:00:48,549 divided in parts with the Soviet Union 16 00:00:48,549 --> 00:00:50,919 occupying the North and administering 17 00:00:50,919 --> 00:00:54,279 it and the Americans and other UN 18 00:00:54,279 --> 00:00:56,720 forces eventually occupying the South 19 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,887 until a new government could be agreed 20 00:00:58,887 --> 00:01:00,998 upon . They couldn't agree because in 21 00:01:00,998 --> 00:01:02,887 the North , the communists wanted 22 00:01:02,887 --> 00:01:04,942 control not just of the North but of 23 00:01:04,942 --> 00:01:07,053 the entire peninsula . Elections were 24 00:01:07,053 --> 00:01:09,769 held in the South in 1948 and created a 25 00:01:09,769 --> 00:01:12,047 democratic society , and at that point , 26 00:01:12,047 --> 00:01:15,190 American troops withdrew because they 27 00:01:15,190 --> 00:01:17,412 were no longer needed . The Koreans had 28 00:01:17,412 --> 00:01:19,468 a state there of their own . So this 29 00:01:19,468 --> 00:01:22,069 was a situation two years later when 30 00:01:22,069 --> 00:01:25,550 the North Koreans surprise attacked the 31 00:01:25,550 --> 00:01:29,319 South . The 32 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,709 surprise attack was a mass attack with 33 00:01:33,099 --> 00:01:35,043 large numbers of ground forces and 34 00:01:35,043 --> 00:01:37,210 tanks , but also an air force that the 35 00:01:37,210 --> 00:01:40,029 Soviets had trained and equipped for 36 00:01:40,029 --> 00:01:42,589 the North Koreans . It was relatively 37 00:01:42,589 --> 00:01:46,319 small in number , but without a South 38 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,129 Korean Air Force and without any allied . 39 00:01:49,309 --> 00:01:51,349 Major presence , it was still very 40 00:01:51,349 --> 00:01:53,460 potent and very early on in the war , 41 00:01:53,460 --> 00:01:55,589 the South Koreans approached the 42 00:01:55,589 --> 00:01:57,470 Americans specifically in the UN 43 00:01:57,470 --> 00:02:00,150 generally to say we need air power , we 44 00:02:00,150 --> 00:02:02,261 need aircraft , we need to be able to 45 00:02:02,261 --> 00:02:04,150 defend ourselves , and it wasn't 46 00:02:04,510 --> 00:02:07,319 feasible to give them aircraft to 47 00:02:07,319 --> 00:02:09,430 operate on their own and they weren't 48 00:02:09,430 --> 00:02:11,589 trained in using them . And so very 49 00:02:11,589 --> 00:02:14,750 early on , the American ambassador to 50 00:02:14,750 --> 00:02:18,039 South Korea reported back . They need 51 00:02:18,389 --> 00:02:20,500 immediate air power and the course of 52 00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:22,611 the war in general will be determined 53 00:02:22,611 --> 00:02:25,289 by the presence or absence of American 54 00:02:25,289 --> 00:02:28,509 air power . I am proud to report . 55 00:02:29,449 --> 00:02:32,880 That the United States is prepared to 56 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,070 furnish assistance to the Republic of 57 00:02:35,070 --> 00:02:37,639 Korea . The Korean people had been 58 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,619 under such Um , duress with the 59 00:02:41,619 --> 00:02:44,380 Japanese number one , and when the 60 00:02:44,380 --> 00:02:46,436 North Koreans came in , they treated 61 00:02:46,436 --> 00:02:48,547 him just as badly . They were so glad 62 00:02:48,547 --> 00:02:52,470 to see us . Uh , we were rescuers . 