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X Corps


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XCorps.jpg

 

NAME:

X Corps / Tenth Corps / 10th Corps / X Army Corps

 

NICKNAME:

None.

 

BATTLE HONORS:

 

World War II

New Guinea

Leyte

Southern Philippines

 

Korean War

UN Defensive

UN Offensive

CCF Intervention

First UN Counteroffensive

CCF Spring Offensive

UN Summer-Fall Offensive

Second Winter

Summer-Fall 1952

Third Winter

Summer 1953

 

DECORATIONS:

Philippine Presidential Unit Citation - streamer embroidered 17 October 1944 - 4 July 1945

 

Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations - streamers embroidered Inchon To Hung-nam, and Korea

 

ACTIVATED:

May 1942

 

DEACTIVATED:

March 31, 1968

 

HISTORY:

 

World War II

 

The X Corps was activated in May 1942 at Sherman, Texas. It embarked for the Pacific Theater in July of 1944 after two changes of station and participation in maneuvers in Louisiana and at the California-Arizona maneuver area.

 

As part of the Sixth Army, it took part in the Philippines campaign of 1944-45, beginning with the invasion of Leyte.

 

During World War II, the X Corps participated in the following campaigns: New Guinea, Leyte, and Southern Philippines.

 

Korean War

 

During the Korean War, it took part in Operation Chromite, the landings at Inchon. At Inchon it had the 1st Marine Division and 7th Infantry Division under its command. The Marines first captured an island offshore of Inchon as a prelude to the assault and at the next tide, the main attack went in. Despite the noise of the attack on the offshore island, it completely surprised the North Korean forces.

 

Inchon had a very large tidal range, and was thus very risky to use as a landing site. Nonetheless, the landing proved to be an enormous success. It is by far the largest amphibious assault to have taken place since World War II, and one of the boldest.

 

After the landing at Inchon, X Corps initially attacked up the Korean peninsula on the left wing of Eighth Army. However, it was withdrawn from the line relatively shortly thereafter to prepare for another amphibious assault, this time at Wonsan on the eastern coast. This action proved to be a mistake on two counts. First, forces of the Eighth Army moving by land reached the town before the assault went in. Second, it proved to be too far for UN forces to go. After landing at Wonsan, X Corps advanced inland towards Chosin Reservoir. The Chinese choose this moment to intervene in the war in force. X Corps was strung out along many miles, and under the Chinese attacks some units disintegrated. However, the 1st Marine Division, the unit furthest forward, maintained cohesion, and began its famous fight to the sea from Chosin. Completely surrounded, it successfully engaged seven or eight Chinese division and managed to reach the relative safety of the coast, where it was evacuated.

 

After the retreat from Chosin, once its units had been put back on an even keel, X Corps went into the line, and remained there for the rest of the war. It is widely contended that X Corps remained outside of the direct command of Eighth Army too long. X Corps reporting directly to the Supreme Commander had been necessary for the Inchon landings and still defensible for the Wonsan attack. However, after it entered the main line, conventional military doctrine indicated that it should have been placed immediately under the command of Eighth Army. General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the United States forces, was accused of favouritism towards Edward Almond, the commander of X Corps, who was his former chief of staff and a personal friend.

 

After X Corps was placed under the command of Eighth Army, it performed well for the rest of the war.

 

 

Post-Korean War

 

In the years following the Korean War, the X Corps continued to train reserve units.

 

Due to Army budget cuts at the height of the Vietnam War involvement, the X Corps was deactivated on March 31, 1968.

 

Divisional history from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._X_Corps

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Examples of the Korean War era X Corps patch, White up. During the Korean War, for whatever reason the CO General Edward Ned Almond mandated that the X Corps patch be sewn and worn with it's White portion on top, after he left Korea the habit persisted, and as we see, as a combat patch as well, White portion up.

