Military Advisors in Korea: KMAG in Peace and War (Front)

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Foreword

The mid-twentieth century has added new dimensions to the rolesand missions long performed by the United States Army. In manylands whose peoples speak alien tongues and observe strange customs,the American soldier is now living and working as ally, friend, and coun-selor. As a representative of the American way of life, as a persuasiveadvocate of his countrys modern equipment and tactical doctrine, aspartner in a global system of achieving security for the entire free world,he is called upon to demonstrate a variety of talents-patience, tact, lin-guistic ability, and superior professional knowledge, among others. Inall that he does, he must make a supreme effort to understand peopleand traditions often vastly different from his own.

One of the pioneers in this new type of Army endeavor was theMilitary Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea, commonly knownas KMAG. The men and 08fficers who served in KMAG during theearly days came to know all the frustrations and triumphs, the problemsand partial solutions, the failures and successes that characterize newventures.

Major Sawyer and Mr. Hermes have vividly recaptured the spiritand actions of the men of both nations whose joint efforts established aremarkable record of achievement. Though this volume describes theArmys experience in Korea only, the lessons it contains have great valueto an officer assigned to advisory group duty in any nation. The bookwill also introduce the general public to the manner in which the UnitedStates soldier can and does meet the ever-changing tasks demanded ofhim by his countrymen.

A professional soldier and a professional military historian pooledtheir talents to prepare this work. Major Sawyer, presently attendingthe Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,wrote his manuscript while on duty with the Office of the Chief of Mili-tary History from 1951 to 1955. A combat veteran of both World WarII and the Korean War, he received a battlefield commission in Francein 1945 and fought in Korea in 1950 with the 25th Infantry Division.He holds the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Purple Heart.

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Mr. Hermes, also a World War II veteran, is a graduate of BostonUniversity, where he received an M.A. degree in 1942, and is currentlycompleting requirements for a Ph.D. degree in history at GeorgetownUniversity. A staff member of the Office of the Chief of MilitaryHistory since 1949, he is the author of Truce Tent and Fighting Front,a forthcoming volume in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN THEKOREAN WAR.Washington, D.C.15 December 1961

WILLIAM H. HARRISBrigadier General, U.S.A.Chief of Military History

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PrefaceIn an era when United States military assistance groups are scattered

all over the world and probably will be for some time to come, the storyof one of the earliest of these groups is of more than passing interest.The U.S. Military Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea, or KMAGas it was frequently called, was not only one of the first advisory groupsto be formed but also one of the few that had to operate both in peaceand war.The problems that KMAG had to face in Korea in organizing anddeveloping native forces differ only in degree from those that confrontmany American military advisors working in the more recently foundednations of Africa and Asia today. In substance they are essentially thesame: the problem of communication between a highly skilled andcompetent group of technicians on the one hand, and an eager and will-ing yet often uneducated and untrained people on the other; the needto establish a military language comprehensible to both teacher andpupil; and the task of forging a military instrument out of the raw mate-rials at hand under conditions that may be quite primitive by Americanstandards.

From the KMAG experience in coping with the questions that aroseand the solutions that were devised or sometimes improvised, much canbe learned. Some of the pitfalls that marked the path of the KMAGmilitary advisors are bound to be encountered again under similar orvaried guises. If this study can illuminate a few of the problems involvedand help to lessen or eliminate difficulties that are liable to come up, itspurpose will have been accomplished.

Although officially KMAGs history does not begin until 1 July 1949when the group was formally established, the genesis of its mission can befound in the immediate post-World War II period. During the 1945548periold, the seeds were planted and the area of development was laid out.Thus, the story of the formation of Republic of Koreas armed forcesmust properly start at the close of World War II when the nucleus forthe future ROK Army came into being and American military advisorsfirst were assigned to the task of organizing and training security forces.

During his assignment to the Office of the Chief of Military Historyin 1951-55, Captain Sawyer completed a draft manuscript covering theperiod of origins and carrying the KMAG story through the first year ofthe war. This was the era of greatest stresses and strains on the advisorygroup and the ROK Army, since they had first to undergo the pangs of

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birth and of growing up and then to be tested in the crucible of war be-fore they were properly prepared. With the initiation of the truce nego-tiations and the slowdown in the action at the front in mid- 195 1, KMAGentered a more leisurely period and was able to rebuild on a more solidfoundation. The groundwork that was laid in the 1951-52 period putKMAG and the ROK forces on a firm footing that continued to the con-clusion of the truce and beyond. Therefore, this work projects itself intothe second year of the war insofar as it is necessary to establish the patternfor the future.

