31. Letter From the Secretary of Defense (Wilson) to the Secretary of State1

Dear Mr. Secretary: I refer to a request made by the Representatives of the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and United Kingdom Chiefs of Staff, on 23 March 1955, for concurrence of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in the reduction of Commonwealth forces in Korea to one battalion group, commencing about 1 April 1955.2

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It is understood that when this problem was discussed initially with the Department of State, the reduction in question was considered as applying only to the Australian forces. However, it is apparent from the request of the Representatives of the Commonwealth Chiefs of Staff that they consider this reduction as applying to other Commonwealth forces. Further, the Canadians have specifically indicated a desire to withdraw their forces from Korea in the immediate future. Inasmuch as the Joint Chiefs of Staff have reported that Department of State discussions with Commonwealth Representatives on this matter during the Manila Pact Conference at Bangkok in February appear to be susceptible to broad interpretation,3 it is considered that this matter needs clarification.

The Department of Defense considers that the withdrawal of additional UN forces from Korea, though now under study by the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a view to re-evaluating the requirements of the situation, could not be accomplished at this time without risk of seriously jeopardizing what has been accomplished in Korea to date. This consideration is based upon the fact that U.S. ground forces in Korea have been reduced from three Corps with an approximate total of 300,000, to one Corps with an approximate total of 90,000 personnel; and the fact that UN forces other than U.S. have been reduced from an approximate total of 33,000, to a current approximate total of 14,000 personnel. Certain of the Commonwealth forces including elements of the Canadian and Australian contingents have already been withdrawn which accounts largely for this UN reduction. The United Nations’ character of the forces in Korea has thus been greatly reduced with a resultant lowering of the combat effectiveness of the forces opposing the Communists.

I concur fully in the JCS recommendation regarding the necessity for maintaining adequate UN forces representation in Korea, as indicated in the attached JCS memorandum dated 25 March 1955. However, I will defer to the judgement of the Department of State regarding the proposed withdrawal of Commonwealth forces from Korea. If on the other hand the Department of State does not concur in the proposed withdrawal, this Department requests your concurrence [Page 61] in authorizing the dispatch by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the note attached to the JCS memorandum.4

Sincerely yours,

C.E. Wilson
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 795B.5/3–3055. Top Secret.
  2. The Commonwealth request was made in a memorandum from the representatives of the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and British Chiefs of Staff to Admiral Radford in his capacity as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on March 23. The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a memorandum to the Secretary of Defense on March 25 in which they recommended that Department of State concurrence be obtained for a memorandum to be returned to the Commonwealth representatives explaining that the United States could not agree to a further reduction of U.N. forces in Korea. Copies of the Commonwealth request, the JCS memorandum to the Secretary of Defense, and the proposed reply to the Commonwealth representatives explaining that the United States could not agree to a further reduction and weakening of U.N. forces in Korea are attached to the source text but not printed.
  3. See footnote 7, Supra.
  4. For the Department of State response to this request, see Document 36.