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Episode168

October 12, 2026

Report For Active Duty

Report For Active Duty
42:32
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On 25 June 1950, the North Korean army crossed the 38th Parallel behind Soviet-built tanks and took Seoul in three days. The Marine Corps had 74,279 Marines on active duty, scattered around the world, and no unit of any size in the Far East.

This episode covers how Korea became divided and what the Corps did in the first weeks of the war. The long rivalry over the peninsula, two armies built on either side of a temporary line, Task Force Smith at Osan, a brigade assembled at Camp Pendleton in one week, and a reserve call-up that pulled World War II veterans and high school students out of their hometowns in 53 days. By mid-July, 6,500 Marines were at sea, bound for a shrinking corner of Korea called the Pusan Perimeter.

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Sources for this episode are listed at historyofthemarinecorps.com

References

  1. Appleman, Roy Edgar. South to the Naktong, north to the yalu: June-November 1950. United States Government Printing Office, 1992.
  2. Chapin, John C. Fire Brigade: U.S. Marines in the Pusan Perimeter. United States Government Printing Office, 2002.
  3. Cumings, Bruce. The origins of the Korean War. Vol. 2. Princeton University Press, 1981.
  4. Dean, William F., and William L. Worden. General Dean’s story, as told to William L. Worden by William F. Dean. Greenwood Press, 1973.
  5. Donnelly, Ralph W, Gabrielle M Neufeld, and Carolyn A Tyson. Chronology of the United States Marine Corps, 1947-1964. Vol. III. Historical Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1971.
  6. Geer, Andrew. The new breed: The story of the U.S. marines in Korea. Harper & Brothers, 1952.
  7. Giusti, Ernest Henry. The mobilization of the Marine Corps Reserve in the Korean conflict. Historical Section, G-3 Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1967.
  8. Heinl, Robert Debs. Soldiers of the sea: The United States marine corps, 1775-1962. United States Naval Institute, 1991.
  9. Millett, Allan R. The war for Korea, 1945-1950: A house burning. University Press of Kansas, 2005.
  10. Montross, Lynn, and Nicholas A. Canzona. U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953: The Pusan Perimeter . Vol. 1. 5 vols. Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1954.
  11. Rawlins, Eugene W. Marines and helicopters, 1946-1962. Edited by William J. Sambito. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1976.
  12. Sawyer, Robert K. Military advisors in Korea: KMAG in peace and war. Edited by Walter G. Hermes. Center of Military History, United States Army, 1988.
  13. Schnabel, James F. Policy and direction the first year. Center of Military History, United States Army, 1992.
  14. Stueck, William. The Korean War: An international history. Princeton University Press, 1997.
  15. Truman, Harry S. “Special Message to the Congress Reporting on the Situation in Korea.” Special Message to the Congress Reporting on the Situation in Korea | Harry S. Truman, July 19, 1950. https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/193/special-message-congress-reporting-situation-korea.

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