Remembering Korean war vets

My Thoughts

Dr. Bill Atwood

(Updated: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 2:29 PM)

Tomorrow, June 25, will mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. On that day 60 years ago the military from the north invaded the southern territory of the country and the civil war began.

One week later the Americans came to offer their assistance. It wasn't until July 27, 1953 that the peace treaty was signed dividing the countries into two separate nations. The Americans are still there patrolling the borders to help preserve the peace and to stop a northern invasion.

It is called "The Forgotten War" because it came on the heels of WWII and our government wanted to refer to it as "A Police Action." Sorry; it was a war. When there are bullets being fired at any member of the military wearing the uniform of this great nation it is an act of war.

My father fought in WWII in some horrific battles, came home and then was called up as a Marine Corps reservist to go help out in Korea. He left the bottom layers of his feet in a boot frostbitten during that time in Korea.

He left many buddies in Korea because they died fighting that war. For 17 miserable days he and other guys in the First Marine Division fought the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. They were cut off and had to fend for themselves. Many call them the "Chosin Few." He never forgot the hellish experience.

We must never forget the brave deeds of the men who fought in Korea. We must never forget the men and women who ever fought for us, are fighting to protect us or will ever fight to protect us.

We need to learn from our history so we are not condemned to repeat it. If you try to end the war in a stalemate you either have to patrol a border until the stalemate is really over or be ready to fight the war again. Dictators can't be trusted so somebody has to stand the watch. It usually is the 19 or 20 year old out in the cold, away from home, doing that miserable duty because somebody wanted to end with a stalemate.

We are still dealing with a big-mouth, tin-horn dictatorship in North Korea who still feels empowered to rattle the world with threats of nuclear weapon development. Why shouldn't he? The United States has fallen for the idea of playing nice with these rascals.

Dictators are nothing but terrorists in palaces rather than caves. Reagan was right in that you can't negotiate with terrorists. We keep trying to play nice and after 60 years we are still worrying about North Korea.

We have Iran developing their atomic bombs and once they have them you better believe we will see them used. I can hear detractors already reminding me that the United States is the only country to ever use an atomic weapon on an enemy and so our hands are dirty. Sorry folks. It was quite different then.

An armed invasion of Japan would have resulted in the death of close to one million people. Most would have been Japanese but many would have been American servicemen. We did not set out to conquer the world with the threat of our new atomic weapon. The United States showed restraint.

We must remain vigilant to those who wish to destroy our way of life and we must not only stand ready to defend our nation we must be seen by our enemies that we will stand up to them. Teddy Roosevelt was right, "Speak softly, but carry a big stick."

Let's learn from history and let's work to make the world safer and better. But let's be sure to remember that it is the veteran who puts it on the line everyday to do the job. Never allow their actions, both on and off the battlefield, to ever be forgotten.

The Korean War may have become "The Forgotten War" to some but not to those who honor every day the actions of veterans who fought there from June 1950 until July 1953 and up to this very day.

It seems the only thing forgotten is to say thank you.

I promise to never forget.

Thank you Korean Veterans.