Over 36,000 U.S. servicemembers died in the Korean War: the new memorial in Orange County is the first to list the name of every single one.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced on Monday that South Korea, North Korea, the United States and China have all agreed “in principle” to formally end the Korean War. The move comes nearly 70 years after the war unofficially ended in an armistice.
President Moon later noted that South Korea would continue to seek a formal end to the war even as North Korea signaled it would only agree if the United States ceased its policy of “hostility,” likely referring to longstanding U.S. Armed Forces stationed in South Korea as well as its pursuit of a denuclearized North Korea.
The Korean War
The Korean War has roots in World War II, when Korea was occupied by Imperial Japan for much of the early 20th century. When Japan was finally defeated in 1945, Korea was divided into two nations along the 38th parallel by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Five years later, and after frequent border skirmishes, North Korea invaded its southern neighbor. Within a month, U.S. and United Nations forces began pushing back against the invading force while the Soviet Union and China provided the North with limited materiel support.
While U.S. and allied forces were able to successfully push the North Korean Army out of South Korea, and nearly to the Chinese border, this progress was lost when Chinese forces supported by the Soviet Air Force joined the North Korean war effort.
U.S. and U.N. forces were in turn driven back to the 38th parallel where the remainder of the war saw limited gains for either side; although, South Korea’s capital—which had twice been taken over the course of the war—was eventually recaptured for a final time by allied forces.
In 1953, and with neither side willing to risk escalating the conflict, a ceasefire agreement was reached. A demilitarized zone was created along the 38th parallel and the war has been without an official end since.
Korean War Memorial in Orange County
During the war, 36,492 U.S. servicemembers were killed, including 2,611 Californians.
This past Veterans Day, the city of Fullerton held a dedication ceremony for the first Korean War memorial listing the name of every U.S. servicemember that gave their life defending South Korea. The memorial was funded by the government of South Korea and public donations, and organized by the Orange County Korean War Memorial Committee.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
