
First To Fight – Episode 10: Shackled
U.S. historians call the evacuation from Hungnam in North Korea in December 1950 “the greatest evacuation movement by sea in U.S. military history”. A 193 ship armada assembled at the port and safely evacuated the bulk of the forces in eastern North Korea. In two weeks over a hundred thousand military personnel, 17,500 vehicles 350,000 tons of cargo were pulled out to safety. 91,000 refugees were also evacuated to safety. The military units evacuated included the First Marine Division which arrived at Hungnam after its successful fighting withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir area. Despite the withdrawal from the North the U.S. and UN committed to keeping South Korea free and to continue the fight. The war would continue and losses for the U.S. military would reach over 128,000 killed and wounded and almost 5,000 MIA.