But over a defeated—even though not shattered—army lies a grayness of spirit. A retreat, once started, is the most difficult of all human actions to reverse. Most of the thousands who had come to Korea had never been interested in the action; now, most of them would have willingly departed the peninsula forever. The grayness spread upward, to staffs and even to commanders. Men who had burned their fingers were now wary of the flame.
