Profiles in Courage: Maj. Gen. William F. Dean
When North Korea invaded South Korea behind a barrage of artillery fire on June 25, 1950, they came in a swell of 200,000 troops, overwhelming the Republic of Korea's Army and moving to conquer the entire country.
The closest American ground force to the Korean Peninsula at the time was the U.S. Army's 24th Infantry Division, under the command of Maj. Gen. William F. Dean. With little more than 15,000 troops, Dean was asked to do the seemingly impossible by Gen. Douglas MacArthur: push back the communist invasion or hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
Dean and the 24th Infantry Division not only went head-on against the entire North Korean Army, they were determined to win or die trying.
William F. Dean was an accomplished military officer and combat veteran by the time the Korean War began. He led troops fighting Nazi Germany in Europe during World War II and had returned to the U.S. to prepare for the invasion of Japan before the war ended. He and the 24th were on the Japanese island of Kyushu on July 25, 1950.
After the fall of South Korea's capital, Seoul, Dean began his response by airlifting the 1st Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment into Korea on July 1, under the command of Lt. Col. Charles B. Smith.
Smith, a veteran of Guadalcanal, had combat experience, and his battalion was the most well-prepared. Called Task Force Smith, the 540-man unit was ordered to halt the North Korean advance at Osan, just south of Seoul. Task Force Smith had to hold the communists off until the 24th Division could reach Korea by sea.
The Americans fought the communists for hours, but their weapons were ineffective against Soviet-built T-34 tanks and were forced to withdraw. By then, Dean and his Division had landed and met the advancing North Koreans at Pyeongtaek, Chochiwon, and Taejon.
Peacetime cutbacks took their toll on his forces, and his largely inexperienced troops were overwhelmed at every turn. At Taejon, however, the Americans' mission finally bore fruit. The U.S. Army was able to hamper the North Koreans for a week, as the invasion turned to intense urban combat in the city.
North Korea's invasion force might have been overwhelming to the green soldiers of the U.S. Army, but the Americans put up enough of a fight in a tactical loss at Taejon that the United Nations was able to turn it into a strategic victory. As the Americans held off the North Koreans, UN forces began to set up a defensive perimeter around the southern port city of Pusan.
Dean and his forces crossed the Kum River near Taejon on July 12, 1950, to meet the North Koreans. Meanwhile, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and 25th Infantry Division began to finish the establishment of what would become known as "The Pusan Perimeter."
Inside Taejon, Dean and his soldiers found themselves quickly cut off from the outside world and with each other. As the North Koreans jammed their radios and overwhelmed their positions, even Maj. Gen. Dean was forced to join the street fighting, destroying tanks with grenades and the new M20 Super Bazooka.
On July 20, the perimeter was supposed to be established, so Dean ordered the Army to leave Taejon, but it was too late by then. The North Koreans had surrounded the city and captured the American defenders. They tried to fight or sneak their way out, but many - including Dean - were captured.
Dean, like many Americans held by North Korea, would remain in captivity for the duration of the war. For his defense of Taejon, he was "posthumously" awarded the Medal of Honor, but only because no one knew he was alive. It wasn't until he was repatriated after the war that the Army discovered he'd survived the invasion.
Without William F. Dean's leadership, determination, and sheer force of will to hold off the communist advance, the Korean War might have ended in a communist victory just weeks after it began.