I was a non combatant Jet Instrument Technician but still was required to do Guard Duty. This is the only surviving picture of me from that time.
For a kid just one year out of high school the whole thing was a adventure except for viewing the devastation wrought on civilians and infra structure by the war. My 12 days spent in Fukuoka, Japan on R &R was memorable however.
By Richard Ernsberger Jr. The Korean War, which ended just over 60 years ago, never resonated with the American public in the way that World War II did, despite the fact that nearly 2 million Americans served in theater (as part of a United Nations force) in the three-year fight against the North Koreans and Chinese, and some 37,000 died. Perhaps it was because Korea wasn’t a “declared war” and ended in an unsatisfactory stalemate. Melinda Pash, a history instructor at Fayetteville (N.C.) Technical Community College, has written a book on the conflict, In the Shadow of the Greatest Generation: The Americans Who Fought the Korean War (New York University Press, 2012), which examines this significant but neglected 1950s war.
Maybe it's because all the facts of it aren't as well known. I think this is sort of silly since there are so many great documentaries on the subject. It was a very difficult war and very important as well. Thanks for your service @Lon Tanner .
I certainly want to thank you for serving our country..... many people regard the Korean War as part of WW2...I don't know why
The Korean War was not initially covered like WW 2 was and the U.S. troops suffered big losses which were censored in the early part of the war.Also, It was a UNDECLARED WAR.
The American people were sick of war by then and the government was trying to avoid out and out war with Russia and China. It's understandable people had a tendency to want to forget it happened. However, the South Koreans don't feel that way at all. To them, it's the most wonderful thing that ever happened and they always speak of how grateful they are for the sacrifices America made for their freedom. They know they are only a hair away from North Korea, possibly the worst nation on the planet to have to live in.
Volumnes were written about War II and a great deal has been written about Viet Nam. There was not much coverage of the Korean conflict. The only reporters I saw in Korea were when Eisenhower came to visit and when Marlyn Monroe came over. Marine infantry most often took a cameraman on patrol with them to document anything which might need documenting. Of course reporters were not likely to be roaming the mountain tops and the trenches where Marine and Army infantry and other combat troops hung out.
The Korean War is still being taught in schools, so I don't think it really is a forgotten war. It was deemed by Harry S. Truman as a Police Action in the beginning, then a Conflict until by the time I got into the Air Force, Congress had okayed it as a genuine war. I took care of many heroes of that war.
Me either, Lon. But this is 21 yr. old me, a newly minted 2nd Lt. at the end of the Korean War. Taken in front of my BOQ at Shephard AFB, Wichita Falls, TX.