Korea Memories

Join Colonel (Ret) Don Boose as he speaks about his experiences in Korea in the 1970s and 80s as a staff officer at the United Nations Command (UNC) headquarters and with the UNC Component of the Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC), negotiating with the North Koreans and Chinese. This was a time of considerable tension and activity that included the August 18, 1976, murder by the North Koreans of two UNC officers in the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom and the defection of a Soviet citizen and subsequent JSA gun battle on November 23, 1985.

Colonel (Retired) Don Boose (Donald W. Boose, Jr.) is an independent scholar who served as a faculty instructor at the U.S. Army War College from 1990 to 2019. He has a degree in  anthropology from Cornell University, a master’s degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. Colonel (Ret) Boose was an Infantry officer who served as advisor to a Vietnamese rifle battalion during the Vietnam War, but much of his 30-year military career involved Northeast Asia political-military matters and included service as the Korea Politico-Military planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, six years with the United Nations Command Component of the Military Armistice Commission in Korea, three years as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5) for U.S. Forces Japan, and service as the Director of Asian Studies at the U.S. Army War College. He is the author of “Over the Beach: Army Amphibious Operations in the Korean War'' and “U.S. Army Forces in the Korean War,” co-author of “Great Battles of Antiquity,” co-editor of “The Ashgate Research Companion to the Korean War'' and co-editor of “Recalibrating the U.S.-Republic of Korea Alliance.” He was also a major contributor to the “Encyclopedia of the Korean War '' and is the author of many articles on the Korean War and Northeast Asia security issues.