Retreat, Hell! Part 39

"They wait for the freighters to come in close and drop anchor, right, and then take on supplies and ferry them to the beach, right?"

"Uh-huh."

The chief of staff raised his voice: "Sergeant Miller! Bring me a map of the east coast."

"Coming up, sir!" Sergeant Miller replied, and a moment later entered the chief of staff's office, removing a map from its tube as he walked. He laid it on the chief of staff's desk, anchoring its corners with two cans of Planters peanuts, a coffee cup, and a large stapler.

The chief of staff stood up and leaned over the map. Colonel Kennedy walked around the desk and stood beside him.

"We own Suwon," the chief of staff said, pointing. "And we own Wonju and Kangnung. And Highway Four runs all the way from Suwon to Kangnung. And we're only talking about"-he made a compa.s.s with his fingers-"about 120, maybe 140 miles, tops. All of it on a paved highway."

"That's about right," Colonel Kennedy agreed.

The chief of staff used his fingers as a compa.s.s again.

"And about that far, 120 miles or so, from Kangnung to Wonsan."

"Uh-huh, that's about right."

"The last I heard, the Capital ROK Division has moved at least this far"-he pointed-"close to Kansong, which is only seventy-five miles, give or take, from Wonsan, and on another paved highway."

After a moment's hesitation, Colonel Kennedy said, "According to the map, the highway ends fifteen miles north of Kansong."

Now Colonel Kennedy received one of the chief of staff's derisive snorts.

"The highway highway does, Howard. But there are villages all along the coast here"-he pointed-"from Kuum-ni to Tokchong. I'll bet there are roads of some sort to all of them." does, Howard. But there are villages all along the coast here"-he pointed-"from Kuum-ni to Tokchong. I'll bet there are roads of some sort to all of them."

"There probably are," Colonel Kennedy agreed.

"Tokchong is only thirty-five miles south of Wonsan," the chief of staff said. "I think there is a good chance that by the time the invasion fleet arrives off Wonsan, we'll own that real estate."

"That would seem a reasonable a.s.sumption," Kennedy agreed.

"Worst case," the chief of staff said, "for some reason, the vehicles cannot make it over the highway to Kangnung. That seems unlikely."

"Uh-huh."

"Presuming they can make it to Kangnung, they can't make it much farther north along Highway Five. That also seems unlikely, but let's take that for the purpose of argument. The LSTs dump their tanks at Wonsan and immediately head for Kangnung. They make about fifteen miles an hour, which would get them there in eight hours. An hour there to load the trucks and another eight hours back to Wonsan, where-since the vehicles would not have to be unloaded by cranes, et cetera-they could simply be driven off the LSTs and be available."

"Interesting," Colonel Kennedy said.

"That's a lot better-getting them there seventeen hours after the landing-than not getting them there at all, right?"

"Absolutely."

"And the farther north they could go along Highway Five, the less travel time for the LSTs. And if the Capital ROK Division has by that time taken Wonsan, which I think is likely, we won't have to use the LSTs at all. Just drive these vehicles all the way to Wonsan, and set up shop, maybe even before X Corps lands there."

"That's certainly a possibility," Colonel Kennedy agreed.

"Okay. So the thing to do, I think, is see if the vehicles can make it to Kangnung. I suggest the best way to do that is make a trial run. Send a couple of wreckers and a couple of tank retrievers and see what happens. It would probably be best-the NKs may have some left-behinds in the area-to send a couple of tanks with them."

"I agree."

"If the test run is successful, we can start moving all the heavy vehicles. Obviously, it would be better to have them on the east coast, however close to Wonsan, than sitting on the wharf in Inchon, on the other side of the peninsula."

"Obviously," Colonel Kennedy agreed.

"Go see Bob and tell him I said to give you a couple of tanks, and then get your show on the road, Howard."

"Right," Colonel Kennedy said.

[SIX].

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1105 13 OCTOBER 1950.

There was already a line of limousines parked not far from the Independence, Independence, the President's Douglas C-54 transport, when Senator Richardson K. Fowler's Packard limousine was pa.s.sed by the Secret Service agents and allowed to drive onto the tarmac. the President's Douglas C-54 transport, when Senator Richardson K. Fowler's Packard limousine was pa.s.sed by the Secret Service agents and allowed to drive onto the tarmac.

