Part 39 (1/2)
”They wait for the freighters to come in close and drop anchor, right, and then take on supplies and ferry them to the beach, right?”
”Uh-huh.”
The chief of staff raised his voice: ”Sergeant Miller! Bring me a map of the east coast.”
”Coming up, sir!” Sergeant Miller replied, and a moment later entered the chief of staff's office, removing a map from its tube as he walked. He laid it on the chief of staff's desk, anchoring its corners with two cans of Planters peanuts, a coffee cup, and a large stapler.
The chief of staff stood up and leaned over the map. Colonel Kennedy walked around the desk and stood beside him.
”We own Suwon,” the chief of staff said, pointing. ”And we own Wonju and Kangnung. And Highway Four runs all the way from Suwon to Kangnung. And we're only talking about”-he made a compa.s.s with his fingers-”about 120, maybe 140 miles, tops. All of it on a paved highway.”
”That's about right,” Colonel Kennedy agreed.
The chief of staff used his fingers as a compa.s.s again.
”And about that far, 120 miles or so, from Kangnung to Wonsan.”
”Uh-huh, that's about right.”
”The last I heard, the Capital ROK Division has moved at least this far”-he pointed-”close to Kansong, which is only seventy-five miles, give or take, from Wonsan, and on another paved highway.”
After a moment's hesitation, Colonel Kennedy said, ”According to the map, the highway ends fifteen miles north of Kansong.”
Now Colonel Kennedy received one of the chief of staff's derisive snorts.
”The highway highway does, Howard. But there are villages all along the coast here”-he pointed-”from Kuum-ni to Tokchong. I'll bet there are roads of some sort to all of them.” does, Howard. But there are villages all along the coast here”-he pointed-”from Kuum-ni to Tokchong. I'll bet there are roads of some sort to all of them.”
”There probably are,” Colonel Kennedy agreed.
”Tokchong is only thirty-five miles south of Wonsan,” the chief of staff said. ”I think there is a good chance that by the time the invasion fleet arrives off Wonsan, we'll own that real estate.”
”That would seem a reasonable a.s.sumption,” Kennedy agreed.
”Worst case,” the chief of staff said, ”for some reason, the vehicles cannot make it over the highway to Kangnung. That seems unlikely.”
”Uh-huh.”
”Presuming they can make it to Kangnung, they can't make it much farther north along Highway Five. That also seems unlikely, but let's take that for the purpose of argument. The LSTs dump their tanks at Wonsan and immediately head for Kangnung. They make about fifteen miles an hour, which would get them there in eight hours. An hour there to load the trucks and another eight hours back to Wonsan, where-since the vehicles would not have to be unloaded by cranes, et cetera-they could simply be driven off the LSTs and be available.”
”Interesting,” Colonel Kennedy said.
”That's a lot better-getting them there seventeen hours after the landing-than not getting them there at all, right?”
”Absolutely.”
”And the farther north they could go along Highway Five, the less travel time for the LSTs. And if the Capital ROK Division has by that time taken Wonsan, which I think is likely, we won't have to use the LSTs at all. Just drive these vehicles all the way to Wonsan, and set up shop, maybe even before X Corps lands there.”
”That's certainly a possibility,” Colonel Kennedy agreed.
”Okay. So the thing to do, I think, is see if the vehicles can make it to Kangnung. I suggest the best way to do that is make a trial run. Send a couple of wreckers and a couple of tank retrievers and see what happens. It would probably be best-the NKs may have some left-behinds in the area-to send a couple of tanks with them.”
”I agree.”
”If the test run is successful, we can start moving all the heavy vehicles. Obviously, it would be better to have them on the east coast, however close to Wonsan, than sitting on the wharf in Inchon, on the other side of the peninsula.”
”Obviously,” Colonel Kennedy agreed.
”Go see Bob and tell him I said to give you a couple of tanks, and then get your show on the road, Howard.”
”Right,” Colonel Kennedy said.
[SIX].
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D.C. 1105 13 OCTOBER 1950.
There was already a line of limousines parked not far from the Independence, Independence, the President's Douglas C-54 transport, when Senator Richardson K. Fowler's Packard limousine was pa.s.sed by the Secret Service agents and allowed to drive onto the tarmac. the President's Douglas C-54 transport, when Senator Richardson K. Fowler's Packard limousine was pa.s.sed by the Secret Service agents and allowed to drive onto the tarmac.
The dignitaries the other limousines had carried to the airport, and some of their aides, were gathered around the movable stairway leading up to the aircraft. Two USAF master sergeants stood at Parade Rest on either side of the stairs.
When Fowler's Packard stopped, Captain George F. Hart, USMCR, got out of the front pa.s.senger seat and immediately went to the trunk, opened it, and took out two Valv-Paks and handed them over to another Air Force master sergeant, who was in charge of the luggage.
Fred Delmore, Fowler's chauffeur, got from behind the wheel and opened the rear pa.s.senger door. Mrs. Patricia Pickering, in a thigh-length Persian lamb coat, got out first, followed by Senator Fowler and finally Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR.
Fowler stood by the car, making no effort to join, or even greet, the dignitaries gathered at the stairway. After a moment, one of the dignitaries, a bald Army officer, broke away from the group and walked to the Fowler limousine.
He was wearing an ordinary woolen olive-drab ”Ike” jacket-and-trousers uniform, identical to those worn by enlisted men. The only differences were the solid gold piping on his overseas cap and a small circle of five stars pinned to each epaulet. General of the Army Omar Bradley had recently been promoted to the highest rank in the Army by Truman, the first-and, as it turned out, only-such promotion since World War II.
After a moment, several of the others started after him.
”Good morning, Senator,” Bradley said, smiling and putting out his hand.
”General Bradley, how are you, sir?” Fowler replied. ”I don't think you know General and Mrs. Pickering, do you?”
”I'm afraid I don't,” Bradley said. He offered his hand to Patricia Pickering. ”An honor, ma'am,” he said.
Pickering saluted, and Bradley returned it. They shook hands.
”How do you do, sir?” Pickering said.
”I've been looking forward to meeting you, General,” Bradley said. ”General Smith has been saying all sorts of nice things about you, and I wanted you to know that I'm really pleased that the two of you will be running the CIA.”
”General Smith will be running it, General,” Pickering said. ”I'm just a temporary hired hand.”
Three other men had now walked up to them.
”I don't think you know any of these people, do you, Flem?” Fowler said, then proceeded to introduce him to Secretary of the Army Frank Pace-whose youth surprised Pickering-and two state department officers, Dean Rusk and Philip Jessup.
There wasn't time to do more than shake hands as the Presidential caravan rolled up.
Harry S Truman got out of the black Cadillac first, and a moment later a tall, thin man in what Pickering thought of as a ”banker's black” suit joined him. He was Averill Harriman, who was Truman's national security adviser. He held the personal rank of amba.s.sador-at-large.