would he countenance heading a four-power occupation. If Washington wanted
such a solution, he said, they'd have to get themselves another U.S. commander.
He did not believe a four-power occupation was necessary, desirable, or even
workable. In retrospect, seeing what happened in Berlin, he was right to put his
foot down.
Q ..
Once General MacArthur got the Chiefs' approval for the landing atInchon, what
happened?
.
We got down to serious planning on the details, of which, of course, there were
l
many. We had to alert the troops, assemble the ships and supplies, and do it all
in a big hurry. It was not an easy task because the troops, ships and supplies had
to come from all over the Pacific Theater and even the United States.
Q ..
Let me go back once more to the days immediately following the time North Korea
attacked Seoul on the 25th of June. What units went over first?
A ..
General MacArthur called General J. Lawton Collins, the chairman of the JCS, on
the 25th of June. Collins approved MacArthur's request that the Fifth Regimental
Combat Team be dispatched to Korea immediately to reinforce the troops there.
We were thankful we had at least one regimental combat team to move to Korea
at the beginning of the war.
Q ..
Where was the team located?
A
It was located in Hawaii. General Almond kept pushing General Walton Walker,
l
the Eighth Army commander, to train the infantry divisions and get them in shape
for combat. Walker believed there was no real urgency; he did not want to make
extraordinary demands on the training establishment or the troops. But Almond
kept pushing and complained to MacArthur that Walker wasn't vigorous enough.
MacArthur called Walker in and said, "Look, when Almond tells you to do
something, he speaks for me." From then on, there was no love lost between
Walker and Almond. When the plans were being drawn up for the Inchon
invasion, Almond insisted-and MacArthur approved-that the X Corps, which
Almond would command, not report through Walker, but directly to General
MacArthur. In addition, Almond was to continue as MacArthur's chief of staff.
X corps was to be a separate force and not a unit under Eighth Army.
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