Sixty Years Ago Today . . .
. . . at 2200 hrs local time (approximately 0900 Eastern), major hostilities in Korea ended. The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed at 1000 local on 27 July 1953. It became effective twelve hours later.
The war had lasted 3 years, 1 month, and 3 days. Negotiating the Armistice had taken slightly over two years.
The Korean War claimed the lives of between 500,000 and 950,000 total KIA (total for both sides). In excess of 1,200,000 individuals are estimated to have been WIA. Among those casualties were 33,686 US battlefield dead (KIA/DOW/MIA-BNR) and 92,134 US WIA.
The Korean War is technically still ongoing today, but suspended. There never has been a formal peace treaty signed to end the conflict.
Korea is often called our “Forgotten War”. It was also a war for which we were horribly unprepared at the outset. We damn near lost that war before we could get our act together.
May we never forget that key lesson from the “Forgotten War”. We certainly never need to experience another fiasco like Task Force Smith.
Category: Historical
My honor and respect for all Korean War Veterans. I hope we find all the missing and bring the home to the country they died for. They are passing fast. Thank them when we see them.
To each and everyone of you that still have or did have family members that served during the Korean War that are on the TAH blog, I’d just like to say thanks to each of you that have kept our history of the “Forgotten War” going. There are not to many of us left to continue what the Korean War was all about, so the ball is going to be in your court, and as for you Sgt. Reckless, there’s afew more stories about you to be told, but for now, Semper Fi.
Sam
I agree, this part of history has been reduced to a few paragraphs in books with no regard to what happened to people who were there.
http://news.msn.com/us/obama-says-korean-veterans-deserve-better
We do need to give them more due, before they are gone.
Glad you checked the site today, Sam. Thought you might enjoy both of those articles.
The Korean War is indeed worth remembering for many reasons. It showed us the heavy cost of unpreparedness; it reinforced the principle of civilian control of the Armed Forces; and it prevented the takeover of a friendly and free nation by force. Plus, heroism shown by US Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines is simply always worth remembering.
Even if they’re 4-legged. (smile)
It is a great thing to remember the Korean Veterans as we do today. I hope the POTUS and Joint Chiefs take some time for reflection on what happened, or nearly happened to our under prepared forces there and take a lesson to what they are doing to out military today. God Bless all those men and women who served in a war called “Forgotten”. But not forgotten to some, especially those of us folks here on TAH.
Found this excellent article from Victor Davis Hanson in the WSJ:
The Forgotten Maverick General Who Saved South Korea
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324744104578472771068875576.html
Sorry, the above link brings up a subscriber login page…you can Google it and should be able to read it then.
Since that Armistice went in effect over 300 American G.I.s have been killed by the North Koreans at the DMZ. Those are the forgotten ones.
Comrades in Arms:
If you click on my name, it’ll take you to my own personal web site, “OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE”, where you’ll see my latest post, “SHIELD OF THE FREE WORLD”, about the Eighth Army in the Republic of Korea.
I’ve included an official United States Army photograph of my father visiting an orphanage, and another official United States Army photograph of my father being decorated with the Army Commendation Medal.
He and I both served in the Eighth Army in the Republic of Korea, exactly twenty (20) years apart.
He’s dead and buried, but I have his medals and the flag from his casket in a display case mounted on the wall above my bed.
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
[…] Sixty Years Ago Today . . . […]
On this day , I turned 6 and my Father’s youngest Brother was on a ship home from the Korea. He would never talk about being a Marine there. I asked my Uncle Bob many times how he got the scar across his forehead with no answer. Joe