2d Infantry Division elements move through a mountain pass south of Wonju, Korea, 1951.
Elements of the 2d arrived in Korea on 31 July, and the division entered combat in late August. The 187th did not arrive until October[1]
The arrival of the 2d Infantry Division in Korea allowed Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker, commanding the Eighth Army there, to withdraw the 24th Infantry Division from combat along the Naktong River. Due to the heavy losses sustained by the division, Walker decided to transfer all personnel and equipment from the 34th Infantry and the 63d Field Artillery Battalion to other units in the division, replacing them with the 5th Regimental Combat Team (organized around the 5th Infantry), which had recently arrived from Hawaii. With the infusion, the division was ready for combat again by the end of August. Subsequently the 34th Infantry and 63d Field Artillery Battalion returned to Japan, where they were reorganized to train replacements[2]
In August 1950 MacArthur planned an amphibious assault at Inchon, Korea, that would include the 7th Infantry Division, the only U.S. Army division left in Japan. To replace it in his reserve, he requested deployment of the 3d Infantry Division, the last Regular Army infantry division in the United States. After much debate in Washington, Truman sanctioned its deployment. Since a large portion of its personnel and equipment had been withdrawn earli-
- ↑ Schnabel, Policy and Direction, pp. 92–96, 168–71.
- ↑ Appleman, South to the Naktong. pp. 389–90; T.R. Fehrenback, This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness (New York: Maemillan Company, 1963), p. 202; Ltr, Henry P. Carrington to Edgar M. Howell, 18 Nov 50, 63d Field Artillery Battalion file, DAMH-HSO; Military History Section, “A Brief History of the 34th Infantry Regiment” (United States Army Forces, Far East, Nov 1954), 34th Infantry file, DAMH-HSO.
