Dunston started the engine and backed out of the parking slot.
[FIVE]
The Mouse
Seoul, South Korea
191O 16 October 19S0
Major General Ralph Howe, NGUS, Lieutenant Colonel D. J. Vandenburg, USA, Master Sergeant Charley Rogers, NGUS, Technical Sergeant J. M. Jen-nings, USMC, and an Army captain wearing a fur-collared aviator's jacket were sitting at the dining room table when Pickering, Banning, Hart, and Dunston walked in.
Everyone but Howe made some movement to stand. Pickering signaled for them to stay where they were.
"I will claim the privilege of rank, Flem," Howe said, "and be the first to tell you how delighted I am your son's safe."
"Thank you," Pickering said.
"I suppose I'd better do the introductions," Howe said. "General, this is Colonel D. J. Vandenburg..."
Pickering offered him his hand.
"How are you, Colonel?"
"Sir, we're all happy Major Pickering is back with us."
"Thank you," Pickering said.
"... and this is Captain Lew Miller," Howe went on, "who flies the Beaver."
"I've heard about the Beaver," Pickering said, smiling at Vandenburg. "How are you, Captain?"
"How do you do, sir?" Miller said.
"And J. M. Jennings," Howe said, "who has the dubious distinction of hav-ing been a Marine Raider with McCoy and Zimmerman."
" 'Dubious distinction'?" Jennings said, and then: "How do you do, sir?"
"The phrase, General Howe," Pickering said, "is great distinction."
"Thank you, sir," Jennings said.
"I'm sorry, Sergeant," Pickering said, "that you've had to be alone with all these dogfaces, but that's changed. Ed Banning and I have landed, and the sit-uation is well in hand."
"Oh, God!" Howe said, shaking his head. He put out his hand to Banning. "I've heard a lot about you, Colonel, all good. And this is Charley Rogers, who the jarheads around here refer to-behind our backs, of course-as the 'Retread Doggie General's Retread Dog Robber.' "
"How do you do, General?" Banning said to Howe, and shook his hand. He shook Rogers's hand but said nothing to him.
Howe said, "I don't know if Marines drink champagne-for that matter, if they even know what it is-but when Bill Dunston heard about your son and you coming, he put a couple of bottles in the refrigerator in case a celebration was in order, and I suggest one is."
"My God!" Pickering said. "A house like this, with champagne in a refrig-erator, in what my favorite journalist refers to as 'the battered capital of this war-torn nation'? Pay attention, Ed, these doggies really know how to live. See if you can find out how they do it!"
There was laughter from everyone but Banning, who came up with a some-what restrained smile.
Dunston went through the door to the kitchen, and a moment later Lai-Min, the housekeeper, came through it carrying a tray with two bottles of champagne in coolers and champagne glasses on it. She set it on the table, went back into the kitchen, and came back with another tray. This one held hors d'oeuvres.
"I will be damned!" Pickering said.
"More than likely," Howe said, mock serious.
Dunston came back into the room, and he and Hart opened the champagne and poured.
Howe raised his glass. "Major Malcolm S. Pickering," he toasted. "Who has proved he's as good a Marine as his father, and probably a lot smarter."
Pickering took a swallow and then raised his glass again.
"How about to Major Ken McCoy and whoever was with him when he found Pick?" he said.
"Well, I'll drink to the Killer anytime," Howe said. "But that's not exactly what happened, Flem."
"Excuse me?"
Howe gestured to Jennings, whose face showed he would much rather not have to tell the story.
"Sir, what happened was that we were coming back to Socho-Ri in a Big Black Bird after having picked up a recon patrol-"
"You're talking about a helicopter?" Banning interrupted.
"Yes, sir," Jennings said. "And we heard somebody-'Road Service'-call-ing for any U.S. aircraft-"
"Road Service?" Banning parroted. Pickering looked at him sharply.
"Yes, sir," Jennings went on. "We found out later it was an Army convoy, a couple of tanks and some heavy vehicles, trying to find a land route to Wonsan. We even knew them. Anyway, we didn't reply, of course-"
"Why not?" Banning interrupted.
"Ed, for Christ's sake, let Sergeant Jennings finish," Pickering snapped, and immediately regretted it.
The remark earned him a look of gratitude from Jennings and a look of as-tonishment, even hurt, from Banning.
"But an Air Force P-51 did," Jennings went on. "And Road Service told him they'd just picked up a shot-down pilot and needed to get him to a hospital. The Air Force guy asked for a location, and it was about five miles from where we were, so the Kil... Major McCoy told Major Donald to go there, and see if we could land, and so we did. What we found was that the Army was lost, and Major Pickering had seen them and come out from where he was hiding."
Pickering saw Jennings smile.
"What's funny, Sergeant?" he asked.
