2 --

THE KENTUCKY KERNEL, Thursday, April

9,

11

'Home By Christmas' Haunted MacArthur
By RF.I.MAN MORIN
Associated Press Writer

"Home

ly

Christmas" was

n luippy smtimrnt.

lint it became a mocking
memory for Gen. Douglas
MacArthur and his admirers,
and a larled taunt hurled at
him again and again by his
critics.
Oeneral MacArthur uttered the
U'ords on an icy morning In November, 1950, at a moment when
it appeared that the Korean War
was all but ended and victorious. This writer was present.
The circumstances of the episode, which figured heavily in
the end of his career, are these:
On Thanksgiving Day, one of
Oeneral MacArthur's aides telephoned and said, "the general
would like to see you in his office this evening at 6:30." Pour
other correspondents also were

Third of a Scries
summoned to the headquarters
In Toyko.
General MacArthur was alone
when we entered his office.
His desk was completely cleared. His aides always said he
woald never go home at night
until he had disposed of even
the
business of the
day, no matter how late he had
to Work.
Oeneral MacArthur's hands
were always restless. Now he was
rubbing the bowl of one of his
pipes. He looked up with a slight
smile and said he hoped he
with any
hadn't
Thanksgiving dinners. He said he
was about to go home and settle
down to his turkey. Then he
said:
"I am going to Korea in the
morning, I can take five of you.
Take-of- f
is at S o'clock. You will
be briefed on the plane."
This was somewhat unusual.
O e n er a y, when he went to
Korea, he disclosed the purpose
of the trip. Dispatches could be
prepared by the correspondents
for fast transmission and there
was time to look up any necessary background. In this case,
he said nothing was to be written in advance.
the next
Shortly after take-omorning, his aides handed around
a communique. It was dated November 24, 1950, and numbered
No. 12. It said:
"The I'nited Nations massive
in
compression envelopment Red
North Korea against the new
armies operating there is now
approaching its derisive effort.
"The Isolating component of
the pincer, our air forces of all
types, have for the past three
weeks, in a sustained attack of
model coordination and effectiveness, successfully interdicted enemy lines of supply from the
north so that further reinforcement therefrom has been sharply
cm tailed.
"The eastern sector of the
and
pincer, with noteworthy
has
naval
effective
support,
steadily advanced in a brilliant
tacticul movement and has now
reached a commanding enveloping position, cuttiig in two the
northern reaches )f the enemy's
geographical potential.
"'this morning' the western
sector of the pincer moves for- -

interfered

Admissions: 50c Frl. & Sun.,
60c Saturday
Showing at 6:30 and 9v
Fri. and Sat.; 8 Sunday

The Jeeps drew up in front of a
wooden shack.
Waiting inside were Ma J. Gen.
John B. Coulter, corps commander, and his Intelligence officer.
took a
Oeneral
MacArthur
chair directly in front of a large
situation map. The offensive had
started some five hours earlier.
The blazing blue and red symbols
on the map showed troop dispositions and the progress of the
advance. Oeneral Coulter told
Oeneral MacArthur of the latest
reports from "up forward."
General MacArthur askrd a
few terse questions. His knowledge of the terrain ahead was
impressive. He seemed familiar
with its smallest features.
Then General Walker said to
General Coulter:
"I notice you haven't mentioned any objectives. Jack. I
don't like that word, 'objectives.'
I think we should just keep pushing as hard as we can go."
"That's what we're going to

Leolure

TNtATS.1

STARTS TOMORROW

"

iRocklPW

ma nof the constitutional revision committee, a member of Phi
Eta Sigma, Keys, and Lances,
Eta Sigma Phi, ancient language
honorary; the YMCA, and Little
Kentucky Derby Committee.
The Student Party Ticket includes Beshear, president: Clarke,
vice president; Miss Olmstead,
secretary; and Miss Kock, treasurer.
Williams of the COUP claims
not to be affiliated with any ticket and will run on an individual
basis.
Among the rules established by
the congress election committee
will be a provision for one debate between the presidential
candidates to be sponsored by
the congress. This debate will be
held at 7 p.m. Monday In the
Student Center Theater.
Other rules established by the
committee are:
Ballots will be cast on voting

W. P. Donovan, professor of
classics at the University of
Illinois, will give an Illustrated lecture at 8 p.m. today In
Room 245 of the Student Center.
The lecture, sponsored by
the Kentucky Society of the
of
Arrheological
America, is open to all interested persons.

Institute

i
student
center
theater

Cnl.r

WffM
"BEST

:

AMERICAN

FRANK

Burt

NIGHTT

AT

8:1

S

tut

fl

I

1962'

UJ

DEAN MAilTIM
ASKS THE

"Who's
Jk
Shnwi

rtiONi

IkJta'

Admission 7Sc

Start! 7:30

QUESTION

I

H.MU

,

At 1:30, 5:00, 8:30

HOTIESt
Of THE lAY:

oeen

seeping

4o;a

NOW!

in My s

Cont! from 10 a.m.

t

Mil
J a Mot

ONLY

Lancaster n "THE LEOPARD"

STARTS

OF

SINATRA

DCd

LAST

FILM

'Come Blow Your Horn''

1

PANCAKE HOUSE

o

AND

T7irn?rsT

a.m. to 2 p.m.
Selection changes each day
Rosa
At
Always under $1.00
,

Hudson I Prentiss

World-Wid- e

in
satellites
Three
orbiting
proper position at 22,300 miles
would be able to provide communications coverage for the entire earth.

