The Korean War: The Forgotten War

The Korean War was an influential event that started in 1950 and caused a lot of controversy among Americans and Koreans. The war was caused by the US trying to preserve the Democratic side of Korea, the south side. The Koreans were not happy, however, and the Viet Kong and North Korean soldiers fought tooth and nail to get the Americans out of the country. There was eventually an end to the war of course but not without lots of casualties on both sides and a hostile environment around the border of the two countries.

The Korean War was a defining part of the United States foreign policy in the Cold War Era and was a response to threats from the Soviet Union. The Korean War was a culmination of tensions between North and South Korea that had resulted from the influences the United States and the Soviet Union inculcated into the countries during their occupation. When the Korean War was initiated, by the invasion of South Korea by North Korea, the United States and their allies in the United Nations perceived the invasion as a bold communistic expansion effort that occurred without provocation. (Document A). Further validating this idea was the fact that the attack was endorsed by the USSR, and partially lead by Red China, both of which were communist countries

In America we always remember the importance of the wars we fought. For some reason most people always forget or skip the Korean War. Korea was a small colony that was taken over by Japan in 1910. When World War II ended Japan’s government was falling apart and could no longer support Korea. This left the colony to anyone who wanted it, and Russia answered the call. Russia successfully conquered the north when the south contacted the U.S. to stop them. War broke out on June 25, 1950 which had sealed the fate of the Korean Peninsula. The Korean War was mostly a coalition with communist values and capitalist values. The outcome of this war has shaped the way works.The Korean War was very important to the world because it showed that America was unprepared, the Korean Peninsula was divided, and the countries who were involved.

After the war, when 1.5 million Americans returned home, they found the US filled with peace and prosperity as if a war never took place half a world away. The memorial was built a year later, and is located on 2.2 acres of land and took 9 years to build. In addition, the memorial cost them 18 million dollars to build. Once they had raised all the money, they started building. The war became known as the Forgotten War because the Korean War was the last thing the Americans wanted to memorialize. This made the memorial a huge step to remembering and honoring the war and its veterans.

For this Oral History Lab, I turned to the Veterans History Project, which has an online archive full of Interviews of War Veterans ranging from all eras. The interview that I chose to critique for this assignment was conducted in September of 2003. The interviewer is Bruce Wirz and the Narrator is WWII sergeant William C. Abernathy. The interview is conducted in just under 25 minutes.

The United States has fought in many wars throughout the years. The Korean War took place from 1950-1953. It has also been called the forgotten war, as people do not recognize it like the Second World War, the Vietnam War or the Gulf War. This battle consisted of North Korea, South Korea and the United States. It was fought on sea, land and air. The Korean War was a clash between the Communist forces and the free world.

“In the West, including the United States that contributed by far the largest number of United Nations forces to the conflict (followed by Britain and Canada), scholarship and memorialization of the war has recently come into its own, after decades of being overshadowed by World War II and Vietnam” (Armstrong), as the costs and casualties for United States were also significantly huge for being involved in the one peninsula where 36,574 deaths and 103,284 were wounded and costed around $67 billion on this war (“Korean War Fast Fact”). And for being a short war compare to the World War II or Vietnam War, the casualties of this war were extremely bloody in which nearly 5 million people died which most of them were 1 million of South Korean civilians, and about 600,000 Korean soldiers died (“Korean War Fast

America faced many challenges during the Korean War. Challenges such as South Korea having a difficult time defending itself, the Soviet Union avoiding resolutions, and the conflict of China entering the war. The Korean War. The Korean War happened after World War II, when the U.S. wanted to fight off communist influence made by the USSR. The U.S. wanted to prevent the ideology of communism from invading countries because it caused the fear of another World War to occur. This caused a major conflict in Korea. South Korea not being able to defend itself caused the U.S. to have actively participate in the war, also the U.S. had to come up with resolutions when the USSR wanted nothing to do with resolutions, moreover then China entered the war but the U.S. considered them as “friends”. There problems were all issues that were hard to overcome during the war.