"Well, sir, what Major Pickering did was come down the road to the dog-gie convoy with his hands over his head, singing 'The Marines' Hymn' as loud as he could and shouting 'Don't shoot' between lines."
"Jesus Christ!" Pickering said, smiling at the image.
"Anyway, sir, we could get in where they were, so we loaded Major Picker-ing on the Big Black Bird-they left me behind to show the Army the road to Wonsan-and flew on to Socho-Ri, took on fuel, and then flew him out to the aircraft carrier. But we didn't find him, sir, although God knows we sure looked hard for him-the major found the Army."
Pickering smiled and shook his head.
"What difference does it make, Flem?" Howe asked. "He's back. That's all that counts."
"There's a small problem," Pickering said, smiling. "It has been decided at the highest level-by that I mean agreement between El Supremo, General of the Army Omar Bradley, and the President himself-that McCoy gets the Sil-ver Star for his valor in finding Pick-"
"Goddamn!" Jennings said, chuckling.
"And everybody with him gets the Bronze Star," Pickering went on. He stopped himself as he was about to add "and the President agreed with MacArthur that Pick gets the Navy Cross."
Why did I stop? So Proud Papa won't be boasting?
No, it's something else.
Because I don't see where what he did deserves the Navy Cross?
I didn't think I deserved mine, either. I was just doing what a Marine is sup-posed to do.
Isn't that what Pick did? What a Marine is supposed to do?
How the hell did I get on this line of thought?
"General," Jennings said, "I didn't do anything that should get me the Bronze Star."
"I'll straighten it out," Pickering said. He raised his champagne glass to Jennings and smiled.
"I'm about to send a message I think you ought to see," Howe said. "Can we go upstairs for a minute?"
"Sure," Pickering said. "What's upstairs?"
"The communications," Howe said. He smiled. "I keep forgetting the laird of this manor has never been here before. I'll have to show you around."
"It's not what I expected," Pickering said.
"Very few things ever are," Howe said with a smile as he waved Pickering out of the room ahead of him.
They went through the foyer and up the stairs. Pickering was not surprised to find Koreans armed with Thompson submachine guns blocking entrance to the corridors on both the second and third floors, but he was surprised when Howe knocked on a door on the third floor and it was answered by a Korean woman holding a.45-ACP-caliber Grease Gun.
"Di-san," Howe said, "this is General Pickering."
She smiled. In perfect English, she said, "General, we were happy to hear your son has been rescued."
"Thank you," Pickering said.
"I
want to show General Pickering my message," Howe said.
She nodded, motioned them into the room, and took several sheets of type-writer paper from a table.
TOP SECRET/PRESIDENTIAL
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
®®INSERT TIME BEFORE TRANSMISSION¯¯ TOKYO TIME 16 OCTOBER 1950
FROM: CHIEF PRESIDENTIAL MISSION TO FAR EAST
VIA: USMC SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS CENTER CAMP PENDLETON CAL
TO: WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER WASHINGTON DC EYES ONLY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
BEGIN PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM MAJOR GENERAL HOWE
DEAR HARRY
I JUST GOT WORD THAT GENERAL PICKERING IS ON HIS WAY HERE TO SEOUL. HIS SON IS TO BE TAKEN FROM THE CARRIER BADOENG STRAIT TO PUSAN ON A DESTROYER AND FLOWN FROM THERE TO SASEBO AND FROM THERE TO THE STATES. PICKERING UNDERSTANDABLY WANTS TO SEE HIM BEFORE HE GOES HOME.
BUT TYPICAL OF PICKERING, DUTY FIRST. BEFORE HE GOES TO PUSAN HE'S COMING HERE AND TO SOCHO-RI, THE BASE FROM WHICH MCCOY OPERATES ON THE EAST COAST. HE HAS WITH HIM COLONEL BANNING, WHO HAS BEEN HANDLING THESE COMMUNICATIONS AT CAMP PENDLETON, AND WHO WILL NOW, I PRESUME, SERVE AS HIS DEPUTY HERE.
THE FIRST BAD NEWS IS THAT I DON'T THINK WE ARE GOING TO GET GENERAL DEAN BACK. THIS I'M PRETTY SURE OF AS IT COMES FROM LT COL VANDENBURG, THE OFFICER SENT WITH THE MISSION OF GETTING HIM BACK, MCCOY, AND BILL DUNSTON, THE CIA SEOUL STATION CHIEF. THEIR AGENTS, OR THEY PERSONALLY, HAVE SPENT A GOOD DEAL OF TIME BEHIND THE ENEMY'S LINES AND THEY ALL TELL ME, AND I BELIEVE, THAT DEAN HAS BEEN TAKEN TO CHINA.
