Monument honors 36,591 fallen U.S. veterans in Korean War

A memorial inscribed with the names of 36,591 U.S. fallen veterans in the 1950 Korean War was put up on Thursday (local time) at Hillcrest Park located in Fullerton, California.

Five star-shaped columns 1.5 meters high and 2.5 meters wide have 7,500 names of war veterans inscribed on each of all the 10 sides in alphabetical order of their states of origin. It is the first ever memorial in the United States with the country’s fallen heroes in the Korean War, according to the South Korean Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

The South Korean government and the local Korean community in Orange County made contributions to the monument project. Other than 30 percent of a total of 720,000 dollars in building budget paid by the South Korean ministry, the Orange County Korean War Memorial Committee has since 2010 mounted a fund-raising campaign with U.S.-residing Koreans to cover the rest of the cost.

The completion ceremony at Hillcrest Park on Thursday afternoon was attended by Fullerton Mayor Bruce Whitaker, ROK-US Combined Forces Command Commander Walter L. Sharp, Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation President Jung Seung-jo, U.S. federal and state members and war veterans. Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles Park Kyung-jae read a message on behalf of South Korean President Moon Jae-in to celebrate the establishment of the monument. A congratulatory message from U.S. President Joe Biden was delivered to the committee, reported the ministry.

Nov. 11 is commemorated in South Korea to honor U.N. veterans of the Korean War while Veterans Day is observed on the same date in the United States.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com