 

 

 

post-34986-0-64059900-1382337743.jpgpost-34986-0-90754400-1364276986.jpg

 

post-1761-0-81724200-1359652189.jpg

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post-1738-0-90660600-1460862976.jpgpost-34986-0-40573100-1462423127.jpg

Here's a photo of Almond in the field with his White on top patch. He's decorating a then Lt Col Edward Rowny (Rowny would rise to Lt Gen). The award I think for his actions during the Chosen Evacuation when he was Chief Engineer X Corps, Rowny who was West Point Class of 1941, The Black Forty One, also served under Almond in the 92nd Division in Italy in WWII.

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  • 4 years later...
The Godfather

@Patchs. I actually know Almond's grandson. This will be a good question to ask him and see if might know.  

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1 hour ago, The Godfather said:

@Patchs. I actually know Almond's grandson. This will be a good question to ask him and see if might know.  

Please do. You never know

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I have this pic in America's Tenth Legion by Shelby Stanton;  you can see the "sunny-side up" version on General Almond's personal aircraft in Korea:

 

IMG_0860.JPG.d34a88dc21ca4533ff2fb7c01d950490.JPG

 

 

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The Godfather

Response from Col. Thomas Fergusson. Grandson of Lt.Gen. Ned Almond. 

Bob,

 

Wish I could help you be 100% sure on this question, but let me give it a shot. I've never seen or heard anything about a disagreement / controversy involving the design of the X Corps patch / flag during World War II or the Korean War,  i.e. whether it should be blue on the top and white on the bottom or vice versa. 

 

Nor have I ever seen or heard anything about Major General (he was promoted to Lieutenant General in January 1951) Edward M. Almond, Commanding General of X Corps from 26 August 1950 to 15 July 1951, insisting that the patch / flag should be white on the top and blue on the bottom. My grandfather and I had countless conversations about the Korean War and X Corps over the years, but this is one subject I don't recall us ever discussing. 

 

I've just done some checking online and discovered that almost all sources show the X Corps patch with blue on the top and white on the bottom. Here for example is a link to the Wikipedia article about X Corps in World War II and the Korean War. At the beginning of the article (top right) you see the "shoulder sleeve insignia" (patch) of X Corps from 1942-68. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Corps_(United_States)

 

And here's a link to Staff Operations: The X Corps in Korea, December 1950 by Richard W. Stewart, published by the Combat Studies Institute (CSI) of the U.S. Army Command and Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KSin December 1950. See the X Corps patch on page 5 -- of course, this publication is black & white, but the patch is dark (blue) in the upper half and light (white) in the lower half.

 

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/stewart.pdf

 

And finally, here's a link to an ad for the book, MacArthur's X Corps in Korea: Inchon to the Yalu, 1950 by Edward C. Dailey with a color photo of General MacArthur on the cover and the unit patches (in color) of X Corps and its three subordinate divisions (1st Marine Division, 3rd Infantry Division, and 7th Infantry Division) during the Chosin campaign. Once again, the X Corps patch has blue on the top half, white on the bottom.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11458787-macarthur-s-x-corps-in-korea

 

OK, Bob, here's an ad for a vet or anyone who wants to order the X Corps patch for $6.50 from "MilitaryVetsPX.com -- the only problem is, they got it wrong! On this X Corps patch, the top is white and the bottom is blue!  Seeing this really cracked me up! But now check out the X Corps pin lower down on the page / cover -- hooray, blue on the top, white on the bottom and this will only set you back $4.95

 

https://www.militaryvetspx.com/10coremipa.html

 

All the best,

Tom

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My father served on the 10th Corp793520436_dadKW08.jpg.1bbaea95a5e618e39c125f1d47c18ec1.jpgs Honor Guard after serving with 2ID in Korea. Here are some pictures showing the white side up on the patch.

JPEG image.jpeg

IMG_3477.jpg

Dad KW 03.jpg

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The Godfather

So it appears that the orientation changed over time. Sunny side up during the Korean war era, and then blue side up after the war. A painting of LT.G. Edward Mallory Almond shows blue side up as his grandson confirms and also in the painting. I would find it hard to think that a Lt. G. would have his dress greens wrong. 

image.png.d431e00296496086ac4068b725ed606f.pngimage.png.bca2eac40b6674b1164d1ff21db5ea33.png

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