Labels?
I am sure the 1.5 million Americans that had to be drafted to serve in our military felt better about the labeling.
Eager?——the American troops were there long before the Chinese troops were.
Maybe we should have stopped when the president told the US Army to stop, and they did not listen , and then maybe the Chinese Army might never have “volunteered” to fight us.
Thank the gods of war for having Oliver Smith on our side.. The absolute best. Saved our butts.
US enterend the Korean War in June 1950.
China entered the Korean War in October 1950.
Not much of a difference time-wise. Three months?
The average Korean, Chinese, American or any other soldier in the war was never "eager" to be there. But Mao was certainly eager to send his troops into battle, calling them "volunteers" to pretend that they were not there under order from above. He tried to portray Chinese troops in the Korean War as no different than anti-facists in the Spanish Civil War, i.e.foreigners volunteering to fight in another country's war.
Had MacArthur not pushed for the UN forces under his command to advance to the Yalu, and stop at the pre-war border on the 38th parallel, it is likely China would not have interevened. But to MacArthur's credit (and I'm not a big fan of his, partucularly in the Korean War) there was no way to be certain of this at that time (September-October 1950).Where MacArthur was defnitiely wrong was his refuals to listen to intelligence (Army & CIA) which reported hundreds of thousands Chinese troops being built up on the Sino-Korean border in the late fall of 1950 and later when large numbers of Chinese troops were reported moving, usually by cover of night (they had no air support at that time), into North Korea. MacArthur dismissed these reports offhand, and nearly lost his entire command as a result. The joint Chinese-North Korean offensive swept the UN forces out of North Korea and re-captured Seoul. MacArthur blamed everyone but himself, taking zero responsibility. The winter of 1950-1951 was a nadir in the Korean War for the UN forces.
Seoul was eventually liberated for a 2nd time (and stayed that way), but not under MacArthur, whom Truman had fired & forced to retire.
General Oliver Smith was a magnificent Marine Corps general whom never took much time and effort to seek publicity. His direct commander, US Army General Ned Almond, was a MacArthur sycophant whom almost got the entire USMC 1st Division wiped out by the Chinese. Almond ordered the Marines to the Yalu, ignoring Smith's warnings of a Chinese intervention. Without Smith's leadership from the Chosin southward, the Marines may not have have made it out of the encirclement. That, and a few tough Marines, that is. And GIs, too, of course.