63 00:02:52,690 --> 00:02:55,000 Last minute evacuation by air is 64 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,600 necessary . Many of the Air Force 65 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,919 operations in the early phase were 66 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,759 primarily air evacuation as the front 67 00:03:03,759 --> 00:03:06,009 line pushed south . It went right past 68 00:03:06,009 --> 00:03:08,176 Seoul , the capital , and so there was 69 00:03:08,176 --> 00:03:10,460 a need to evacuate American and other 70 00:03:10,460 --> 00:03:12,350 civilians , which they did very 71 00:03:12,350 --> 00:03:16,320 successfully . The other major role 72 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:18,431 for the US Air Force from the opening 73 00:03:18,431 --> 00:03:21,639 phase was to apply as much air 74 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,119 interdiction as they could in order to 75 00:03:25,119 --> 00:03:26,841 starve the attacking forces of 76 00:03:26,841 --> 00:03:30,750 resources . This was limited at the 77 00:03:30,750 --> 00:03:33,270 beginning but increasingly effective as 78 00:03:33,270 --> 00:03:36,419 time went on and in fact proved vital 79 00:03:36,419 --> 00:03:39,059 because the scale and speed and 80 00:03:39,059 --> 00:03:41,429 surprise of the attack made for a very 81 00:03:41,429 --> 00:03:43,651 potent offensive , and the North Korean 82 00:03:43,651 --> 00:03:46,110 forces rolled down the peninsula almost 83 00:03:46,110 --> 00:03:48,789 all the way to the end . At the height 84 00:03:48,789 --> 00:03:51,259 of their wave , there was just a pocket 85 00:03:51,259 --> 00:03:53,481 in the southeast of the peninsula , the 86 00:03:53,481 --> 00:03:55,370 Pudong perimeter , that the South 87 00:03:55,370 --> 00:03:57,592 Koreans and Americans and allied forces 88 00:03:57,592 --> 00:03:59,830 were trapped in . If it had not been 89 00:03:59,830 --> 00:04:01,886 for air power and air interdiction , 90 00:04:02,110 --> 00:04:04,429 that pocket might have collapsed and 91 00:04:04,429 --> 00:04:06,373 the war could have been won in its 92 00:04:06,373 --> 00:04:08,096 opening phase . While that was 93 00:04:08,096 --> 00:04:09,929 happening , planning was already 94 00:04:09,929 --> 00:04:12,040 underway for a counterattack . The UN 95 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,207 forces take the offensive . An assault 96 00:04:14,207 --> 00:04:16,262 fleet appears off W on the Island at 97 00:04:16,262 --> 00:04:18,290 Incheon Harbor , and that came 98 00:04:18,290 --> 00:04:20,839 eventually led by General MacArthur at 99 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,230 Incheon , a major amphibious landing 100 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,720 that created a pocket behind enemy 101 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,630 lines and eventually was able to spread 102 00:04:28,630 --> 00:04:31,279 into a counter offensive that rolled 103 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:33,660 the North Koreans up all the way past 104 00:04:33,660 --> 00:04:36,334 the 38th peril . and increasingly all 105 00:04:36,334 --> 00:04:38,954 the way up towards China , the closer 106 00:04:38,954 --> 00:04:41,334 American and allied forces got to the 107 00:04:41,334 --> 00:04:43,167 Yalu River , which is the border 108 00:04:43,167 --> 00:04:45,454 between China and North Korea . The 109 00:04:45,454 --> 00:04:47,676 closer that we got to that border , the 110 00:04:47,676 --> 00:04:49,804 more China warned that crossing that 111 00:04:49,804 --> 00:04:52,964 river would mean them entering the war 112 00:04:52,964 --> 00:04:55,815 in force . It started out smoothly . 113 00:04:56,220 --> 00:04:58,570 But by nightfall of the 2nd day , the 114 00:04:58,570 --> 00:05:00,920 UN was facing a new enemy in Korea , 115 00:05:01,250 --> 00:05:04,209 and a new war had begun . China was not 116 00:05:04,209 --> 00:05:06,290 going to wait for a mass invasion . 