I'll be damned. He knows-doesn't know, but has fig-ured out-that Pickering and I both messaged Truman that we think the Inchon invasion makes sense.
"I don't expect a reply to that, Howe," MacArthur said. "But let's say this: Absent orders to the contrary from the Commander-in-Chief, I will put ashore a two-division force at Inchon 15 September."
Howe looked at him, but didn't respond.
He must know that I'll message Truman that he said that. But Harry's no dummy. He knows that already.
"There are several interrelated problems connected with that," MacArthur said. "If you feel free to comment on them, I would welcome your observations. If you feel it would be inappropriate for you to do so, I will understand."
"Yes, sir?"
"The first deals with General Walker. I am sometimes, perhaps justifiably, accused of being too loyal to my subor-dinates. There has been some suggestion that otherwise I would have relieved General Walker."
"General, I'm not qualified to comment on the perform-ance of an Army commander."
"All right, I understand your position. But I hope you can answer this one for me. General Almond, for whom I have great respect, feels he needs the First Marine Division to lead the invasion. That means taking the 1st Marine Brigade-which is, as you know, essentially the Fifth Ma-rine Regiment, Reinforced-from Pusan, and assigning it-reassigning it-to the First Marine Division. General Walker, for whose judgment I have equal respect, states flatly that he cannot guarantee the integrity of his Pusan positions if he loses the 1st Marine Brigade to the invasion force-which has now been designated as X Corps, by the way. That problem is compounded by the fact that Gener-als Walker and Almond are not mutual admirers."
Howe looked at MacArthur without speaking.
"No comment again?" MacArthur asked.
"General, you're certainly not asking me for advice?"
"I suppose what I'm asking-the decision has been made, by the way-is what, if you were in my shoes, you would have done."
"I can only offer what any smart second lieutenant could suggest, General, that you had to make a decision between which was more important, a greater risk to the Pusan perimeter by pulling the Marines out of there, or a greater risk to the Inchon invasion because the Marines were short a regiment."
"And what do you think your hypothetical second lieu-tenant would decide?"
Howe met MacArthur's eyes for a moment before reply-ing.
`To send the Marines to Inchon, sir."
"And Major General Howe, after seeing what he saw in the Pusan perimeter?"
`To send the Marines to Inchon, sir," Howe said.
"History will tell us, I suppose, whether the hypothetical second lieutenant, the aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, and the commander forced to make the decision were right, won't it? X Corps will land at Inchon with the full-strength First Marine Division as the vanguard."
MacArthur picked up the coffee pitcher and added some to Howe's cup, then refreshed his own.
"There's one more delicate question, Howe, that you may not wish to answer."
"Yes, sir?"
"It has come to the attention of my staff that our friend Fleming Pickering has mounted one of his clandestine op-erations. I don't know how reliable the information my staff has is, but there is some concern that it might in some way impact on Inchon."
In other words, Charley Willoughby's snoops have heard something-how much?-about the Flying Fish Channel operation. Why should that be a surprise? They've been fol-lowing us around the way the KGB followed me around at Potsdam.
"I thought perhaps this operation might be connected with Pickering's son," MacArthur went on. "Who is not just a Marine aviator, but the son of the CIA's Director of Asian Operations."
So why don't you ask Pickering yourself?
"General Pickering doesn't tell me much about his CIA covert operations, General," Howe said. "But I'm sure there's more than one of them, any-or all-of which might have an impact on Inchon. If any of them did, I'm sure he would tell you."
"Well, perhaps after you tell him-you will tell him?- that the Inchon invasion is on, he'll come to me. If he has something to come to me with."
"I will tell him, General," Howe said.
MacArthur put his coffee cup down.
"Thank you for coming to see me, and with such alacrity," MacArthur said.
Well, I have just been dismissed.
How much did I give him that I should not have?
"I hope it was worth your time, General," Howe said.
MacArthur put his hand on Howe's shoulder and guided him to the door.
"Thank you again," he said, and offered him his hand.
Major General Charles A. Willoughby was in the outer office waiting to see MacArthur.
And probably to find out what MacArthur got from me.
"Come on, Charley," Howe said, looking at Willoughby, and waiting until Master Sergeant Charley Rogers had got-ten quickly from his seat and handed him his grease gun before adding, "Good morning, General Willoughby."
[TWO]
COMMAND POST
COMPANY C, 1ST BATTALION,
5TH MARINES FIRST MARINE BRIGADE (PROVISIONAL)
OBONG-NI, THE NAKTONG BULGE, SOUTH KOREA
1155 20 AUGUST 1950
The battalion exec found Charley Company's commander lying in the shade of a piece of tenting half supported by poles and half by the wall of a badly shot-up stone Korean farmhouse.
The company commander's uniform was streaked with dried mud, and he was unshaven and looked like hell, which was, of course, to be expected under the circum-stances. But nevertheless, when the company commander saw the battalion exec, he started to get up.
The exec gestured for him to stay where he was, dropped to his knees, and crawled under the canvas with him.
The company commander saluted, lying down, and the exec returned it.
"You look beat, Captain," the exec said.
"I guess I'm not used to this heat, sir."
"I don't think anybody is," the exec said. "It was a little cooler during the storm-"
He broke off when the captain's eyes told him he was monumentally uninterested in small talk.
"How badly were you hurt?" the exec asked, meaning the company, not the company commander personally.
"I lost a little more than half of my men, and two of my officers. Fourteen enlisted and one officer KIA. Some of those who went down went down with heat exhaustion."
The exec nodded.
At 0800, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines had attacked North Korean positions on Obong-ni Ridge. There had been a preliminary 105-mm howitzer barrage, and a mortar bar-rage, on the enemy positions, after which the 5th had at-tacked across a rice paddy and then up the steep slopes of the ridge. In that attack, Company A had been in the van, with B Company following and C Company in reserve.
The colonel had thought that order of battle best, primar-ily because the Charley Company commander had been on the job only a couple of days.
The colonel had found it necessary to employ his re-serve, for by the time Able Company reached the crest of the ridge, more than half its men were down, either from enemy fire or heat exhaustion, and by the time Baker Com-pany got there, they had lost a fifth of their men, mostly to exhaustion, and what was left was put to work carrying the dead and wounded off the slopes of the ridge, with Charley Company now needed to protect them.