Message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to General Douglas MacArthur

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY STAFF MESSAGE CENTER OUTGOING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE A PARAPHRASE NOT REQUIRED PRIORITY Joint Chiefs of Staff M M Stephens Executive Secretary JCS Capt USN 55234 TO: CINCFE TOKYO JAPAN NR: WAR 91763 16 SEP 50 From JCS for MacArthur. The JCS have noted the following press dispatch: "With invasion fleet off Korea General MacArthur hopes that the invesion of Korea at Inchon will save 100,000 American lives. The landing first was planned for late July with the U. S. First Cavalry Division spearheading it. "The idea was abandoned when that division had to be thrown into the beachhead defenses. "MacArthur sold the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the idea of an Inchon landing despite their unanimous objections to such an ambitious undertaking. He laid his plan before General J. Lawton Collins, Army Chief of Staff, and Admiral Forrest Sherman, Naval Chief of Operations, when they were in Tokyo on August 22. He promised that such an invasion would end the war by winter and save 100,000 lives! a "Sources close to General MacArthur said both Collins and Sherman opposed the landing at Inchon. It would be too hard to put the troops ashore and supply them against counter- attacks, they maintained. They suggested landings farther south. General Collins and Adm Sherman are issuing the foll statement: "In reply to queries as to press reports that they had opposed the planned landing at Inchon and suggested landings farther south, Gen Collins and Adm Sherman stated that in accordance with the practice developed during World War II they, as reps of JCS, were sent by the JCS to consult CM OUT 91763 (Sep 50) DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 DOD Directive 5100.30, June 18, 1979 He NARS, Date 11-5-to COPY No. By NLT- THE MAKING OF AN EXACT COPY OF THIS MESSAGE IS FORBIDDEN