In the second month of the Korean War, Eighth U.S. Army commander Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker was faced by a severe shortage of strength and supplies along the Busan perimeter, and requested urgent backup from the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army, which was later answered on the 25th of July, 1950, by then-President of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, with the signing of an emergency decree directing ROK Army forces to provide civilian supply carriers to front line units. Eventually these carriers were organized into a centralized commanded battalion as the Civilian Transportation Corps (CTC) on March 15th, 1951. Under the direction of General James Van Fleet, the CTC was later renamed to the Korean Service Corps (KSC) on July 14th, 1951.