WHAT HAPPENED ON NOV. 11, 2006
What does the "Forgotten War" mean to its veterans?

For the Korea “War” Veteran, absolutely nothing happened. This is not unusual. In fact it has been going on for 56 years. That’s 56 years of completely ignoring the sacrifice so many thousands of our best men gave their lives for. Korea has always been a sore subject. It was not long after WW11. It was “the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time”. Very few people had ever heard of Korea, much less find it on a map. The United States was on a roll after WW11. We were an unbeatable war machine. Well not really. We had no justifiable reason to get involved in this conflict, except we apparently thought it would be a pushover. Little by little we were forced to send more and more troops. As the war progressed against an enemy with limited equipment, no Navy, no Air Force, just a group of unimpressive individuals with AK-47s. As the situation deteriorated our military leaders became concerned about possible involvement by China and Russia. MaCarthur assured them there was no problem, not to worry. They were advised to push on with all deliberate speed to the Yalu. Unfortunately there were a few things to worry about. A half million Chinese troops stormed across the Yalu forcing our troops to immediately retreat. From there everything continued to deteriorate. Our aging B-29s were completely outclassed when swarms of 500 MPH cannon carrying MiG 15’s flown by senior Russian pilots ripped into their formations. Our immediate withdrawal was humiliating and costly as our leaders had underestimated the enemy capability. After the Chinese counteroffensive we decided maybe we should try to talk them into some sort of settlement. Yes, we were beaten by superior forces, but think what could have been if China had proceeded with all of it’s forces. A total disaster was avoided.

So the Korea War was hard for the United States to swallow. The best thing to do was completely deny our loss, and then forget about it.how nice! Forget about the thousands of our best men who gave their lives for what? This “incident” became known as “the forgotten war”. No one ever thanked me for my participation, not that I wanted it. Through the years our Korea Veterans have been completely ignored. So on Veterans Day, November 11, 2006, I searched the newspaper and was not surprised to find no mention of the war in Korea. Our veterans have been ignored for 56 years. Like WW11 Veterans our Korea Veterans are aging. It’s hard to take, but after that many years you get accustomed to it. So what happened on Nov. 11 for Korea Veterans? Once again, nothing.