Korea: Remembering the start of our "forgotten" war

At Chariton's Veterans Memorial Park

Eleven years ago, the Moving Wall --- a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. --- was brought to the Round Barn Site just east of Allerton in Wayne County. I drove down to see it, then went back on Saturday afternoon for a commemorative program.

The speaker, as it turned out, was lamentable --- a self-styled chaplain and alleged counselor who seemed fixated on mythical Buddhist curses that supposedly had affected the outcome of the war.

But he did do one memorable thing.

As the program opened, he first asked World War II veterans to stand, and some did; then Vietnam veterans --- and we did, too. Next he recognized Gulf War veterans; finally, active duty personnel.

As he was preparing to move on, a lone voice sounded behind me --- "What about Korea?"

The whole thing kind of summed up the nation's collective memory of Korea, sometimes described as America's forgotten war.

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For those who keep track of such things, today --- June 25, 2020 --- is the 70th anniversary if the date when North Korean forces, backed by the Soviet Union and China, crossed the 38th Parallel and advanced into South Korea. The United Nations Security Council immediately authorized the formation of the United Nations Command and dispatched forces to repel invading troops. Although 21 nations eventually contributed to the force, the United State provided 90 percent of the military personnel.

The fighting did not end until July 27, 1953, when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, creating the Demilitarized Zone that still divides North and South. No peace treaty ever has been signed and a state of war remains frozen in place, technically at least.

An estimated three million civilians and military personnel died in the war, including roughly 37,000 Americans of the 1.8 million U.S. troops who served. An estimated 85,000 Iowans served and 508 died.

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Nine young men who either were native to Lucas County or who had close ties to it died in that war, and it's appropriate today to remember them.

U.S. Army Private Donald Lee Halferty, only 17, Co. C, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, killed Aug. 6, 1950, at Naktong Bulge, was the first from Lucas County to die.

U.S. Army Sergeant First Class George Musick, age 33, Co. H, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was killed in action on Sept. 3, 1950, at Yongsan. He was a World War II veteran who had re-enlisted just two months before his death. His remains have not been recovered.

U.S. Army Corporal Elmer A. Rowe, age 20, Co. F., 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was killed in combat on Aug. 12, 1950. His remains, too, remain unrecovered.

U.S. Army Private First Class Lyle R. Shelton, age 20, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was critically injured in combat on Nov. 26, 1950, in the vicinity of the Chongchon River and died of his wounds Nov. 27.

U.S. Army Master Sergeant Manuel J. Spoon, age 32, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, was captured in combat in the vicinity of Kunu-Ri Gauntlet, North Korea, on Nov. 30, 1950. He died in enemy hands five months later, on April 30, 1951, although his family did not learn that until August, 1953.

U.S. Army Corporal Roy R. Kirton, age 40, assigned to Service Battery, 39th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, was, like Manuel J. Spoon, captured in combat near the Kunu-Ri Gauntlet, North Korea, on Nov. 30, 1950. He died in enemy hands more than a year later, on Dec. 1, 1951. His remains have never been recovered.

Sergeant Jerry Parker, 23, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, was captured in the vicinity of the Chongchon River on Nov. 26, 1950, the same day Lyle Shelton was killed there. He died in enemy hands on March 6, 1951.

U.S. Marine Corps Captain Alfred H. Agan, 32, Marine Fighter Squadron 212, 1st Marine Air Wing, was the pilot of a F4U-4 Corsair fighter deployed aboard the carrier USS Bataan. His aircraft was damaged by the explosion of its bombs on Jan. 20, 1951, and he crash landed it in the water a mile off shore and eleven miles south of Inchon and died in the water there of exposure.

Private Harold H. Thorne, 21, was assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, when he was killed in action on July 15, 1953, just days before the Armistice was signed.

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It's our obligation to honor these young men and all the others who died in that now long-ago war. They gave up their lives on our behalf as citizens of the United States of America and the least we can do is repeat their names and remember them.

Some years ago, I wrote and published a piece about the Lucas County nine. Among the comments on that piece was one from a citizen of South Korea who wrote, "Thank you for saving Korea. We will never forget."

The fact that South Korea remains as a free and democratic nation is their legacy.

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I'm cheating a little. There will be a brief  program at 8 a.m. today at Veterans Memorial Park in Chariton to commemorate those who served and died. I'll be saying the same thing written here, more or less, then and there.