re: Why doesn’t the Korean War get more recognition?

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Why doesn’t the Korean War get more recognition?

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In 65 years will people be asking “why doesn’t the Karen War get more recognition?”

Nasty, nasty war that packed nearly all of Vietnam's brutality and death into about a 3 year span.

My old man was there -got orders 2 days after graduating LSU/ROTC. He's still amazed he made it home (he's 90, now).

People were sick of war after WWII and nobody wanted to hear about it - just that simple.

My paw paw fought in the war.

Well, except for the poor schmucks who were fighting to win a war that their government wouldn't let them win. We won every battle, but couldn't successfully hold the country. ~58,000 Americans paid with their lives in a war that Washington shouldn't have gotten us in, and then wouldn't let the military fully prosecute.

I haven't read the thread, but this was a brutally awful war. Our solders faced unspeakable hardships.

My Freshman English Teacher at the Citadel (who was notoriously famous on Campus) was a Citadel Alumni and Infantry 1st Lt in Korea. He told us of how he was shot up so badly, they put him on a truck loaded with bodies. One of the medics there saw him moving and said "Hey, this guy's not dead." They managed to patch him up and he spent several months on a hospital ship before he was well enough to be transferred to Walter Reed. A letterman in 4 sports while he was at the Citadel, it took him over a year to learn how to walk again. He earned his Masters Degree (Shakespearean literature) from his hospital bed. Crusty as could be, he was one of the smartest and most well read men I have ever known.

How are you measuring the recognition it receives?

If you measure recognition by the degree of change DoD underwent after each; then Vietnam was our most significant war as it taught us to abandon the 3rd world conscription based armed services to a real Professional Army.

That was a long-term game-changer that tilted the balance of conventional warfare back towards our side.

My other metric is food: WWII Pacific featured Japan, who has outstanding food. Vietnam has legendary food, easily the best cuisine in their part of the world. Korean food is tasty, obviously of high quality. But compared to Pho or Sushi, the Koreans are a great disadvantage as they lots of great foods but no signature dish like the others and are simply outshined.

We’re fighting the Karen war right now

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The Turk said it was kind of their religion if the knife comes out it has to have blood on it before he could holster it back

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Like a Fremen of Arrakis.

My wife's uncle was awarded a purple heart, bronze star, and silver star for his actions in Korea.

He never talked to anyone about his time in the war. A couple of years before he died, I went to check on him. He was sitting on his front porch, and when I sat next to him he out of the blue opened up to me about the war; what he did, what he saw, and how he earned his medals.

He never spoke of it again, but I was honored that he told me.

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Private First Class John *****, Field Artillery, United States Army, a member of Battery B, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, 24th Infantry Division, is awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action on 16 July 1950 near Yongdong, Korea. The enemy had penetrated front line units and were attacking the battery’s positions. PFC ****, a battery cook, joined a 105 howitzer section which was firing on the enemy from the battery’s exposed flank. While serving this howitzer in direct fire he was wounded twice by small arms fire. At one time the howitzer received a direct hit and wounded three men serving the howitzer. With utter disregard of his own personal safety, PFC **** continued loading and firing the howitzer by himself until the enemy infantry was finally driven from the battery’s exposed flank. The act of gallantry displayed by PFC **** reflects great credit on himself and the military service. GO 82, 10 Aug 1950. Entered service from New Orleans, LA.

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