Our View: Honoring service in the 'forgotten war' in Korea
If you served in the Korean War and are willing to recount your experiences or know a Korean veteran willing to be profiled, call City Editor Eric Vodden at 749-4769 or email him at evodden@appealdemocrat.com.
Sixty years ago this summer — July 27, 1953 — the United States, China, North Korea and South Korea agreed to an armistice that ended the bloodshed of the three-year Korean War.
America's role in the conflict that started in June 1950 when communist North Korea invaded South Korea has been described as a "limited war." Sandwiched in the history books between World War II and Vietnam, it is also referred to as the "forgotten war."
Just don't call the Korean War "limited" to surviving US land, air and sea forces that joined the fighting just days after a United Nations resolution called for the defense of South Korea.
And don't tell family members and friends of more than 50,000 Americans who died that it is "forgotten."
It was a frustrating period for Americans used to forcing the unconditional surrender of their enemies, according to www.history.com. There was some support for the US expanding the war into China or even following newly elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower's hints he might be willing to use nuclear weapons in an expanded war.
In the end, the armistice created a committee of representatives of neutral countries to decide the fate of prisoners of war, a new border between the Koreas was drawn and the fighting ended. Today, communist North Korea is still considered a threat to the free world.
Relegated as an afterthought in some textbooks, we believe the Korean War was anything but "limited" and certainly should not be "forgotten."
In remembrance of the July 27 armistice, the Appeal-Democrat is in the planning stages for a series of articles profiling Yuba-Sutter residents who fought in or were otherwise close to the battlefronts of the Korean War.
With more World War II veterans passing each year, we believe it is more important than ever to also hear accounts of the Korean War from those who lived it.
We are asking Korean War veterans willing to recount their experiences or people who know Korean veterans willing to be profiled to contact us for inclusion in the series of stories leading up to the armistice date.
We are asking for help in doing our part to make sure the war and the sacrifices are remembered.