SECOND, UNLESS SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED THAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT, MACARTHUR PROBABLY TOLD YOU ON WAKE ISLAND WHAT HE TOLD ME BEFORE HE LEFT, THAT THE CHINESE AND/OR THE RUSSIANS ARE NOT GOING TO COME INTO THE WAR AND THAT IT'S REALLY A MOOT QUESTION, BECAUSE EVEN IF THEY DID IT WOULD NOT POSE A PROBLEM AND WOULD GIVE US A CHANCE TO BLOODY THEIR NOSE.
MCCOY AS I WRITE THIS IS SOMEWHERE BEHIND THE ENEMY'S LINES IN THE FAR NORTH TRYING TO EAVESDROP ON SOVIET ARMY RADIO COMMUNICATIONS TO SEE IF HE CAN LEARN SOMETHING OF THEIR DISPERSAL, SIZE, AND INTENTIONS. HE IS NOT DOING THE SAME FOR THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS BECAUSE HE BELIEVES THAT THERE ARE SOME SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND CHINESE-THAT' S RIGHT, SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND-IN THE FOURTH FIELD ARMY EITHER ON THE BORDER OR ALREADY SLIPPING INTO NORTH KOREA AND THEY ARE NOT USING THEIR RADIOS.
THERE IS NO QUESTION IN EITHER MCCOY'S OR DUNSTON'S MIND THAT THE CHINESE ARE COMING INTO THE WAR. THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH HARD INTELLIGENCE TO MAKE THAT JUDGMENT VIS-A-VIS THE RUSSIANS.
WHEN I, WITHOUT MENTIONING MCCOY OR DUNSTON, ASKED MAJ GEN CHARLES WILLOUGHBY, MACARTHUR'S INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, WHETHER HE HAS ANY INFORMATION ABOUT CHINESE BEING ON THE BORDER, HE FLATLY STATED THERE WERE NOT, AND IF THERE HAD BEEN ANY UNUSUAL MOVEMENT OF CHINESE TROOPS HE WOULD KNOW ABOUT IT, AND ASSURED ME THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO HIDE THE MOVEMENT, OR THE PRESENCE, OF "SUBSTANTIAL TROOP FORMATIONS."
THIS AFTERNOON X CORPS WILL SAIL FROM INCHON AROUND THE TIP OF THE PENINSULA TO WONSAN. THE ORIGINAL IDEA WAS THEY WOULD MAKE AN AMPHIBIOUS LANDING AT WONSAN, AND THEN STRIKE BACK ACROSS THE PENINSULA, TOWARD PYONGYANG, CUTTING OFF THE RETREATING NORTH KOREANS.
THERE ARE SEVERAL PROBLEMS WITH THIS. FOR ONE THING THE I ROK CORPS IS ALREADY IN WONSAN, AND THE SEA APPROACHES TO WONSAN AND HUNGNAM HAVE BEEN MINED. MCCOY'S PEOPLE HAVE INTERCEPTED COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE MINELAYING VESSELS IN RUSSIAN, WHICH SUGGESTS TO HIM THAT THE RUSSIANS ARE LAYING THE MINES.
I SAW DUNSTON'S MESSAGE A WEEK AGO TO THE TOKYO CIA STATION CHIEF IN WHICH HE REPORTED THIS. PRESUMABLY THIS INTELLIGENCE WAS PASSED ON TO WILLOUGHBY. SO FAR AS I CAN FIND OUT, IT WAS NEVER PASSED ON TO X CORPS, EIGHTH ARMY, OR THE NAVY. THE FIRST THE NAVY LEARNED OF THE MINES WAS WHEN A HELICOPTER FROM ONE OF THE BABY CARRIERS ON A DOWNED PILOT RESCUE MISSION FLEW LOW OVER THE APPROACHES TO HAMHUNG AND SAW THE MINES IN THE WATER. THE NAVY SENT A MINESWEEPER TO CHECK AND IT HIT A MINE AND SANK.
THIS MEANS THAT WHEN X CORPS ARRIVES OFF WONSAN OR HAMHUNG SOMETIME TOMORROW OR THE DAY AFTER, THEY WILL HAVE TO SAIL BACK AND FORTH UNTIL THE MINES ARE SWEPT, AND THAT WILL TAKE THREE TO FIVE DAYS.
MEANWHILE, ON THE WEST COAST, GENERAL WALKER'S EIGHTH ARMY IS IN PURSUIT OF THE RETREATING NORTH KOREANS. ONE OF THE WAYS THEY ARE DOING THIS IS WITH A DROP OF THE 173RD PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT. THE ONLY JUSTIFICATION I HAVE HEARD FOR THIS IS THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PARACHUTE OFFICERS ON THE EIGHTH ARMY STAFF WHO DIDN'T WANT THE PARATROOPS LEFT OUT OF THE WAR.
One of the radio teletype machines in the room began to clatter, and Pick-ering stopped reading the message.
