January 1, 1951, was the launch date of Time Magazine's Influential Person of the Year. The cover of the magazine belonged to MacArthur this year, and if he could win the Korean War and end the war before Christmas as promised, it would be a natural thing for MacArthur to have. But the appearance of the Chinese Volunteers gave MacArthur a blow, and all his plans fell apart under the overwhelming force of the Volunteer Army, so that MacArthur could only watch himself pass by the magazine cover.
What made him most ironic was that the cover of the official announcement of Time Magazine on January 1, 1951 was actually a four-star general, U.S. Army General Walton Walker, who had recently died in a car accident, and two days before Christmas 1950, three-star General Walker died in a car accident in the Korean battlefield.
During World War II, General Patton was particularly fond of General Walker, so when news of Walker's death reached the United States, there was an uproar in the country. Within a week, the White House urgently awarded Walker the title of four-star general and granted him the treatment of a time magazine cover. Since its inception, Time Magazine has chosen one of the most influential people of the year as the cover of the magazine. By 1951, there were 23 years of history, and during those 23 years, the vast majority of the people they chose were politicians and military generals.
The Person of the Year in 1931, 1934 and 1941 was Roosevelt, in 1937 by Mr. and Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek, by Stalin in 1938 and 1942, by Churchill in 1940 and 1949, and by Truman in 1945 and 1948. Each of them is influencing the existence of an era, and only General Walker is a different kind. So how exactly did Walker die? What impact did his death have on the U.S. and United Nations forces?
Like most American generals, Walker was a fine cadet at West Point, spending many years in the U.S. 15th Corps, along with Marshall, Eisenhower, Ridgway, and others. After graduating from school, Walker officially began his war course, and he was still present in the war waged by the United States against Mexico, and he is still present in the European theaters of World War I and World War II.
During World War II, because of his bravery on the battlefield, Patton often used rude words and liked to call him "my best bastard boy". When he was a tank officer, he was known for his fierceness and toughness. After the end of World War II, Walker gained the honor of "offensive authority" on the European battlefield, and was soon promoted to major general in the Army, leading the Eighth Reserve Army. In September 1948, at the age of 59, Walker came to Japan with MacArthur to command the Eighth Army, ready to enjoy the rare easy work of his military career.
At that time, MacArthur had a supreme position in Japan over the emperor, so many American troops thought that coming to Japan was to enjoy, including Walker. Later, Walker's chief of staff said that Walker was ready to retire in Japan, but a sudden Korean War shattered all his dreams.
On July 13, 1950, on the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Forces, Walker's headquarters was moved to Busan to take charge of the command of the U.S. Forces in North Korea. In addition, MacArthur gave him the right to command the South Korean Army. Since entering the Korean War, Walker commanded the Eighth Army and has always advocated a careful approach to the battle and not to make the mistake of taking the enemy lightly.
This also made Walker and MacArthur often have great differences at the level of command of the army. Especially when U.S. reconnaissance officers spotted a small group of Chinese horses on the Korean battlefield, Walker decided that China could not have such a small force.
However, MacArthur, who had long been overwhelmed by the victory of the Inchon landings, could not heed any advice at all. After the defeat in the first battle, he still insisted that the Chinese army in Korea was only 50,000 or 60,000 people, and the US army could completely cope with it, and the problem was not big.
In order to quickly occupy all of Korea, he ordered Walker to immediately organize the Western Front to go north, to end the war before Christmas, planning a tentative attack first with ground forces, and then launch a general attack northward with the Us Tenth Army on the Eastern Front and the Eighth Army on the Western Front. However, at this time, he may not know that the volunteer army has already set up a circle and is waiting for their arrival.
In November 1950, after the second battle began, after the volunteer army's enticing enemy to penetrate deeply, the US 7th, 24th, 25th and 1st Cavalry Divisions, the 7th and 8th Divisions of the 2nd Army of the Republic of Korea, and the US Eighth Army of the Turkish Brigade unknowingly pursued the front line of Daekwun-dong, Onjeong, Myohyangsan, and Chosin, where they were attacked by six corps of the Volunteer Army, the 50th Army, the 66th Army, the 39th Army, the 40th Army, the 42nd Army, and the 38th Army. In less than eight days, the elite troops of the US army threw away all their armor and were dealt a annihilating blow by our army.
