Eighth United States Army

Eighth United States Army
Eighth United States Army shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	10 January 1944 – present
Country	United States
Branch	U.S. Army
Type	Field Army
Part of	Regular Army
Garrison/HQ	Yongsan Army Garrison Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea
Motto(s)	Pacific Victors
Engagements	World War II Korean War
Commanders
Current commander	LTG Bernard S. Champoux, USA
Notable commanders	Robert Eichelberger Walton H. Walker Matthew Ridgway James Van Fleet
Insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia

The Eighth United States Army (EUSA), is a field army, the commanding formation of all United States Army forces in South Korea. A task force of troops which are composed of personnel from the Republic of Korea-United States alliance, it is based in Yongsan Garrison, in the Yongsan District of Seoul, South Korea.

History

World War II

The unit first activated on 10 June 1944 in the United States, being commanded by Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger. The Eighth Army took part in many of the amphibious landings in the Southwest Pacific Theater of World War II, eventually participating in no less than sixty of them. The first mission of the Eighth Army, in September 1944, was to take over from the U.S. Sixth Army in New Guinea, New Britain, the Admiralty Islands and on Morotai, in order to free up the Sixth Army to engage in the Philippines Campaign (1944–45).

The Eighth Army again followed in the wake of the Sixth Army in December, when it took over control of operations on Leyte Island on 26 December. In January, the Eighth Army entered combat on Luzon, landing the XI Corps on 29 January near San Antonio and the 11th Airborne Division on the other side of Manila Bay two days later. Combining with I Corps and XIV Corps of Sixth Army, the forces of Eighth Army next enveloped Manila in a great double-pincer movement. Eighth Army's final operation of the Pacific War was that of clearing out the southern Philippines of the Japanese Army, including on the major island of Mindanao, an effort that occupied the soldiers of the Eighth Army for the rest of the war.

Occupation of Japan

Eighth Army was to have participated in Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. It would have taken part in Operation Coronet, the second phase of the invasion, which would have seen the invasion of the Kanto Plain on eastern Honshū. However, instead of invading Japan, Eighth Army found itself in charge of occupying it peacefully. Occupation forces landed on 30 August 1945, with its headquarters in Yokohama, then the HQ moved to the Dai-Ichi building in Tokyo. At the beginning of 1946, Eighth Army assumed responsibility for occupying all of Japan. Four quiet years then followed, during which the Eighth Army gradually deteriorated from a combat-ready fighting force into a somewhat soft, minimally-trained constabulary. Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker took command in 1948, and he tried to re-invigorate the Army's training, but he was largely unsuccessful. This situation was to have serious consequences in South Korea.

Korean War

Fighting with the 2nd Inf. Div. north of the Chongchon River, SFC Major Cleveland, weapons squad leader, points out Communist-led North Korean position to his machine gun crew, 20 November 1950, PFC James Cox.

The peace of occupied Japan was shattered in June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea, igniting the Korean War. American naval and air forces quickly became involved in combat operations, and it was soon clear that American ground forces would have to be committed. To stem the North Korean advance, the occupation forces in Japan were thus shipped off to South Korea as quickly as possible, but their lack of training and equipment was telling, as some of the initial American units were destroyed by the North Koreans. However, the stage was eventually reached as enough units of Eighth Army arrived in Korea to make a firm front. The North Koreans threw themselves against that front, the Pusan Perimeter, and failed to break it. In the meantime, Eighth Army had reorganized, since it had too many divisions under its command for it to exercise effective control directly. The I Corps and the IX Corps were reactivated in the United States and then shipped to Korea to assume command of Eighth Army's subordinate divisions.

The stalemate was broken by the Inchon landings of the X Corps (tenth corps, consisting of soldiers and Marines). The North Korean forces, when confronted with this threat to their rear areas, combined with a breakout operation at Pusan, broke away and hastily retired.

Both South and North Korea were almost entirely occupied by United Nations forces. However, once American units neared the Yalu River and the frontier between North Korea and China, the Chinese intervened and drastically changed the character of the war. Eighth Army was decisively defeated at the Battle of the Chongchon River and forced to retreat all the way back to South Korea. The defeat of the U.S. Eighth Army resulted in the longest retreat of any American military unit in history. General Walker was killed in a jeep accident and replaced by Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway. The overstretched Eighth Army suffered heavily with the Chinese offensive, who were able to benefit from shorter lines of communication and with rather casually deployed enemy forces. The Chinese broke through the American defenses despite American air supremacy and the Eighth Army and U.N. forces retreated hastily to avoid encirclement. The Chinese offensive continued pressing American forces, which lost Seoul, the South Korean capital. Eighth Army's morale and esprit de corps hit rock bottom, to where it was widely regarded as a broken, defeated rabble.

General Ridgway forcefully restored Eighth Army to combat effectiveness over several months. Under his leadership, it slowed and finally halted the Chinese advance at the battles of Chipyong-ni and Wonju. It then counter-attacked the Chinese, taking Seoul again, and driving the communist forces back above the 38th parallel into North Korea. Next, the front stabilized in the 38th parallel area.

When General Ridgway replaced General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as the overall U.N. commander, Lieutenant General James Van Fleet assumed command of Eighth Army. After the war of movement during the first stages, the fighting in Korea settled down to a war of attrition. Ceasefire negotiations were begun at the village of Panmunjom in the summer of 1951, and they dragged on for two years. When the Military Demarcation Line was finally agreed to by the Korean Armistice Agreement, the Eighth Army had succeeded in its mission of liberating South Korea, but the realities of a limited war in a world of nuclear weapons had become obvious. South Korea and North Korea continued on as separate states.