Di-san went quickly to it, then turned to Howe and Pickering.
"It's a back-channel from Sergeant Keller," she announced. "Depending on how long it is, it will take me a couple of minutes to type it into the decryp-tion machine."
A back-channel message is one sent between operators at two communica-tions facilities, in this case the Dai Ichi Building (UNC) communications center and the communications room in the house. Intended primarily to an-nounce schedules, down equipment, and other technical matters, they are not logged and officially do not exist.
Pickering smiled and nodded his understanding, then turned to Howe.
"Why don't you tell the President what you really think, Ralph, without being so polite?"
Howe chuckled.
"Read on, Flem," he said. "It gets better."
Pickering dropped his eyes to the yet-to-be-transmitted message.
ANYWAY, WITHIN A COUPLE OF DAYS, EIGHTH ARMY WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY TAKE PYONGYANG.
MCCOY AND DUNSTON (SEPARATELY) HAVE TOLD ME THE CAPTURE OF THE NORTH KOREA CAPITAL MAY BE THE TRIGGER FOR THE CHINESE TO ENTER THE WAR. OPERATIVE WORDS MAY BE THE TRIGGER.
BY THE TIME EIGHTH ARMY TAKES PYONGYANG, THE MINES ON THE EAST COAST WILL PROBABLY BE CLEARED, AND X CORPS CAN LAND. THE QUESTION THEN BECOMES WHAT WILL X CORPS HAVE TO DO? SINCE PYONGYANG WILL HAVE FALLEN, THERE IS NO POINT IN HAVING X CORPS RECROSS THE PENINSULA TO TAKE IT. THE ONLY THING LEFT FOR THEM TO DO IS MOVE NORTHWARD ALONG THE EAST COAST TOWARD THE CHINESE BORDER.
the south koreans are already moving toward the border.
mccoy and dunston (again separately) have both told me that while the chinese might not regard the south koreans as a real threat-they have to rely on u.s. logistics-once the chinese learn that the x corps is coming that way they very likely will consider that macarthur is planning to strike across the border, macarthur has told me, and i believe, he has no plans to go across the chinese border, but that isn't the point. what the chinese think is what's important, mccoy and dunston think that once the chinese learn that x corps is approaching the border, they will come into the war. i cannot fault their logic.
it can be argued-and general walker does so effectively-that if he had command of x corps, there would be overall control and coordination. he spent almost as much time explaining this to me as he did complaining about his missing airplane. i have the feeling that if he were given command, the first thing he would do would be to relieve general almond, whom he cordially detests, and vice versa.
there is not much love lost between macarthur and walker Either, which is one of the reasons he is not about to place x corps under eighth army. there are others, which include almond-who is a good man-agreeing with macarthur's concept of fighting this war. another, of course, is that if x corps is under eighth army, ALMOND COULD NOT CONTINUE TO WEAR BOTH HATS, THAT OF X CORPS COMMANDER AND CHIEF OF STAFF TO MACARTHUR. IF ALMOND WERE RELIEVED AS X CORPS COMMANDER, "ONE OF WALKER'S MEN" WOULD GET IT. IF HE WERE RELIEVED AS CHIEF OF STAFF, THAT WOULD PERMIT THE PENTAGON TO SEND A REPLACEMENT OF THEIR CHOOSING. NEITHER ALTERNATIVE IS ACCEPTABLE TO MACARTHUR.
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW EVEN YOU CAN STOP THIS INTERNECINE WARFARE BETWEEN YOUR SENIOR OFFICERS, BUT I HAVE BEEN BOTH WORKING WITH PICKERING AND FILLING IN FOR HIM LONG ENOUGH SO THAT I FEEL COMFORTABLE OFFERING SOME ADVICE ABOUT INTELLIGENCE GENERALLY AND THE CIA IN PARTICULAR.
YOU WERE WRONG-AS YOU TOLD M
E-WHEN YOU DISESTABLISHED THE OSS, AND YOUR APPOINTMENT OF ADMIRAL HILLENCOETTER TO HEAD THE CIA OBVIOUSLY HASN'T WORKED. IF MCCOY HADN'T GONE TO PICKERING AND PICKERING'S FRIENDSHIP WITH SENATOR FOWLER HADN'T GOTTEN HIM IN TO SEE HILLENCOETTER WE WOULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN THAT THERE WAS INTELLIGENCE SAYING THE :NORTH KOREANS WERE GOING TO ATTACK. AND THAT WOULD HAVE MEANT THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT COULD CLAIM, AND WOULD HAVE CLAIMED, THAT THIS PROVED THE CIA WAS ESSENTIALLY USELESS AND USING UP APPROPRIATIONS THAT THEY' COULD PUT TO BETTER USE.
W E B Griffin - Corp 10 - Retreat, Hell! Page 41
