The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The News-Herald, Franklin and Oil City PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
24 August 1952 – 30 August 1952
The News-Herald, Franklin and Oil City PA
116,252
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Thirty-eight Communist prisoners of war were wounded on Koje Island when they forced United Nations guards to fire shotguns and throw tear gas to stop their defiant violations of orders. None of the prisoners were seriously hurt in the disturbance, although seven were hospitalized. No UN personnel were hurt. The past spring and early summer the island, which is off Southeast Korea, was the scene of a series of riots that culminated in the kidnapping of the camp commander.
The United Nations had lost at least 1,572 planes in the Korean War while destroying 644 Communist aircraft. The figures included US Air Force, Navy, Marine, and foreign-piloted planes. Actual losses, including behind the scenes accidents, were higher. Among UN air units, only the Navy included accidental losses. The UN said Allied losses were higher than the enemy’s because the UN operated more planes over more territory. They were exposed constantly to ground fire both over the front lines and in bombing missions deep in North Korea.
American battle casualties in Korea now totaled 116,252, an increase of 879 over last week’s summary. The casualties included those whose next of kin were notified through the past Friday. The total since the beginning of the Korean War included 20,411 deaths, 83,390 wounded, 9,453 missing, 1,611 captured, and 1,387 previously missing but return to military service. The deaths included those who died of wounds and who were found dead after being reported missing as well as those killed in action.
UN fighter-bombers staged an attack in force on Communist positions in the Bunker Hill area, pouring a deadly rain of bombs, bullets, and napalm on the groggy Reds. The aircraft took advantage of clearing weather to launch the first full-scale air operation by the Fifth Air Force in five days. Fighter-bombers from four air wings concentrated their attacks on the western front, paying particular attention to the Bunker Hill area, 5 miles east of Panmunjom. UN war planes also swarmed over North Korea, from the battle line to the Yalu, blasting Communist troop and supply concentrations with bullets and bombs and searching in vain for enemy MIG-15 Jets. In one of the actions, F-80 Shooting Stars and F-84 Thunderjets destroyed 49 buildings in a Communist troop area near Yonan.
A powerful armada of United Nations land- and carrier-based planes blasted Communist Pyongyang late in the week in three separate assaults that left the North Korean capital a mass of flames, smoke, and explosions. Planes from the American, Australian, South Korean, and South African air forces joined to pulverize the Red nerve center with bombs, bullets, and napalm in one of the heaviest raids of the war. In a series of high-altitude battles of North Korea on Saturday, Sabrejet pilots claimed five Communist jet fighters destroyed, one probably destroyed, and 11 damaged. Fifth Air Force headquarters said 79 Sabres tangled with about 100 of the Russian-built jets in the area around the Suiho reservoir near the Yalu River and around Sinuiju in northwest Korea.
The Army Secretary said that rotation of troops from Korea and scheduled discharges during physical 1953 while maintaining combat readiness would “strain every nerve and sinew of the army.” The army was expected to lose more than 750,000 of its 1.5 million men by next 30 June through routine discharge, the Secretary said in a speech prepared for the annual American Legion convention. “This meant that the whole army will be turned into a gigantic training base, fighting to hold combat readiness, but pressed in every sector for training replacements,” he said.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Franklin and Oil City News-Herald)