In the early morning of November 28, 1950, the U.S. Military Far East Command in Tokyo, Japan, sent an urgent telegram to the White House, in which MacArthur cried desperately to Truman, "We have done our best, but the situation we are currently facing is beyond our control and strength." ”
Truman was dissatisfied with macArthur's war reports, and a month earlier the commander-in-chief of the Far East had told him very easily that North Korea was no longer in question, but now he was full of melancholy and told the Americans, "Our current military strength is not enough to cope with this undeclared war in Chinese, and it is more favorable to them at the right time and place." ”
After the telegram was sent, MacArthur urgently summoned Walker and General Almond, commanders of the East and West Lines of the United Nations Army, back to Tokyo, Japan, to discuss countermeasures. The front line was about to collapse, but the commanders were recalled to the rear for a meeting. This is not at all like the work of an experienced general.
Later military scientists in the United States and Japan called the conference "the strangest meeting." After several days of intense deliberations, MacArthur made the last resort he wanted to implement, that is, to stop the offensive on the eastern and western fronts and quickly withdraw the UN forces to Pyongyang and Wonsan to deploy. At this point, retreat became the only option for the Un forces that had launched their northward offensive a few days earlier to avoid annihilation. Carrying out this order were the chief officers of the East and West fronts, Walker and Almond.
On December 22, the U.S. Eighth Army had retreated more than 300 kilometers, simply abandoned Pyongyang, and ran back to the Seoul area of the 38th Line. At this time, the US and ROK troops, which had been retreating for ten days, could finally stop and breathe, and they could not imagine that Walker suddenly came to the grass-roots officer canteen of the Eighth Army, although it was an ordinary officer's canteen, there were still a large number of small roosters, pumpkin pie, nucleic acid, canned jam, and occasionally some Japanese seaweed, squid and other foods airlifted from Japan appeared on the table.
Walker had a light meal here with soldiers from the Eighth Army and some Koreans. After the meal, Walker suddenly recalled General Patton's life, and he said to the people next to him with some sadness, "It is ironic that a person who lives like Patton can die in a traffic accident." After saying goodbye to the officers, Walker got into his jeep and hurried away, he also had to go to the 20th Division and the British 27th Brigade to present the award, and by the way, his son Captain Sam Walker also came to the Korean battlefield, won the second class merit, and personally awarded him a silver star medal.
The weather in North Korea in December was already cold, and the road was covered with a thick layer of ice. The jeep began to rush forward, Walker sat in the co-pilot's seat, but death was three kilometers ahead, where Park Kyung-lai, a maintenance worker of a Car Company of the Korean Army, was debugging a faulty vehicle, in order to test the vehicle failure, Park Kyung-lai drove the vehicle obliquely out of the side of the road to prepare for the test, but Walker's jeep had rushed over, because the distance was too close and the road was slippery, the driver could not stop the car urgently, Walker's jeep rushed off the road and fell directly into the deep ditch on the side of the road.
When the soldiers present pulled Walker out of the car, they found that Walker's three-star helmet did not know where it had been squeezed, and his head door was pierced with the window glass of the car, and Walker died on the spot, he was 61 years old, and coincidentally, He was only 60 years old when Barton died.
When the news got back to Tokyo, MacArthur showed a pain and difficulty he had never felt before, telling reporters present that he "recently proposed to promote Walker to a four-star general." But people who understand know that when Walker was alive, MacArthur did not get along well with him, and for several months after entering the DPRK, due to disagreements, MacArthur and other high-ranking military figures had actually been looking for an opportunity to dismiss Walker, but Walker's death made MacArthur unable to start for a while, and he had to keep Walker's military position and the Eighth Army, and the person who replaced Walker in all the positions was Ridgway, who was more cunning than Walker.
On January 1, 1951, at Truman's prompting, Congress posthumously awarded Walker a four-star general.
When South Korean President Rhee heard that Walker had been killed by the Rok army, he was furious and angry, and in order to give the United States an explanation, he immediately ordered the driver to be shot. However, after many persuasions and re-evaluation of the crash, everyone unanimously determined that walker's car was driving too fast. Ms. Park recovered a life, but was also sentenced to three years in prison.
Later, South Korean President Park Chung-hee also deliberately built a monument to the site of Walker's death to express the guilt of Koreans. Walker's death caused an uproar in the United States and made MacArthur even more humiliated.
For a long time, the morale of the US military was low, and in sharp contrast to the US army, the two battles of our volunteer troops ended in a complete victory for our army, and under the condition of backward equipment and weak logistics, they were able to chase after the heavily armed US army, which is undoubtedly a miracle in the history of world war.
No matter how many hundred years have passed, we must always remember this group of the most lovely people, carry forward the spirit of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and build our strong country.