117 00:05:06,329 --> 00:05:08,609 They invaded themselves with large 118 00:05:08,609 --> 00:05:11,450 numbers of troops and tanks , and that 119 00:05:11,450 --> 00:05:14,290 Chinese offensive then was the second 120 00:05:14,290 --> 00:05:16,160 major turning point of the war , 121 00:05:16,250 --> 00:05:18,809 opening up a 3rd phase in which a 122 00:05:18,809 --> 00:05:21,450 Chinese-led offensive drove towards the 123 00:05:21,450 --> 00:05:23,980 south , and this also saw the 124 00:05:23,980 --> 00:05:26,220 appearance . An increase in frequency 125 00:05:26,220 --> 00:05:28,350 of Russian Migs which were an 126 00:05:28,350 --> 00:05:30,517 incredibly effective jet fighter and a 127 00:05:30,517 --> 00:05:32,406 major threat in their own right . 128 00:05:32,406 --> 00:05:34,517 Unfortunately , the United States Air 129 00:05:34,517 --> 00:05:36,739 Force already had a new , more advanced 130 00:05:36,739 --> 00:05:39,579 jet fighter in the development pipeline , 131 00:05:39,750 --> 00:05:42,309 and that's the F-86 saber . We had 132 00:05:42,309 --> 00:05:46,209 F-8-6s and P-51s . Each 133 00:05:46,209 --> 00:05:49,149 flight had their own jobs , and the 134 00:05:49,149 --> 00:05:52,540 F-86s were escorts for B-29s . 135 00:05:53,119 --> 00:05:56,799 Heading north . It was designed as a 136 00:05:56,799 --> 00:05:59,239 fighter interceptor or also a fighter 137 00:05:59,239 --> 00:06:01,295 bomber , and it played both of those 138 00:06:01,295 --> 00:06:03,589 roles very well in the Korean War . It 139 00:06:03,589 --> 00:06:07,299 was not the equal of the MAG 15 , but 140 00:06:07,299 --> 00:06:10,390 enough of its equal that the skilled 141 00:06:10,390 --> 00:06:12,612 American pilots could take advantage of 142 00:06:12,612 --> 00:06:15,589 that and had an incredible air to air 143 00:06:15,589 --> 00:06:17,869 ratio over the course of the war . Many 144 00:06:17,869 --> 00:06:19,869 of the pilots in the Korean War had 145 00:06:19,869 --> 00:06:21,813 been pilots in World War II . Gaby 146 00:06:21,813 --> 00:06:24,109 Gabriski was a Polish American from 147 00:06:24,109 --> 00:06:26,109 Pennsylvania . Robbie Reisner . Who 148 00:06:26,984 --> 00:06:29,304 went on to be one of the leaders of the 149 00:06:29,304 --> 00:06:31,885 American POWs in the camps in Vietnam 150 00:06:32,184 --> 00:06:34,424 and then James Jabara , who was the 151 00:06:34,424 --> 00:06:37,024 first American jet ace , and then as 152 00:06:37,024 --> 00:06:39,424 far as aerial victory goes , uh , they 153 00:06:39,424 --> 00:06:43,234 shot down 780 some Migs 154 00:06:43,464 --> 00:06:47,045 in exchange for only 70 some losses and 155 00:06:47,045 --> 00:06:50,709 that's a 10 to 1 ratio . The Korean War 156 00:06:50,709 --> 00:06:53,119 was known as a limited war . It was 157 00:06:53,119 --> 00:06:55,119 still incredibly destructive in the 158 00:06:55,119 --> 00:06:57,980 areas that were being fought over . And 159 00:06:57,980 --> 00:07:00,549 particularly in North Korea , where the 160 00:07:00,549 --> 00:07:02,771 majority of the fighting over the whole 161 00:07:02,771 --> 00:07:05,739 war took place in both North and South , 162 00:07:05,869 --> 00:07:09,179 there were a lot of attacks against 163 00:07:09,179 --> 00:07:11,910 factories , railroad facilities , rail 164 00:07:11,910 --> 00:07:14,309 yards , bridges , the whole 165 00:07:14,309 --> 00:07:16,510 infrastructure came under attack . Oh 166 00:07:16,510 --> 00:07:18,399 well , it was terrible . I mean , 167 00:07:18,399 --> 00:07:21,019 things , things were just completely 168 00:07:21,019 --> 00:07:22,575 blown up . Everything was . 