John Osborne, senior TIME-LIFE correspondent in the Pacific, who has returned from four months of reporting there, reports a reaction among officers and men of the Eighth Army to one of the stories he wrote that surprised and delighted them. The story was called "The Ugly War" (TIME, LIFE, Aug. 21). It made the point that the war against the Communists of Asia could not be won by military means alone but required political savvy as well. An attempt to win it, as the U.S. was doing in Korea, only by force of arms would court eventual failure and force upon U.S. soldiers in the field acts and attitudes of the utmost savagery.

These thoughts were current among U.S. commanders in Korea, and after the story was published Osborne found wide and vigorous agreement with it. General Douglas MacArthur said that he had ordered his staff to distribute the story as widely as possible in the Eighth Army. Said he: "It's good to see a publication writing with a sense of responsibility to its country."

Although Osborne, who covered some of World War II in Europe, did not go to the Far East to cover the Korean war, he did spend some time at the front. On one occasion he managed to get a ride back to headquarters in a jeep. Jimmy Cannon, of the New York Post, and another correspondent also asked for a lift. Cannon, wise to the fact that a jeep's only comfortable seat is the front one, announced that it should go to the oldest man present. Whereupon, he gave his age (41) and dove for the seat. Under his own rules, however, he had to relinquish it to Osborne, who is 43. Osborne got the break that time, but he maintains that front line war coverage is basically a job for young reporters.

One day during August Osborne went up to the Korean front to be with the battered 19th Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division. The 19th had taken a terrific beating during its long, well-fought holding action. Osborne had with him a copy of the current issue of TIME (Aug. 14), which carried Correspondent Frank Gibney's story about the 19th Regiment. While talking to" Colonel Ned Moore', Osborne gave him the issue. It was the first account of his outfit the colonel had seen. He read it, and expressed his surprise and pleasure at the credit his men had received for the tough fight they had put up.

Another copy of TIME was kicking around the 27th Regiment headquarters at Chindong the day Osborne was there. It was a rough day. The 27th and elements of one other regiment were trying to hold the line until the marines arrived. Colonel John H. ("Mike") Michaelis called for an air strike to relieve the pressure on his men. The U.S. planes came over, hit the wrong target, and had to be redirected. At this crucial moment Osborne glanced at Michaelis. He was standing, bareheaded, in the street by the radio truck, reading TIME'S

On a return trip to Formosa Osborne found that its governor, K. C. Wu, who was the subject of TIME'S Aug. 7 cover story, had an oversupply of that issue, thanks to interested TIME readers from all over the world. Many of the 200 readers who wrote to him also expressed their surprise and gratification at the strength of the anti-Communist forces on Formosa.

If Governor Wu doesn't know what to do with his extra copies, the local smugglers do. TIME, Osborne was told, is in such demand on the Chinese mainland that copies of a current issue bring as much as 50 Taiwan dollars (about $5 U.S.) apiece.

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