Combat· Korean War
Inchon Main Landing
The main landing at Inchon was the rarest of operations: an amphibious assault not onto a beach but over a stone seawall, into the heart of a working port, in the few hours of evening high tide.
As the water rose, the 5th Marines went ashore at Red Beach north of Wolmi-do, scaling the seawall with ladders under fire, while the 1st Marines landed at Blue Beach to the south. The Marines fought through the dockside districts and the edges of the city in the gathering dark, overcoming pillboxes, bunkers, and a tank-supported counterattack on the highway the following morning. By securing the beachhead and the port intact, the landing force opened the door for the drive inland. It was the last great opposed amphibious assault in the World War II style, and the Marines executed it against terrain almost everyone had called impossible.
Record no. 608