It was April 22, 1951, and the Communists had just launched the largest offensive of the Korean War. Lastly, a sobering look at a prisoner of war (POW) cage serves as a reminder of the high price of war.The Chinese always attacked at night. It is a battle that must be won against overwhelming odds. Visitors feel the cold, they hear the Chinese soldiers advancing up the snowy mountain, and they watch the Marines prepare for the next attack. On Toktong Pass, near the Chosin Reservoir, visitors encounter Marines who are cold, tired, and dangerously short of ammunition. A Pershing tank rumbles through the war-torn streets of Seoul. Visitors ride with Marines to the sea wall at Inchon as part of General MacArthur’s strategic end run to attack the enemy’s rear. Other exhibits highlight the introduction of combined arms teams and flak jackets (body armor) and the expanded roles for women and minorities. On exhibit is a Grumman Panther jet fighter, which flew as part of the first Marine jet combat mission in December 1950, and an early Sikorsky helicopter. It also marked the Marine Corps’ first combat use of both helicopters and jet aircraft. The Marine Corps’ involvement in the Korean War required an increase in its size, which had been dramatically reduced in the years following World War II. The gallery describes the see-saw nature of the war’s opening battles and its gradual transformation into a static war of attrition, reminiscent of World War I trench warfare. Known as “the forgotten war,” the battle for Korea was the first US combat action of the Cold War. More than 70 years ago, thousands of Americans fought a bitter war on the Korean peninsula against a very determined enemy.
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