re: Why doesn’t our society ever talk about how few Korean War vets are left?

My 93 Yr old FIL says hi! He served but was stateside. ????

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Because people move on.

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I lived through those days. I was a kid destined to be drafted for the Vietnam fight.

I've always found it strange as to how little attention is given to that war in general and specifically to the soldiers of that time.

It has been suggested that coming off of such a big win to a pissant loss and our first at that, people want to forget it.


I've got a different outlook. My Dad was in WWII. I had 5 uncles in WWII. I had 3 uncles in Korea. Myself and at least 1 cousin in the Vietnam conflict and a cousin in Iraq. Anytime we get together, even at family gatherings we find ourselves getting together.

I noticed this about my father and then, after my own service time I found myself drawn to the same group. Winners and losers, we are all the same.

This gave me a different perspective on the "Civil" War. I had kinfolk on both sides. I suppose they all thought their side was right. In my eyes they were all heros.

In every fight one side wins and one side loses but people on both sides lose.

I lost a couple of classmates in Vietnam plus others damaged. Obvious to this day is the remembrance of these guys at class gatherings and friend group gatherings at Fred's and elsewhere. We "lost" but were these dead any less than their Asian counterparts?

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….they move on.

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Annnd we move on. Soon all these will be forgotten too. No more family reunions for me. No more class reunions for this class of '67. That's life, even for an old soldier.

It's not that important of a war as far as wars go.

There were far from as many Korean veterans as WW2 veterans in the first place. And the war also didn't affect people's lives on the home front in the same way.

My dad was in the Korean war, he repaired cryptography machines. He died in 2014 at age 86.

Have an Uncle that couldn't read and got drafted to Korea. He turned 95 last week. Wife had an Uncle that was a retired E8 and veteran of WW2 Korea and Vietnam. He got killed by a lightning strike surf fishing on Johnson Beach in 1997.

My pawpaw lied about his age and enlisted and was sent over to Europe to clean up WWII in 46-47. Fought in Korea. Was a door gunner on a Huey in Vietnam in 68. He was considered an old man in Vietnam. NEVER talked about either. Only thing I know was in a letter he wrote to my mawmaw about Korea. He said it was very cold and they crested a hill and came up on a bunch of N.K. eating lunch and was a bad firefight.

That's all he ever memorialized about either war. Those guys that served were hard as a 3 dollar steak.

I had family members that were in both WWII and Korea...and some in both Korea and Vietnam. I was born a year after it ended... Korea was a police action conflict for us because Congress never declared war. Also IMO, coming off WWII we started playing the political and media guilt game and we didn't want to hurt feelings...This carried over to Vietnam and wars and conflicts till this day.....If you are going to comitt American blood to a war....go finish it by whatever means it takes.

unfortunately for a lot of those vets their records burned up in a fire in 1973.