Vintage Military - Part 102

 Korean War, August 1950

The Korean War started in June, 1950, when the North Korean army, equipped and trained by Russia, invaded South Korea and quickly captured Seoul (the capital) and most of the country.  The U.N. called on member nations to repel the invasion.  President Truman ordered U.S. forces to aid South Korea.

Above we see U.S troops in Korea taking an outdoor shower.  These photos were taken by LIFE photographer Carl Mydans in August, 1950.

LIFE did not publish photos showing male frontal nudity.  The photo above, showing only rear nudity, could have been published, but to the best of my knowledge, none of these photos made it into the magazine.  They are all in the LIFE photo archive.

Another photo showing a bit of frontal nudity ...

and another.

In September, 1950, U.N. forces (mainly American) recaptured Seoul and most of South Korea, and in October they invaded North Korea, but then the Communist Chinese army entered the war on the side of North Korea, and the war dragged on until July, 1953.  The war ended leaving North and South Korea much the same as before the war, except for minor changes to the border.  Meanwhile, the war caused 1 million military deaths and an estimated 1.5 to 3 million civilian deaths.