PLUS

SPECIAL LUNCH
For Students and Staff
1

machines from 8 a.m. to S p.m.
April 21. Two of these machines
will be in the Student Center
and one in the Journalism Building.
No campaign literature will be
posted in the buildings in which
the voting takes place while the
election is in progress.
It has been requested that no
campaign literature be posted
inside the buildings where the
election Is to be held and that
no painting be done on University property or nails be put Into trees.
treasurer candidates at this time.

Lilt Mtfaiint

ante1
NOW!

Zin PERKINS

V

J

I

TOMORROW

Shown At 7:40 nd 9:3J
A REAL LAUGMlWG GASSERI
STARRING

THE

"CARRY

ON

'

GANG

101

M0NKH0USE

KENNETH

atari

KJU.

Km

list

.

ERIC

KCtfl

CONNOR
BARKER
CUMMINS

VJ

"SUPEilB!"

V

0pZt"

"h o m
mas" probably
was designed for two purposes
to reassure Peking that the advance would end at the Yalu
and not go on into Red China,
and to encourage the troops.
In any event, it backfired
badly.
The savage, forbidding mountains on the frontier concealed
a Chinese horde. After the brief- flew
ings, Oeneral MacArthur
over these mountains.
Looking
down from an oversize window in
his plane, he carefully scrutinized the tortuous terrain. If he
suspected that it crawled with
enemy infantry, the only way to
flush them out was to order a
general advance. This he did.
For two days, the offensive
moved ahead smoothly. Then the
Chinese came out of the mountains like an avalanche and hit
the Eighth Army. A general retreat began.
There was to be no "home by
Christmas."
Next: Scenes of Bravery.

WED. - SAt.

" Rififi"
SATURDAY
FRI. and SUN.
"Imitation Of Life"

NEWMAN"

Kentucky

do," Oeneral Coulter replied.
"We're not thinking In terms of
objectives."
Oeneral MacArthur rose. He
put his hand on Oeneral Coulter's shoulder, smiled, and said:
"That's right, Jack. You tell
the boys that when they get to
the Yalu, they're going home. I
want to make good on my statement that they are going to eat
Christmas dinner at home."
This way the origin of the
statement.
General MacArthur could not
have meant it In the literal sense.
Even if the Eighth Army had
reached the Yalu River, if there
had been no Chinese opposition
whatever, the troops could not
have been withdrawn immediatemuch less
ly to bases in Japan
"home" by December 25.
He was simply hopeful of ending the war before the worst of
the winter months settled over
North Korea. He could not know
the intentions of the Chinese
Reds. Hence, the optimistic

Breshear, Niles, Svara Named
Continued From Page 1
tion, secretary of student YMCA,
member of Lambda Chi Alpha
fraternity, and is on the
Council.
The Student Government slate
Includes Niles, presidrnt; Marsh,
vice president; Miss 7.iegler, secretary, and Long, treasurer.
Svara will head the ticket
for the unnamed party. He is
cochairman of the Student Centennial Committee, a member of
Omicron Delta Kappa, men's
leadership honorary; and in the
Town Housing Association.
Svara's ticket includes Moore,
vice presidrnt and Miss Anderson,
secretary. Svara said he was not
giving support to any of the
Steve Beshear will lead the
only remaining old party, the
Student Party. Beshear is treas-ma- n
of the constitutional revi- -

Served weekdays

ENDS TONIGHT

"CAPTAIN

ward in general assault In an
effort to complete the compression and close the vise.
"If successful, this should for
all practical purposes end the
war, restore peace and unity to
Korea, enable the prompt withdrawal of United Nations mili-tai- y
forces, and permit the complete assumption by the Korean
people and nation of full sovereignty and international equality.
It is that for which we fight."
The tone of this communique
reflected the high optimism of
the moment.
Weeks earlier, when the North
Korean capital city Pyongyang,
was taken, Oeneral MacArthur
had said, "This war is very definitely coming to an end very
shortly." There were reports that
he had made a similar statement
in more positive terms to a
United Nations commission shortNow,
ly before Thanksgiving.
communique No. 12 told the
world, "If successful, this should
for all practical purposes end the
war. . . ."
But what of the Chinese?
These were the 'new Red
armies" to which the communique referred. They had started
appearing at the front in October. Peking said they were "volunteers." By the end of the
month, however, they had lashed
out with a strong counterattack.
Organized units of the Chinese
Red Army not a handful of
had conducted the
"volunteers"
operation.
Then a strange set of events
took place.
Mysteriously, the Chinese vanished. Large fighting patrols went
out hunting for them but found
none. Next, they released groups
of American prisoners. The soldiers said a Chinese woman
translator had told them:
"The Chinese do not want to
fight Americans."
Further, correspondents in the
Far East were given to understand that the Central Intelligence Agency Judged that large-scaintervention by the Chinese
Reds was unlikely.
It was against this background
that General MacArthur launched the offensive in the west on
November 24 and issued his communique.
When his plane landed, that
morning, Jeeps carried the party
on a Jolting ride across country
to Ninth Corps headquarters. Lt.
Gen. Walton H. Walker, commander of the Eighth Army,
rode with General MacArthur.

BKIANKtlTrJ.VERA

MILES

All MMil SHUn,

W

*