This Military Service Page was created/owned by
LTC Bob Thompson
to remember
Smith, Charles, BG.
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Contact Info
Home Town Lambertville
Date of Passing May 23, 2004
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Commander of "Task Force Smith" in July 1950, during the first days of the Korean War. He was the commanding officer of 1st BN, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division during the Battle of Osan. "Task Force Smith" was the first US unit to enter combat in the Korean War. This undermanned, undertrained and underequipped Task Force delayed advancing North Korean Tank units for about 8 precious hours.
We should all remember the battle cry, "No More Task Force Smiths".
He was also stationed at Pearl Harbor on 7 DEC 1941; therefore participating in the first battle of two wars.
US Occupation of Japan
From Month/Year
September / 1945
To Month/Year
April / 1952
Description The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan. This foreign presence marked the only time in Japan's history that it had been occupied by a foreign power. It transformed the country into a parliamentary democracy that recalled "New Deal" priorities of the 1930s politics by Roosevelt. The occupation, codenamed Operation Blacklist, was ended by the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, and effective from April 28, 1952, after which Japan's sovereignty – with the exception, until 1972, of the Ryukyu Islands – was fully restored.
According to John Dower, in his book Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor/Hiroshima/9-11/Iraq, the factors behind the success of the occupation were:
Discipline, moral legitimacy, well-defined and well-articulated objectives, a clear chain of command, tolerance and flexibility in policy formulation and implementation, confidence in the ability of the state to act constructively, the ability to operate abroad free of partisan politics back home, and the existence of a stable, resilient, sophisticated civil society on the receiving end of occupation policies – these political and civic virtues helped make it possible to move decisively during the brief window of a few years when defeated Japan itself was in flux and most receptive to radical change.
April 28, 1952, The San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty go into effect, officially ending the Occupation of Japan.