Since Captain Sawyer was no longer available for the task of revisinghis manuscript, I undertook to provide a slightly broader framework forthe narrative and to furnish the projections into 1952 that were neededto bring the story to a more logical stopping place. In the process, I re-organized and rewrote some of the material to conform with the changesintroduced into the text. Otherwise, the account is Sawyers, and my ef-forts were confined to the details of polishing up the draft manuscript forpublication.

One of the great problems in the preparation of a history of KMAGis the dearth and inadequacy of official records. Since it was impossibleto fashion a continuous and complete narrative from the extant files,Captain Sawyer had to depend heavily upon the memories of the menwho participated in the KMAG experience. He collected their personalaccounts through interviews and letters, and, frequently, by viewing theirpersonal papers. On behalf of the author I would like to acknowledgehis deep debt to each member of the KMAG team who aided him in thisrespect. The responsibility for the use of this material and for any errorsthat may have been made in this book is, of course, the authors alone.

For guidance in the writing of this study, the author has expressedhis particular gratitude to Dr. Stetson Corm, now Chief Historian of theOffice of the Chief of Military History, as well as to Dr. Kent RobertsGreenfield, the former Chief Historian. Dr. Louis Morton and Lt. Cal.Roy E. Appleman, both of OCMH, made many helpful suggestions.Mrs. Marion P. Grimes was copy editor for the manuscript. Mrs. EileenBlandford, Miss Barbara A. Smith, and others helped cheerfully in re-peated typings. Miss Mary Ann Bacon provided many sage commentsin the literary editing of the volume; Miss Ruth A. Phillips selected thephotographs that brighten its pages.Washington, D.C.15 December 1961

WALTEK G. HERMES

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ChajterContents

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III.

IV.

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VI.

VII.

VIII.

THE BACKGROUND ...............Introduction .....................The First Stejrs .....................Establishment of a National Defense Agency .........Creation of the Korean Constabulary ............The Korean Coast Guard ................The Department of Internal Security ............The Constabulary as a Police Reserve ............An Army Is Founded ..................

THE PROVISIONAL MILITARY ADVISORY GROUPTransfer of Authority ..................The Debate Over Withdrawal ..............The Infang of the ROK Army ..............The Expansion of the Advisory Group ...........KMAG: THE INSTRUMENT AND THE CHALLENGECommand Relationships .................Internal Arrangements .................Operating Procedures ..................Special Problems ....................TRAINING THE ROK FORCES ..........ROKA Organization and the Adoption of a Training ProgramObstacles to Training Progress ..............The School System ...................Other KMAG Advisory Responsibilities ...........STATUS QUO ANTE BELLUM ..........Military Assistance to the ROK ..............The Opposing Forces ..................

THE COMING OF WAR ..............The First Assaults ...................The Fall of Seoul ...................Behind the Lines ....................Efforts To Aid Stabilization ...............THE ROAD BACK .................The Task of Reconstruction ...............Replacements and Training ...............The Aduisor in Combat .................THE TASK AHEAD ..... : ..........The Growth of KMAG .................Improving the ROK Army ................

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ChapterIX. A FIRM FOUNDATION

Strengthening the School System .The Build-u@ of ROKA Suj$ortKMAG in Retrospect .

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTEGLOSSARYINDEX

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ChartsNo.1. KMAG Table of Distribution, 1949 492. KMAG Table of Distribution, March 1951 . 165

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Tables1. United States Military Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea 502. KMAG Strength, July 1950 Through September 1951 161

PCZgt178178182186189199203

MapsI. The North Korean Invasion, 25-28 June 1950 . . . . . faces 115

IllustrationsDr. Rhee, Dr. Kim Koo, and General Hodge .....Constabulary Group Training With 81-mm. Mortar .Captain Hausman .................KMAG Signal Advisor ...............Korean Cavalry ..................General Roberts Inspects Arms ...........Korean Police Arrest a Communist Rioter .......Cal. Min Ki Sik and Major Clark ..........38th Parallel in the Kaesong Area ..........Colonel Wright ..................KMAG Group Leaving Seoul ............General Farrell ..................Recruits for the ROK Army ............KMAG G-2 Advisor Briefs ROK Engineer Platoon .Colonel Champeny ................Korean Students at Fort Benning ...........KMAG Artillery Advisor Watches ROK Soldiers ...

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All pictures in this volume are from Department of Defense files.. . .VI11
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Military Advisors in Korea: KMAG in Peace and War (Front)

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