"Freedom Is Not Free"
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Date |
Action |
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June 25 |
North Korea invades South Korea with 135,000 men, initiating the Korean War. |
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June 27 |
President Harry S. Truman deploys the 7th Fleet to waters off Taiwan to prevent the spread of the conflict in Korea to other Far East waters. |
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June 27 |
First air victory of the war. A 68th All-Weather Squadron F-82 shoots down a North Korean Yak fighter. Two more enemy planes are destroyed in this air battle. |
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June 29 |
Fifth Air Force's 3rd Bombardment Group sends 18 B-26 Invader light bombers against Heijo Airfield near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang: 25 enemy aircraft are destroyed on the ground; one Yak fighter is shot down. |
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July 1 |
First U.S. infantry unit arrives in Korea: 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. Along with Battery A of the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, it comprises Task Force Smith. |
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July 2 |
Off Chumunjin, on Korea's east coast, the USS Juneau helps destroy three of four attacking North Korean torpedo boats. |
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July 5 |
Battle of Osan. First U.S. ground action of the war: Task Force Smith (406 infantrymen and 134 artillerymen) engages and delays advancing North Korean People's Army (NKPA) units. |
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July 6 |
Fifty-seven Army nurses arrive in Pusan, Korea. They helped establish a hospital for the wounded. Two days later, on July 8, twelve Army nurses moved forward with a mobile Army surgical hospital (MASH) to Taejon. |
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Aug. 4 - |
16 84,478 U.S. troops participate in the defense of the Pusan Perimeter, including the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd, 24th, and 25th Infantry Divisions, and the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade. |
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Sept. 15 |
Inchon Landing (Operation CHROMITE). U.S. and allied forces land U.S. Marines and U.S. Army troops at Inchon. |
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Sept. 15-30 |
Inchon Operation and Liberation of Seoul. U.S. and allies re-capture Seoul on Sept. 27 after a week of fighting. |
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Sept. 16-27 |
Pusan Perimeter breakout. Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) breaks out of the Pusan Perimeter. Four U.S. divisions (1st Cavalry Division, 2nd, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions) participate. |
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Oct 20 |
War's first airborne operation. Seventy-one C-119s and 40 C-47s of the Far East Air Force's (FEAF) Combat Cargo Command drop 2,860 paratroopers of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (RCT) at Sukch'on and Sunch'on north of Pyongyang. Only one trooper killed and 36 injured in jump. Paratroopers, in association with ground forces driving north, kill or capture about 6,000 North Koreans during this operation. |
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Oct. 25 |
Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launch their first phase offensive of the Korean War. |
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Nov. 8 |
First all-jet combat in history. An F-80 Shooting Star of the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing shoots down a MiG-15 fighter near Sinuiju in a 30-second dogfight. |
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Nov. 8-26 |
FEAF B-29s and Navy aircraft attack Yalu River bridges in attempt to isolate the battlefield. |
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Nov. 25 - |
CCF Counteroffensive in North Korea. Seven U.S. divisions participate (1st Marine Division, U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions). |
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Nov. 27 - |
Battle of the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir. The encircled 1st Marine Division fights its way southward from the Chosin Reservoir to the port city of Hungnam. |
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Dec. 24 |
Hungnam Operation is complete—the U.S. Navy evacuates 105,000 U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) forces. |
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