169 00:07:27,170 --> 00:07:29,170 Well , the only ones that were left 170 00:07:29,170 --> 00:07:31,170 were the ones that were made out of 171 00:07:31,170 --> 00:07:33,337 concrete and blocks like that , any of 172 00:07:33,337 --> 00:07:35,448 those uh hooches that you call them , 173 00:07:35,448 --> 00:07:38,049 but they were just paper shacks . They 174 00:07:38,049 --> 00:07:41,549 got blown away . So those people had no 175 00:07:41,549 --> 00:07:43,950 place to live in wintertime . They 176 00:07:43,950 --> 00:07:45,228 really had it itself . 177 00:07:50,119 --> 00:07:52,690 So the final phase of the war actually 178 00:07:52,690 --> 00:07:56,640 lasted the longest . After the Chinese 179 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,862 attack was stopped , there was a bit of 180 00:07:58,862 --> 00:08:01,149 a seesaw campaign , counter campaign , 181 00:08:01,329 --> 00:08:03,529 but fighting eventually stabilized 182 00:08:03,529 --> 00:08:06,170 around the thirty-eighth parallel . And 183 00:08:06,170 --> 00:08:08,730 after several years of that , it became 184 00:08:08,730 --> 00:08:12,170 clear that neither side could achieve 185 00:08:12,170 --> 00:08:14,329 full victory . The political 186 00:08:14,329 --> 00:08:17,269 negotiations continued and eventually 187 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,410 settled on a ceasefire with a line of 188 00:08:20,410 --> 00:08:22,577 demarcation right at the thirty-eighth 189 00:08:22,577 --> 00:08:24,743 parallel where this had all started in 190 00:08:24,743 --> 00:08:26,577 the first place . That ceasefire 191 00:08:26,577 --> 00:08:28,989 technically persists today , and the 192 00:08:28,989 --> 00:08:31,579 war is what we call a frozen conflict , 193 00:08:31,910 --> 00:08:34,243 meaning that it is not technically over , 194 00:08:34,243 --> 00:08:36,270 but it is also not being actively 195 00:08:36,270 --> 00:08:39,580 fought . Well , it's difficult to think 196 00:08:39,580 --> 00:08:43,390 about over 36,000 of our 197 00:08:43,390 --> 00:08:46,469 troops died . In Korea . 198 00:08:47,359 --> 00:08:51,239 Over 9700 were wounded in Korea . 199 00:08:52,140 --> 00:08:56,140 So we bled for Korea . To help the 200 00:08:56,140 --> 00:08:58,739 Korean people , we try our best to make 201 00:08:58,739 --> 00:09:02,219 their life a lot better , and when we 202 00:09:02,219 --> 00:09:05,200 go back now to visit them or they come 203 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,820 to the United States to visit us , they 204 00:09:07,820 --> 00:09:10,700 are so glad for what we did for them 205 00:09:10,940 --> 00:09:13,510 when we were there . If you're talking 206 00:09:13,510 --> 00:09:15,788 about the importance of the Korean War , 207 00:09:15,788 --> 00:09:17,954 all you need to do is look at a simple 208 00:09:17,954 --> 00:09:20,150 picture . If you see an image of the 209 00:09:20,150 --> 00:09:23,489 Korean Peninsula at night , South Korea 210 00:09:23,489 --> 00:09:25,600 almost looks like an island . You can 211 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,179 see the illumination of its cities and 212 00:09:28,179 --> 00:09:30,346 its vibrant society is lighting up the 213 00:09:30,346 --> 00:09:33,099 night , and then to the north of that , 214 00:09:33,390 --> 00:09:35,590 it's just darkness until you get to 215 00:09:35,590 --> 00:09:39,539 China . That's the society that 216 00:09:39,539 --> 00:09:41,780 all of Korea could have been living 217 00:09:41,780 --> 00:09:44,210 under for generations , if it weren't 218 00:09:44,210 --> 00:09:46,460 for the UN and American successes in 219 00:09:46,460 --> 00:09:47,020 the Korean War .