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The Korean War
History of The Iowa National Guard
CW2 David L. Snook
On June 25, 1950, communist North Korea
invaded South Korea, encouraged perhaps by U. S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s
comment that South Korea lay "outside the U. S. defense perimeter," tempted
certainly by South Korea’s lack of military preparedness. North Korean forces, 90,000
strong, trained by Russian advisors, and equipped with 150 Soviet-built T-34 tanks, swept
across the 38th parallel and into South Korea.
They easily brushed aside South
Korea’s defense forces and four days later were in Seoul, the capital. On June 27,
the United Nations recommended that its members support South Korea. President Harry
Truman directed U. S. armed forces to intervene, with Gen. Douglas MacArthur in command,
under U. N. auspices.
For many weeks, U. S. and U. N. forces
could provide only limited assistance. By early August, South Korean forces and the first
American units had been penned up in what became known as the "Pusan Perimeter."
Only with MacArthur’s spectacular "end run" up to Inchon, in September, did
the initiative switch to the South Koreans and the Americans.
At this point, a critical decision was
made. The Truman administration decided that the war would be an effort not simply at
containment but also at "liberation." Truman gave MacArthur permission to pursue
the communists into their own territory. His aim, in the words of a recently approved U.
N. resolution, was to create "a unified, independent and democratic Korea."
For several weeks, MacArthur’s
invasion of North Korea proceeded smoothly. On October 19, the capital, Pyongyang, fell to
U. N. forces. At the same time, parachutists managed to trap and immobilize much of the
rest of the North Korean army. Victory seemed near. Slowly, however, the United States was
becoming aware of the growing presence of forces from communist China; and by November 4,
it was clear that eight Chinese divisions had entered the war. Suddenly, the U. N.
offensive stalled and then collapsed. Through December 1950, American forces fought a
bitter, losing battle against far more numerous Chinese divisions, retreating at almost
every juncture.
 Within weeks, communist forces had
pushed the Americans back below the 38th parallel once again and had captured
the South Korean capital of Seoul. By mid-January 1951, the route had ceased; and by
March, the U. N. armies had managed to regain much of the territory they had recently
lost, taking back Seoul and pushing the communists north of the 38th parallel
for the second time. But with that, the war degenerated into a protracted stalemate."
(Brinkley, Alan, American History: A Survey, McGraw-Hill, 1991)
From this point on, President Truman
resisted pressure from Gen. MacArthur and others to widen the war. He was determined to
seek a negotiated solution that would forestall any possibility that the Soviet Union
might enter the conflict. When Gen. MacArthur went public with his criticism, pushing for
an all-out war with China, including the use of atomic weapons, President Truman relieved
him of command. The new U. N. commander, Gen. Matthew Ridgeway, would fight a limited war
of attrition. For the next two years, American soldiers would fight a series of indecisive
battles, "defending nondescript pieces of real estate like Porkchop Hill and Outpost
Eerie." (MacGlasson, Col. W. D., "The ‘Forgotten War’
Remembered," National Guard Magazine, October, 1995) Ultimately, 54,000
Americans would die before a cease-fire agreement brought the war to a conclusion in 1953.
The Korean War caught the United States
woefully unprepared. The entire U. S. army numbered only 593,000 in June of 1950. From the
outset, the National Guard and the Reserves would play critical roles in the crisis.
During the Korean conflict, 45,000 Air National Guardsmen and 138,000 Army National
Guardsmen were called into federal service. Some would go to Korea; others would be sent
to Europe to fortify the newly created NATO alliance.
Several Iowa National Guard units were
mobilized during the Korean conflict.
The 132d Fighter Wing (Des Moines and
Sioux City) was federalized on April 1, 1951. The 132d received its initial training at
Dow Air Force Base, Bangor, Maine. In January of 1952, the unit was redesignated the 132d
Fighter-Bomber Wing and assigned to the Air Force Tactical Air Command. Many Iowans were
later transferred to other Tactical Air Command units worldwide, including Korea, and the
unit assumed the role of a reserve training unit. The 132d and its subordinate units, the
124th Fighter-Bomber Squadron (Des Moines) and the 174th
Fighter-Bomber Squadron (Sioux City), returned to state control on January 1, 1953.
