MAIHAFER: When the message was en route to Frank Pace and he had left Taegu,
which was 8th Army Headquarters, came up to our Division Air Strip, as he was
accompanied by General Ridgway and met ah my boss, General Bryant, the 24th
Division Commander. And, we went first into the 19th Infantry command Post and
then we went to the 5th Regimental Combat Team, Regimental Command Post. And,
while we were there, this message came in over the telephone and it was
somebody at 8th Army calling for Frank Pace. And, I remember what happened was
the soldier that took the message, somebody heard him say, "Frank Pace? No,
there's no Frank Pace here," and started to hang up and somebody grabbed the
phone away from him and and managed to get the Secretary to the phone. And . .
. then he got General Ridgway and the two of them went outside and talked.
And, I know now that what he was saying was that General MacArthur is being
relieved and you are going to take his place.
And, when they came back in, Ridgway just looked like he had the weight
of the world on his shoulders. All he and all he said was, we're cutting short
the visit and left. I didn't know what had happened but I knew something was,
something big had just happened. And, now now I realize that I was at a small
moment in history.
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