HONG KONG -- Sept. 15 was the 50th anniversary of the famous Inchon amphibious landing by U.S. forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, which so decisively turned the tide of battle in the early stages of the Korean War.

After their initial invasion of the South on June 25, the North Korean People's Army simply swept aside the South Korean, U.S. and U.N. troops.

Very quickly, MacArthur's forces were driven back to a small perimeter in the southeastern corner of South Korea around the major port of Pusan. There the hastily constituted Eighth Army under Gen. Walton Walker conducted a dogged defense of the Pusan perimeter.