Other Iowa National Guard units mobilized
during the Korean War included the 133d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron (Fort
Dodge), the 232nd Air Service Group (Des Moines and Sioux City), the 3657th
Ordnance Company (Cedar Rapids) and the 194th Field Artillery Battalion
(Spencer, Algona, Humboldt, Mapleton and Estherville). The 194th FA received
its mobilization notification while at annual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in
September 1950. It was initially sent to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. After spending the winter
of 1950-51 at Fort McCoy, the battalion deployed to Germany, where it served until March
1953, when it returned to the U. S. and reverted to state control.
In 1995, an $18 million memorial to Korean
War veterans was dedicated in Washington, D. C. This long overdue thank you from two
grateful nations includes a wall of honor, bearing the names of those who never came back,
surrounding a "sculptural centerpiece" – a platoon of combat infantrymen in
the midst of a mission. At the dedication ceremony, South Korean president Kim Young Sam
expressed his nation's heartfelt gratitude to "those Americans who sacrificed their
lives on Korea’s battlefront." He went on to declare that the 37,000 American
troops still standing guard in South Korea are necessary to "maintain stability in
the Pacific-Asia region." (MacGlasson)
Sgt Fred memorialized in Estherville
(Note: This is reprinted from the Nov./Dec.
1959 issue of The Iowa Guardsman in commemoration of the Korean War).
"Sergeant
Fred" was "RA all the way." He didn’t have to go back up on that
Korean hill in the middle of that June 1953 night to knock off the enemy bunker—he
asked for it. His platoon had been forced off the hill by enemy snipers before the bunker
could be knocked out. Sgt. Fred and a buddy had talked the lieutenant into letting the two
of them go backup the hill. They got the first round off It was a hit. The 75mm recoilless
rifle Was loaded and ready to fire the second round. The loader tapped Fred on the
shoulder: "Ready to fire."
Fred didn’t fire—he fell away from the gun; a sniper bullet
through the head.
Master Sgt. Joyce E. Fredericksen joined the Iowa National Guard on his
16th birthday. He was called into active federal service with his unit, Battery
C, 194th Field Artillery Battalion, at Estherville, in September 1950. A month
later he enlisted in the regular Army for three years. When the members of the unit
started returning home from Germany in the summer of 1952, he was the battery’s first
sergeant. Fredericksen always said he would never be a soldier until he had been in
combat, so he volunteered for the infantry and therefore Korea. The members of Battery C,
however, always thought he was a soldier—the best damn
soldier in the outfit.
At every service school Fred ever attended, he was asked to stay with
the school cadre. The battalion commander told him to apply for OCS and get his
commission. He rejected it, just as he always rejected any promotion, until it was forced
upon him. "I haven’t earned it," was his usual remark.
Master Sgt. Fred didn’t have to go back on that Korean hill; he
didn’t have to go to Korea. This action was typical of Fred’s asking for the
dirtiest jobs he could find.
In September 1953, Battery C took Fred’s body off the train in
Estherville. He received the best military funeral the town had ever seen. The VFW and
Battery C paid their respects for the last time.
Well.. .it wasn’t quite the last time. The Joyce E. Fredericksen
Memorial Armory in Estherville has a monument on the front lawn with Fred’s name on
it. The day room has his picture on the wall and a fine plaque outlining his service. His
parents also received a plaque from the battery.
As far as we know, Fred was the first man called to active duty as an
Iowa Guardsman to be killed as a result of enemy action in the Korean conflict.
Fred’s brother, Jack (also a member of Battery C), best summed up
Fred’s character: "He probably just went up on that hill to see how a 75mm
worked," he said.
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