Evening star., 1950-07-30
Thoughts for q Grim Day

There are few things that should not be
forgotten on this grim Sunday, as an American
Army prepares to stand or die in the South
Korean hills.
The order which General Walker has given
to his troops is pitched to a note of harsh
fnality. Everybody in this Army knows we
must hold along the lines we now have. :.
There is no thought of Dunkirk. 1t would
be impossible for us to get out. -. The thought
In the minds of every one is to keep fighting
that no one individual, squad, company or higher
unit under any conditions will surrender"
So there they are, few thousand boys from
Washington, Virginia, Maryland and most of the
other States, backed into the hills of far-away
land and committed to battle which they must
win If they are not to die.
We, the American people, sent them there
The actual decision, of course, was made by the
President upon the advice of his military and
civilian advisers If our troops should be driven
into the sea it may be argued that both the
decision and the advice were bad. But that
question is not the thing that should concern
us most today. AS we sit here, comfortable and
far from the scene of battle, we should be asking
ourselves why 1t is that the most powerful
Nation in the world (at least, this is the way
we like to speak of ourselves) is shown, when
the test comes, to be so shamefully weak. Why
lacking in equipment. and starved for reinforce
ments, should find itself in such a desperate
position?
1t is easy to blame a few individuals-to say
that one man made bad decision, that another
blundered here or there. But we must know in
our hearts that this is not the real answer. The
truth probably is many-sided. After the last
war we demobilized too drastically because the
people clamored to get the boys back home. Uni
versal training, which would have provided a
reserve Of military manpower, could not survive
the assaults Of articulate ignorance. In the
name of economy-and lighter taxes-too little
money was provided for the armed forces Yes,
we did spend billions. But we did not spend
enough. Underlying all of this, and perhaps of
even greater moment, was the mood of America.
Although we had warnings enough, we would
not comprehend the real nature of the rising
threat. We preferred the more abundant life
to the sacrifices that should have been made
and which will have to be made now. We were
unwilling, when there still was time, either to
make the hard decisions or to act on them.
And so an American Army, outnumbered and
outgunned, Is fighting for it's life in Korea
That battle is not lost, and we may hope that
the disaster lurking between the lines of General
Walkers order will not come to pass Whatever
the final result in Korea, however there is one
thing that all Of us can do. We can store away
the memory of this grim day, and we can make
up our minds that we will not let it happen
again. Long, hard years lie ahead of us. If we
let down, if we hesitate, If we are not fully
determined that security is our first concern and
that we will pay the price of security, then we
must expect the time to come when all of us
will be making our last-ditch stand, and making
1t here in the United States-not in some far-off
Korea.