The dignitaries the other limousines had carried to the airport, and some of their aides, were gathered around the movable stairway leading up to the aircraft. Two USAF master sergeants stood at Parade Rest on either side of the stairs.

When Fowler's Packard stopped, Captain George F. Hart, USMCR, got out of the front pa.s.senger seat and immediately went to the trunk, opened it, and took out two Valv-Paks and handed them over to another Air Force master sergeant, who was in charge of the luggage.

Fred Delmore, Fowler's chauffeur, got from behind the wheel and opened the rear pa.s.senger door. Mrs. Patricia Pickering, in a thigh-length Persian lamb coat, got out first, followed by Senator Fowler and finally Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR.

Fowler stood by the car, making no effort to join, or even greet, the dignitaries gathered at the stairway. After a moment, one of the dignitaries, a bald Army officer, broke away from the group and walked to the Fowler limousine.

He was wearing an ordinary woolen olive-drab "Ike" jacket-and-trousers uniform, identical to those worn by enlisted men. The only differences were the solid gold piping on his overseas cap and a small circle of five stars pinned to each epaulet. General of the Army Omar Bradley had recently been promoted to the highest rank in the Army by Truman, the first-and, as it turned out, only-such promotion since World War II.

After a moment, several of the others started after him.

"Good morning, Senator," Bradley said, smiling and putting out his hand.

"General Bradley, how are you, sir?" Fowler replied. "I don't think you know General and Mrs. Pickering, do you?"

"I'm afraid I don't," Bradley said. He offered his hand to Patricia Pickering. "An honor, ma'am," he said.

Pickering saluted, and Bradley returned it. They shook hands.

"How do you do, sir?" Pickering said.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you, General," Bradley said. "General Smith has been saying all sorts of nice things about you, and I wanted you to know that I'm really pleased that the two of you will be running the CIA."

"General Smith will be running it, General," Pickering said. "I'm just a temporary hired hand."

Three other men had now walked up to them.

"I don't think you know any of these people, do you, Flem?" Fowler said, then proceeded to introduce him to Secretary of the Army Frank Pace-whose youth surprised Pickering-and two state department officers, Dean Rusk and Philip Jessup.

There wasn't time to do more than shake hands as the Presidential caravan rolled up.

Harry S Truman got out of the black Cadillac first, and a moment later a tall, thin man in what Pickering thought of as a "banker's black" suit joined him. He was Averill Harriman, who was Truman's national security adviser. He held the personal rank of amba.s.sador-at-large.

Truman headed for the stairway, but then saw Fowler and the Pickerings and turned and walked toward them. After a moment, Harriman followed him.

"Senator," Truman said, smiling. "How nice of you to come to see us off."

"Your Majesty's loyal opposition could do no less," Fowler replied.

Pickering saluted. Truman nodded and smiled at him.

"I'm sorry he didn't have more time at home, Mrs. Pickering," Truman said.

"A little time is better than none, Mr. President," Patricia Pickering replied.

"How nice to see you, Patricia!" Harriman exclaimed, putting out his hand.

Her face was stony, and she ignored the greeting and the hand.

The smile vanished from Harriman's face, and he turned and walked directly toward the stairway.

"Jesus, Pat," Pickering said.

"Mr. President," Patricia Pickering said, "I'm not among Averill Harriman's legion of female admirers. . . ."

"I somehow sensed that," the President said.

"I'm one of those old-fashioned women who think husbands should not sleep with other people's wives, and if they can't manage that level of decency, they should at least not flaunt their infidelity in their wife's face."

"I'm married, oddly enough," Truman said, "to a woman who shares that philosophy. I'm going to have to get you and Bess together, Mrs. Pickering." He paused, and added: "It was nice to see you again."

He started toward the Independence. Independence.

Pickering looked at his wife.

"Was that necessary?"

"I thought so," his wife replied.

They looked at each other a moment.

"Bring Pick home, Flem," she said softly.

