In September 1950, British journalist Reginald Thompson flew over the scene at Inchan, a

port city off Korea's west coast.

Beneath us lay the wide, sheltered waterway of the Inchan approaches.

Island and land encircled, yet dangerously deceptive, with its shores and sandbanks

in its immense tidal rise and fall.

The great ships of war, gray and beautiful at the moorings, a host of cargo vessels and

small craft bustling between the big ships and the smoking ruin of all that was left of

the port of Inchan.

Now and then, puffs of smoke came softly from the muscles of naval guns, waving lazily

like huge, indolent fingers in their turrets.

In the opening months of the war, the North Koreans had humiliated the Americans.

Now General MacArthur had struck back.

Welcome to Blowback.

I'm Brendan James.

I'm Noah Cohen.

And this is episode 6 National Smile Week.

By now the Korean War is in full swing.

Last time we saw how in summer of 1950 the Korean People's Army from North Korea spilled

into the South and overwhelmed the forces of the US-backed Shingman re-government.

The Truman administration, which had been completely silent on the growing conflict in

the weeks leading up to the event, snapped into action without informing Congress, sending

troops to Korea and US Navy ships to block the Taiwan Strait.

...