The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Republican, Kane PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
17 August 1952 – 23 August 1952
The Republican, Kane PA
It seemed that only Mother Nature could stop the war.
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On Monday Typhoon Karen slashed into the Korean battle zone, grounding Allied war planes, sending Navy vessels off the west coast to cover, and bringing the war to a temporary halt. The eye of the rampaging tropical storm hit the southwest Korean coast 100 miles south of Seoul early Monday afternoon and ripped inland over the north-northeast course at 15 miles an hour. The eighth army reported “very light” activity along the front, mostly brief contacts by small patrols. The savage fighting for Bunker Hill and other important hilltops that raised Korean fighting to its highest pitch in months stopped completely; troops of both sides huddled in bunkers and worked feverishly to keep the rain from collapsing them. In effect, the Korean War was called off on account of the weather.
The next day Allied Superfortresses skirted the typhoon to bomb a Communist munitions plant in far North Korea with “excellent” results, returning pilot said. The target in the raid was a grenade factory at Nakwon, only three miles from the Yalu river, which forms the boundary between North Korea and Communist China. The 14 Superforts dropped 140 tons of bombs on the factory, using “improved electronics aiming methods” because of overcast skies. Civilians had been warned by leaflets to clear out of the area. Midweek, UN fighter-bombers and carrier-based navy planes struck a huge Communist troop and supply base at Namyang on the Korean west coast, leaving 300 buildings a mass of flame and explosions. Navy planes from American carriers cruising off the east coast were the first to swoop down on the target with bombs, napalm, rockets, and machine gun fire. They were followed by F-84 Thunderjets, F-80 Shooting Stars, and Marine and Australian fighter-bombers.
Talks between the Soviet Union and China in Moscow were prompted by growing uncertainties and differences over the Korean War. Differences of opinion between the two Communist dictatorships had reached a point where high-level talks in the final decision on the position of the two countries were necessary, observer said.
On Friday, Chinese soldiers attacked Bunker Hill, five miles east of Panmunjom, but UN soldiers defending the strategic height drove them off after a brief but sharp clash. The Chinese Reds had lost more than 3,000 men in the past week in trying to recapture the heights. With the failure of major counterattacks, they had been staging smaller forays, apparently in the nature of probes to test the Allied defenses.
The new G.I. Bill of Rights went into effect, offering Korean War veterans education and training at government expense. The program, however, had hit a temporary legal snag that would leave veterans paying their own school expenses at the start. Veterans Administration officials warned former servicemen heading for school not to expect government checks right away. One VA official said Korean War veterans probably wouldn’t get their checks until two months after they enter school.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Kane Republican)