KILLED IN KOREA: THE UNTOLD STORY
By Richard K. Kolb
Reprinted from the June/July
2000 issue of
VFW Magazine by permission
JUST
TAKE a look at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The number is engraved in stone:
54,246*. There is only one major
problem—nearly one-third of the Americans included in that figure did not die
in Korea!
As it turns out, of the 20,617 non-hostile
deaths originally attributed to Korea, only 3,262, or 16%, actually occurred in
the war. Some 17,355 of those deaths
occurred outside the war zone—anywhere from California to the
Mediterranean to the North Atlantic.
The vast majority—with the exception of 63 killed in shoot-downs by the
Soviets and Red Chinese—died in accidents.
"This is a mind-boggling figure!" wrote
VFW member Walter S. Larsen. "It is
about the equivalent of an entire full-strength U.S. Army infantry division of
that period. It is curious so many
non-battle deaths would go unnoticed by the press and the public for so many
years.
"Certainly, a further explanation by the
Department of Defense concerning these disastrous losses is in order. Maybe even before the press stumbles onto
this remarkable story!"
Marty
J. O’Brien of Augusta, Maine, readily agreed.
That’s why he started trying to get to the bottom of this vast
discrepancy years ago. He was puzzled
when he arrived at a breakdown of the numbers—all outside the Korean
theater of operations—killed: 6,977 soldiers, 5,586 airmen, 3,870 sailors and
922 Marines.
Burt Hagelin of Dover Foxcroft, Maine, and
a vet of Co. A, 9th Inf., 3rd Inf. Div., was on the same trail. These same numbers were supplied to him by
the Pentagon’s Manpower Management Information Division as early as Jan. 12,
1993. He even wrote a paper on
them.
In fact, the Pentagon published the
corrected figures (thanks to Hagelin), after new and reclassified numbers were
tabulated, in its Selected Manpower Statistics, Fiscal Year 1994 in
Table 2-23 on page 112. It provided a
precise breakdown of the 3,262 non-hostile deaths in Korea: Army=2,452;
Marines=339; Air Force=298; and Navy=173.
Yet according to the Army’s Office of the
Surgeon General, "no records exist" to verify non-hostile deaths sustained
elsewhere during the Korean War era.
Hagelin thinks a mistake was originally
made by the Pentagon. "Many Korean War
Veterans Association members wanted names on a wall," he said, "but the
government vehemently opposed engraving individual names. One wonders why."
The late Gen. R.G. Stilwell, the first
chairman of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board, made it a personal
crusade to get the record corrected. He
used all his influence to persuade the military branches to re-check the
numbers. One-third of the U.S. deaths
directly attributed to service in Korea were indeed sustained elsewhere in the
world.
Stilwell told this writer that he was
overjoyed that Reader’s Digest had consented to print a closer
estimation to the actual number in its July 1990 issue in the article "Veterans
of a Forgotten Victory" by Ralph Bennett.
Unfortunately, the general died before his personal project was
completed and several years prior to the memorial’s dedication.
Some argue that any uniformed American who
died during the entire era anywhere in the world should be included in a total
figure. That was appropriate for WWI
and WWII—conflicts in which troops were recruited specifically and exclusively
for those wars. However, a far more
fitting precedent was set by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which included only
Americans killed in the war zone.
Vietnam and Korea were wars fought within
distinct geographical parameters. While
they were waged, the Cold War against the Soviet Union and its proxies was
ongoing in Europe. Indeed, the Cold War
had several fronts, and America had to meet multiple and simultaneous global
military commitments. These other
fronts rate recognition, too.
During the Korean War era, only 1.6 million
Americans actually fought in the war zone.
More than 4 million more served world wide. That 73% majority, whether drafted or enlisted, was put into
uniform to combat communism in two distinct theaters—Asia and Europe.
Hundreds of thousands of GIs would have
served in Germany and other parts of Europe between 1950 and 1953 even if there
had not been a Korean War.
On March 12, 1947, America officially
declared "war" on Soviet Communist expansion in Europe. The Truman Doctrine proclaimed containment.
"Europe First" was the pillar of America’s
postwar defense strategy. The draft was
renewed on June 24, 1948—two full years before the Korean War erupted.
An army, four air forces and a fleet were
all mobilized to protect Europe. In 1951,
four Army divisions were sent to Germany to bolster NATO against a belligerent
Kremlin. By 1954, 352,644 U.S. troops
were stationed in Europe—50,000 more than were on the ground in Korea at war’s
end. All of these military moves would
have been made regardless of Korea.
Europe, indeed, was a separate confrontation from the one in Asia.
Some 1.7 million men were drafted during
the Korean War era, but many served outside of Korea in support of Cold War
objectives elsewhere or simply in defense of the nation.
A clear distinction was made between Korea
and other areas. That’s why a Korean
Service Medal (KSM) was awarded only to actual war vets and a National
Defense Service Medal to all others. If
an American who died would have qualified for a KSM, then obviously he should
be counted among the war’s casualties.
The massive movement of troops on an emergency basis, accelerated training and extended maneuvers created unlimited opportunities for lethal accidents—on the ground, on the sea and especially in the air. Significant numbers of these accidental deaths occurred in the European Theater thwarting Soviet communism.
Submerging and thus disguising their
deaths among others is an injustice.
The best way to honor their memories is to educate the public about
their service.
Their sacrifices are certainly worthy of
recognition—but for posterity sake it must be in a historically correct
context.
A memorial to all the Americans who died
during the Cold War—distinct from the Korean and Vietnam memorials—is the
answer. It would confirm in the
public’s mind that the Cold War was indeed real. And not a figment of the imagination as the politically correct
would have us believe.
Such a Cold War memorial would cover all
the other actions in which 357 Americans were killed in hostile situations, not
to mention tens of thousands in training, maneuvers and operational
missions. For accounting purposes, the
Cold War clearly deserves its own category.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial cast the
mold for casualty inclusion.
Recognizing that the death of an American in Germany was part of the
Cold War, its founders nonetheless realized that that loss could not
justifiably be attributed to the war in Vietnam. Like Korea, the mobilization during that era was worldwide.
If the Vietnam Memorial had included all
that era’s deaths, it would have an additional 19,644 soldier’s names on
it. According to the Pentagon’s Combat
Area Casualties Current File, 16,004 of these Army personnel died in the U.S.
and 2,329 in Germany from 1965 through 1975.
Once and for all, let’s set the record
straight: 36,913 Americans died in, over or offshore Korea during the
war, which lasted from June 25, 1950, until July 27, 1953 (the era extended to
Jan. 31, 1955, for VA benefits). Of
that number, 33,651 were killed as a result of hostile action; 3,262
died due to non-hostile causes such as accident and disease.
The least we can do for their legacy is to
ensure that their record of service and sacrifice is historically—if not
politically—correct. After 50 years,
it’s time.