The United States geared up for a war against communism. Not more than a day after Seoul fell, the US had officially entered the war and had ground troops committed, an action backed by the U.N. At the beginning of the war the U.S. soldiers had little combat experience and they were in a foreign land. This was the reason for the mass casualties sustained by the U.S. “US Army casualties from June 25 through July 31, 1950 totaled 6,003: 1,884 Killed In Action, 2,695 Wounded In Action, 523 Missing In Action and 901 reported captured. Of these more than half were from the 24th Infantry Division- 3,610.”( Evanhoe, Ed. "The Korean War." The Korean War. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.korean-war.com>.)

In a war without a clear endgame, who really wins? This was a question that ran through the minds of many soldiers during the Korean War. In a fight that felt as if it were brought on by bureaucrats in Washington, it must have been extremely difficult to see a purpose. A man must look deep within himself to figure out what he is truly fighting for. Was he fighting for his country? Blood lust? His fellow man? War is a heavy burden, with consequences to every decision made. It is a soldier’s job to find his responsibly in war and live with the decisions he’s made.

“Men joined the Marine Corps for many reasons . . . I’d joined up to dodge the draft and ended up being sent to war” (Brady 8-9). This brief yet poignant statement begins the story of how James Brady ended up serving in the Korean War. As a young adult the draft was being reinstated and Brady did not feel the desire to fight in a war. He and a few of his friends decided instead to join the Platoon Leaders Class with the Marines, which had students spend two summers at the marine Corps Schools in Quantico, Virginia. After these two summers, graduates would become Lieutenants, but they could not be drafted. Shortly after Brady graduated, the war began in Korea and his class learned they

With the elimination of the Japanese threat by 1945, the demoralization of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949, and the conclusion of the Korean War by 1953, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the party’s leader, Mao Zedong, internalized efforts and re-established order within the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Under Mao’s leadership, the PRC experienced immediate and influential reforms ⎯ most notably the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution ⎯ that benefitted the PRC at first, but later steered the nation to unprecedented political, social, and economic turmoil. By 1976, the year of his death, Mao had left China in widespread chaos and civil unrest with millions of Chinese dead, starving, and impoverished. By 1979, Chinese statesman Deng Xiaoping emerged to become China’s undisputed leader after defeating Hua Guofeng, Mao’s chosen successor. With his superior political skills and decades of experience, Deng engineered vital economic, political, social reforms that would help restore China from the amounting unrest Mao established between 1957 and 1976. However, similar to Mao, Deng also confronted opposition and problematic events that tarnished his legacy. Ultimately, not only did Mao’s aspirations for China fail to completely coincide with reality, but also the aftermath of his ideals produced unwarranted consequences. Consequently, by implementing a more practical government and minimizing the

The Korean War was not a one-sided affair; there were actions taken by outside influences, but ultimately it was the arrogant actions of the North Koreans met with the brash personalities of the South Koreans who thrust themselves into conflict; which brought the still recovering world super powers back into war. In the invasion of South Korea (ROK) in June 1950, the North Koreans mounted an impressive assault, carried out at a speed which sent the allies reeling on its heels down into the southernmost territory of the peninsula.

War was once fought with rocks, and other debris. This progressed to swords, axes, bows and arrows… Then we had guns. The revolution of weaponry far beyond the expectations of what anyone expected. Finally, war is now fought with robots, drones, and the human body is no longer required, but only the mind. The physical challenge that a soldier has to undergo nowadays is incomparable to the endless demands during the First and Second World War. Modern Warfare is the new War metaphorically and literally, and seems to be a fashion that will persist. Then again did all these transitions in the mode of warfare have any positive outcome? The lingering conflicts on both that scale as well as on a domestic one, are still prevalent then and now. So what can subsequently terminate all of the above? This develops into further questions as to whether the use or even the threat of force pose as the most effective means of resolving global, let alone national violence or are there other ‘peaceful’ alternatives?

Korea is one of the few countries that are split and are currently still at war. Many people do not know about the Korean War since it was not a popular war, it did not get as much media attention as other wars. Numerous people do not have much knowledge of the history of Korea and how South and North Korea split.