"I'll d.a.m.ned sure try, honey," he said.

She nodded, then wrapped her arms around him.

She stayed that way a moment, then raised her face to his and kissed him.

Then he walked quickly to the steps to the Independence, Independence, where George Hart was waiting for him. where George Hart was waiting for him.

As soon as they had gone through the door, the steps were pulled away and there came the sound of an engine starting.

[SEVEN].

There were no layovers. The Independence Independence stopped at San Francisco, but just long enough to take on fuel and food, and to give the President and his aides time to deal with the messages that had come in for him while they were flying across the country. No one got off the airplane. stopped at San Francisco, but just long enough to take on fuel and food, and to give the President and his aides time to deal with the messages that had come in for him while they were flying across the country. No one got off the airplane.

There was a Presidential compartment and two others- one occupied by General Bradley and the other by Amba.s.sador Harriman-on the Independence Independence and there was a steady stream of visitors to all three. Pickering did not expect to be summoned to any of the meetings, and he wasn't. He wasn't at all sure why Truman had ordered him to make the trip, and he suspected that Harriman would probably do his best to have the President ignore him. and there was a steady stream of visitors to all three. Pickering did not expect to be summoned to any of the meetings, and he wasn't. He wasn't at all sure why Truman had ordered him to make the trip, and he suspected that Harriman would probably do his best to have the President ignore him.

At San Francisco-not surprisingly, it was Trans-Global's headquarters-there were four Trans-Global Lockheed Constellations, one of which sat, its engines idling, at the end of the runway when the Independence Independence took off for Hawaii. took off for Hawaii.

Pickering thought that not only was it a far more graceful-looking aircraft than the Presidential Douglas, but it was also a hundred miles an hour faster. He wondered why the President wasn't furnished with the fastest aircraft available, and then he thought, again, how wise Pick had been in insisting that Trans-Global buy the Lockheeds, rather than take advantage of the surplus Air Force Douglas transports available so cheaply.

He then thought that the war was making a good deal of money for Trans-Global. The Air Force had not only contracted for as many contract flights as Trans-Global could make aircraft available for but also was filling every seat made available on the regularly scheduled flights, and there were now far more of those than there had been when the war started.

That was the good news, Pickering thought. The bad news was that Chief Pilot Pickering wasn't around to see how well his airline was doing. Worse than that, Pickering was growing less and less confident that Pick would be found. He refused to allow himself to dwell on the details of why that was likely, even probable, as all of them were unpleasant to contemplate.

He had no idea how he was going to deal with Patricia if his growing fears turned out to be justified.

From San Francisco, the Independence Independence flew across the Pacific to the Barber's Point Naval Air Station, which is about fifteen miles from Honolulu. flew across the Pacific to the Barber's Point Naval Air Station, which is about fifteen miles from Honolulu.

As they were making their approach to the airfield, Pickering idly wondered if they would wake the President-there were beds in all three compartments-for the landing. The question was answered immediately after the airplane stopped moving when Truman, obviously freshly shaved, appeared in the rear compartment and went around making small talk with everyone there from Army Secretary Pace through Brigadier General Pickering to a young man in civilian clothes whom Hart had identified to Pickering as an Army warrant officer cryptographer.

Truman went down the stairway to both greet Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, and to stretch his legs a little while the aircraft was being fueled and fresh food brought aboard. His walk was cut short when another batch of messages requiring his immediate attention was brought to the aircraft.

They were on the ground less than an hour.

Pickering had just about made himself as comfortable as possible in his seat for the Hawaii-Wake Island leg of the flight when one of the Air Force stewards touched his shoulder.

"The President would like to see you, General," he said.

Truman, now in his shirtsleeves, was alone in his compartment when Pickering entered it. The Presidential bed had been returned to its couch function, and Truman was sitting on it before a table covered with doc.u.ments.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. President?"

Truman held out two sheets of message paper.

"Have a look at this, please, and tell me what you think, please," the President said.

TOP SECRET/PRESIDENTIAL.

OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE.

DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN.

FROM SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.

VIA WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER.

0905 WASHINGTON TIME 14OCTOBER1950.