Post Korean War

Eighth United States Army memorial at Yongsan

During the aftermath of the Korean War, the Eighth Army remained in South Korea, but the forces under its command were continually reduced as the demands of the U.S. Army in Europe and then the Vietnam War increased. By the 1960s, only the I Corps, consisting of the 7th Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division, remained as part of the Eighth Army. Then, in 1971, further reductions occurred. The 7th Infantry Division was withdrawn from South Korea, along with the command units of I Corps, which were moved across the Pacific Ocean to Ft. Lewis, Washington, leaving only the 2nd Infantry Division to watch the Korean Demilitarized Zone and to assist the South Korean Army in defending South Korea. Besides forming a trip-wire against another North Korean invasion, the 2nd Infantry Division remained there as the only Army unit in South Korea armed with tactical nuclear weapons. (Otherwise, there is only the U.S. Air Force in South Korea and on Okinawa.) All nuclear weapons were taken from the Army to be under Air Force control. Later, all U.S. nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea.

An occasional armed clash aside, relations between the two Koreas remained as stable as could be expected. By the end of the Cold War, the American army and Air Force in South Korea were regarded as a trip-wire force, not so much deployed for their military use but for their political value. An attack on South Korea by North Korea would mean an attack on the U.S. Army as well. However, in 2003, plans were announced to move almost all of the 2nd Infantry Division (Eighth Army) southwards, away from the border. That would in turn reduce its "trip wire" effect. This provoked a heated debate in South Korea, where the future of the Eighth Army is still a contentious topic.

The Headquarters of the Eighth Army is located at Yongsan Garrison, but it is scheduled to move southward to Camp Humphreys by 2019.

Current structure

Eighth Army units under direct operational control (click to enlarge)

Eighth Army, USAG Humphreys (Until July 2017, USAG Yongsan)

• Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, Eighth Army
• Army Special Operations Forces Liaison Element, Korea
• Training Support Activity, Korea
• Korean Field Office
• Joint United States Military Affairs Group, Korea
• 2501st Digital Liaison Detachment
• 2502nd Digital Liaison Detachment
• Eighth Army Noncommisioned Officers Academy
• Eighth Army Band
• 3rd Battlefield Coordination Detachment
• United States Army Corps of Engineers, Far East District
• Korean Service Corps Battalion
• United Nations C Security Battalion, Joint Security Area
• 4th Company, 58th Airfield Operations Battalion
• 501st Military Intelligence Brigade
  • 501st Military Intelligence Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company
  • 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion
  • 368th Military Intelligence Battalion
  • 524th Military Intelligence Battalion
  • 532nd Military Intelligence Battalion
  • 719th Military Intelligence Battalion
• 1st Signal Brigade
  • 1st Signal Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company
  • United States Army Communications Information Systems Activity, Pacific
  • 41st Signal Battalion
  • 304th Expeditionary Signal Battalion
• 2nd Infantry Division (Joint United States and South Korean Army)
  • 2nd Infantry Division Combined Division Staff (Joint United States and South Korean Army)
  • Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion
  • 210th Field Artillery Brigade
    • 210th Field Artillery Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Battery
    • 1st Battalion, 38th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment
    • 70th Brigade Support Battalion
  • 2nd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade
    • 194th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
    • 23d CBRN Battalion
    • 11th Engineer Battalion
  • 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade
    • 602nd Aviation Support Battalion
    • 4th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment
    • 2nd Assault Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment
    • 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion
• 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade
  • 35th Air Defence Artillery Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Battery
  • 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment
  • 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment
• 19th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)
  • 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command Headquarters and Headquarters Company
  • Materiel Support Command, Korea
  • 94th Military Police Battalion
• 65th Medical Brigade

List of Commanders

Image	Name	Start	End
	Lt Gen Robert L. Eichelberger	January 1, 1944	August 4, 1948
File:Walton Walker.gif	Lt Gen Walton Walker	August 4, 1948	December 23, 1950
	Lt Gen Frank W. Milburn (acting commander)	December 24, 1950	December 25, 1950
	GEN Matthew Ridgway	December 25, 1950	1951
	GEN James Van Fleet	1951	February 11, 1953
	GEN Maxwell D. Taylor	1953	1955
	GEN Lyman Lemnitzer	March 1955	1957
	GEN Isaac D. White	1957	1959
	GEN Carter B. Magruder	1961	1963
	GEN Hamilton H. Howze	August 1, 1963	June 15, 1965
	GEN Dwight E. Beach	1965	1966
	GEN Charles H. Bonesteel, III	1966	1969
	GEN John H. Michaelis	1969	1972
	GEN John W. Vessey, Jr.	1976	November 6, 1978
	GEN John A. Wickham, Jr.	1979	1982
	GEN Robert W. Sennewald	1982	1984
	GEN William J. Livsey	June 1, 1984	June 25, 1987
	GEN Louis C. Menetrey, Jr.	June 25, 1987	June 26, 1990
	GEN Robert W. RisCassi	June 26, 1990	1992
	GEN Edwin H. Burba, Jr.	1992	1993
	Lt Gen Charles C. Campbell	December 6, 2002	April 10, 2006
	Lt Gen David P. Valcourt	April 11, 2006	February 17, 2008
	Lt Gen Joseph F. Fil Jr.	February 18, 2008	November 19, 2010
	Lt Gen John D.Johnson	November 9, 2010	June 26, 2013
	Lt Gen Bernard S. Champoux	June 27, 2013	Present

External links

• Eighth Army – Official Homepage
• GlobalSecurity: Eighth Army
• The short film STAFF FILM REPORT 66-12A (1966) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]