National convention, october 2-5, 2005, in bossier - Korean War ...

Overland Park, KS
Memorial for the Korean War Veterans
After five-years of ideology battles between capitalism and
communism, the 38th Parallel grew into an Iron Wall
between two Koreas. One day it burst into the flame of
hostility and hate. In 1950, no Americans wanted to think
about another war when the memories of the earlier war
still haunted them. Also, to Americans, Korea was a faceless
nation whose men fought against them, wearing the
Japanese military uniform.
By Therese Park
In early 2004, the Bush administration
awarded KWVA Chapter 181 (Kansas
#1) $371,250 for the construction of the
Korean War Memorial in Overland Park,
Kansas (119th and Lowell). The news excited
the veterans, their families, and their supporters,
and accelerated their fundraising
efforts. Only six months later, they had raised
92% of the projected cost of $600.000, and
began waiting anxiously for construction to
begin.
The veterans’ long dream began to formulate
when the City Council of Overland
Park voted unanimously for the construction
of the memorial in June, 2003. Two months
later, on August 23, the site dedication ceremony
took place, including a keynote
address by U.S. Senator Sam Brownback
(R-KS). Congressman Dennis Moore (D-
3rd District, KS), County Commission
Chairperson Annabeth Surbaugh, Mayor Ed
Eilert, and many other local dignitaries were
present, along with the KWVA supporters,
including a few local South Koreans.
The fundraising campaign followed.
Throughout 2004, the 60+ KWVA members
contacted numerous foundations, corporations,
and individuals. They held a pancake
breakfast in March and a garage sale in
August. Each time they were reassured that
the community was behind their fundraising
efforts. Donations came from over 100
sources, including the South Korean community.
The Korean-American Society of
Greater Kansas City delivered $20,000 to
the KWVA at the end of 2004, and the
Korean American Ladies Foundation hosted
a fund-raising luncheon in June 2004, which
raised $10,000. The women also performed
a Korean fan dance and folk songs for their
150 guests.
At a KWVA monthly meeting on May
16th, 2005, the Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation awarded the veterans with a
“Leadership Gift” of $50,000. Another
$50,000 has been pledged by the Overland
Park Arts Commission.
Any war is evil, but the Korean War was
one of the worst in history due to its massive
destruction of human lives and civilization.
When 95,000 North Korean Communists
launched a surprise attack across the 38th
Parallel on a Sunday morning in June, 1950,
South Korea was defenseless. Korea had
been under Japan’s colonial ruling between
1910 and 1945, during which time the
Japanese severely impoverished the
Koreans, materially and spiritually, stealing
everything and forcing them to use Japanese
names and speak only Japanese. With
Japan’s surrender to the allied forces at the
end of World War II in August 1945, Korea
became a free nation, but freedom was
short-lived. Within days, the country with a
5000-year recorded history was divided into
two—the Russians occupying the North and
the Americans the South.
After five-years of ideology battles
between capitalism and communism, the
38th Parallel grew into an Iron Wall between
two Koreas. One day it burst into the flame
of hostility and hate. In 1950, no Americans
wanted to think about another war when the
memories of the earlier war still haunted
them. Also, to Americans, Korea was a faceless
nation whose men fought against them,
wearing the Japanese military uniform.
In 1950, General Douglas MacArthur
couldn’t worry about Korea, either. He was
the “king” in Occupied Japan and was too
busy reconstructing the “new Japan” from
rubble and introducing democracy to the
Japanese. After the news of the North
Korean invasion of the South reached him
in Tokyo on June 25th, MacArthur reported
to President Harry Truman that it was a
“police action” and asked the President to
grant him authority to mobilize the
Occupation Army in Japan to control the
“Korean conflict.”
When the US soldiers on occupationduty
in Japan arrived in Korea, they were no
match for the well-equipped, well-trained
North Koreans who crossed the 38th
Parallel with modern Russian tanks and
ammunition. Thousands of Americans were
killed or captured or vanished within days,
as were countless South Koreans who were
lost in the “conflict.”
The UN troops’ successful amphibious
landing at Inchon Harbor two months later
reversed the war situation, and the UN
troops triumphantly crossed the 38th
Parallel and marched farther north, only to
be mauled by the Chinese “volunteers,” who
had stepped into the Korean War Theater
without notice. Until the war ended with the
truce two years later, Americans bled and
died.
Today, South Korea is a vibrant nation
proud of its modern cities, financial security,
and high-tech industry. Its national per-capita
in the 1950s was only $50.00. It is now
$10,000, an explosive growth since the war.
Without Americans’ help, South Korea
would have merged with the North more
than a half century earlier. Had that happened,
45 million South Koreans would be
Kim Jong-il’s mindless puppets today.
Is the Korean War “forgotten?” No—and
it never will be. Even after those who
fought in the war and who lived through it
are long gone, the Korean War Veteran’s
Memorial at 119th and Lowell, Overland
Park, Kansas, will stand tall, reminding its
visitors of what the Korean War was all
about, who fought in it, and what the world
learned from it.
Therese Park is a freelance writer living in
Leawood, Kansas. She has written two published
novels and dozens of articles. Her
second book “When a Rooster Crows at
Night” is based on her childhood experience
during the Korean War. She can be
reached at 10500 Lee Blvd., Leawood, KS
66206, tspark62@sbcglobal.net
57
The Graybeards
July - August A
2005