Korean War Veterans Memorial

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For California Korean War Veterans Memorial, see San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery.
Korean War Veterans Memo
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Korean War Veterans Memo
Location Washington, D.C., USA
Coordinates 38°53′16″N 77°2′50″W / 38.88778, -77.04722
Area 2.20 acres (8,900 m²)
Established July 27, 1995
Visitors 3,214,467 (in 2005)
Governing body National Park Service

The Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in Washington, D.C.'s West Potomac Park, southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and just south of the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.

Contents

[edit] Design and construction

The Memorial, showing the Pool of Remembrance.
The Memorial, showing the Pool of Remembrance.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial was authorized by the U.S. Congress (Public Law 99-572) on October 28, 1986,[1] with design and construction managed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board and the American Battle Monuments Commission. President George H. W. Bush conducted the groundbreaking for the Memorial on June 14, 1992, Flag Day. It was dedicated on July 27, 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the war, by President Bill Clinton and Kim Young Sam, President of the Republic of Korea, to the men and women who served during the conflict. Management of the memorial was turned over to the National Park Service, under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group. As with all National Park Service historic areas, the memorial was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the day of its dedication.

[edit] Memorial

An engraving showing the war dead.
An engraving showing the war dead.
One of the memorial's 19 statues.
One of the memorial's 19 statues.

The memorial is in the form of a triangle intersecting a circle. Within the triangle are 19 stainless steel statues designed by Frank Gaylord,[2] each larger than life-size (between 7 feet 3 inches and 7 feet 6 inches), representing a squad on patrol, 15 Army, 2 Marines, 1 Navy Corpsman, and 1 Air Force Forward Air Observer, dressed in full combat gear, dispersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes, representing the rugged terrain of Korea. To the north of the statues is a path, forming one side of the triangle, and behind, to the south, is a 164 foot long black granite wall, created by Louis Nelson, with photographic images sandblasted into it depicting soldiers, equipment and people involved in the war, forming the second side. The third side of the triangle, facing towards the Lincoln Memorial, is open.

To the north of the statues and path is the United Nations Wall, a low wall listing the 22 members of the United Nations that contributed troops or medical support to the Korean war effort.

The circle contains the Pool of Remembrance, a shallow 30-foot-diameter pool lined with black granite and surrounded by a grove of trees with benches. Inscriptions list the numbers killed, wounded, missing in action, and held as prisoners of war, and a nearby plaque in inscribed: "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met." Additionally, right next to the numbers of American soldiers are those of the United Nations troops in the same categories. In the south side of the memorial, there are three bushes of the Rose of Sharon hibiscus plant, South Korea's national flower.

A further granite wall bears the simple message, inlaid in silver: "Freedom Is Not Free".

[edit] Troop statistics

Engraved on granite blocks near the water pool at the east end of the monument are the casualty statistics for the soldiers who fought in the war.

  • Dead — United States: 54,246,[3] United Nations: 628,833
  • Wounded — United States: 103,284, United Nations: 1,644,453.
  • Captured — United States: 7,140, United Nations: 92,970.
  • Missing — United States: 8,177,[4] United Nations: 470,267.

[edit] Gallery

Statues at the memorial.

The Memorial from a different angle, with the photographic wall in the background.

Freedom is not free

An engraving showing the number captured in the war.

An engraving showing the number of missing in the war.

[edit] References

  1. ^ U.S. Corps of Engineers, Baltimore district
  2. ^ Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C
  3. ^ The ABMC (American Battlefield Monuments Commission) reports US military deaths World Wide during the Korean War from the period June 27, 1950 to July 27, 1954 as 54,246 dead which includes 8,196 MIA. The more commonly used number does not include many of these deaths and is 36,516.
  4. ^ 664 is the current number defined as of the end of the war.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Korean War Vererans Memorial, National Park Service leaflet, GPO:2204—304-337/00178
  • The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

[edit] External links

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Landmarks of Washington, D.C.

Adams Memorial (grave marker) · African American Civil War Memorial · Albert Einstein Memorial · District of Columbia War Memorial · Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial · George Mason Memorial · James A. Garfield Monument · Jefferson Memorial · Jefferson Pier · John Ericsson National Memorial · John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts · Korean War Veterans Memorial · Lincoln Memorial · Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac · National Japanese American Memorial To Patriotism During World War II · National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · National World War II Memorial · Navy-Marine Memorial · Oscar Straus Memorial · Outdoor sculpture in Washington, D.C. · Peace Monument · President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home · Robert A. Taft Memorial · The Extra Mile · The Three Soldiers · Theodore Roosevelt Island · Ulysses S. Grant Memorial · United States Navy Memorial · Victims of Communism Memorial · Vietnam Veterans Memorial · Vietnam Women's Memorial · Washington Monument · Women's Titanic Memorial · Zero Milestone