"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."
The Korean War, often called "The Forgotten War”, was one of the first major conflicts of the Cold War.
Korean War Armistice Day marks the signing of the armistice on July 27, 1953 at 10 a.m. which effectively ended the fighting in the Korean War, though no formal peace treaty was signed.
More than 23,600 U.S. service members had died during the fighting. Between 300,000 and 900,000 communist troops were killed, along with an estimated 2.5 million Korean civilians. South Korea's defense ministry estimates more than 137,000 South Korean troops died in the war. Relatively little territory changed hands, given the volume of the destruction the war caused.
Today, historians and even veterans of the conflict may call the war in Korea "The Forgotten War," but tucked on the National Mall, across from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, is a ghostly memorial designed to ensure that the conflict, those who served in it and the almost 25,000 American troops who died as a result are remembered. The memorial was dedicated in 1995 by then-President Bill Clinton and South Korea's then-President Kim Young Sam.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial was confirmed on April 20, 1986. On Flag Day in 1992, then-President George H.W. Bush presided over the groundbreaking on the National Mall, where the memorial now stands.
Three years after the memorial was finished, U.S. Code Title 36 was amended to recognize Korean War Veterans Armistice Day in the United States every July 27. While not a federal holiday, the law asks Americans to recognize the day with appropriate activities and ceremonies.
"Lest we forget"
ReplyDeleteYes sir.
DeleteGod of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
My best friends father was in Korea. He was a hard man. In a good way hard, he was as important to me as my own father. I miss them both terribly.
ReplyDeleteTom762
Sorry for your losses, Tom.
DeleteI spent a very short time in Korea and I can understand how that place could be hard on anyone.
Depending on your view angle, the faces kinda fade out. Like seeing spirits.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a better way to describe it, but it is an amazing and somber memorial.
-lg
You did a really good job of describing it, lg.
DeleteI had a friend that carried his grandfather who fought in Nam out there to visit it. He said his grandfather lost several friends in Nam and he cried when he saw it. My friend cried when he saw his grandfather crying and he damn near cried telling me about it. It got real dusty in the room.