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thedrifter
06-24-05, 08:59 AM
Historic Inchon Landing Operation Commemorated
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter

Hundreds of supporters have come together to promote a project to commemorate the landing, on Sept. 15, 1950 in the country¡¯s western port city of Inchon during the 1950-53 Korean War.
About 200 members of a committee, tentatively named the ``Committee Calling for the Establishment of Incheon Landing Operation Commemoration Project,¡¯¡¯ held a promotion meeting at the Korea Press Center in downtown Seoul yesterday.

``Although only 55 years have passed since the war happened, many people seem to have already forgotten it,¡¯¡¯ said Lee Han-soo, former president of a vernacular newspaper Seoul Shinmun, in a speech during the meeting. ``We should not forget the past since it greatly contributed to the establishment of the democratic and liberal society we live in.¡¯¡¯

The committee plans to have its inauguration ceremony on Sept. 15, marking the anniversary of the historic landing operation in the port city, which dramatically turned the tide of the war, some 40 kilometers west of Seoul, committee members said.

It plans to set up a monument inscribed with the names of all participants in the landing operation, after establishing a Korean War memorial park somewhere in Inchon in the near future.

They said they will hold an international gathering by inviting former and incumbent military personnel from around the world, including Korean War veterans from 16 countries, which then comprised the United Nations allied forces.

Some 450 people active in all walks of life are collaborating to promote the project. Among those who attended yesterday¡¯s meeting were former Labor Minister Lee Hun-ki, Yoon Kook-byung, former president-publisher of The Korea Times, and Choi Dhong-hou. president of the University of Sejong Cyber.

The famous Inchon amphibious landing was staged by the South Korean and U.N. troops under U.S. General Douglas MacArthur.

With the landing, allied forces succeeded in regaining the capital Seoul from the Communist troops on Sept. 28, 1950.


Ellie

thedrifter
06-26-05, 06:30 AM
Korean War vets from five nations honored at Seoul
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By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, June 26, 2005

SEOUL - A group of Korean War veterans from five nations were honored during a ceremony Friday at The War Memorial of Korea.

The American, Dutch, Greek, Filipino and Turkish veterans and their family members entered the memorial's Hibiscus Room to a standing ovation for the event, sponsored by the Christian Council of Korea and the Korea Veterans Association. It was held just one day before the 55th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

Choi Sung-kyu, Christian Council president, welcomed the visitors, telling them 37,645 foreign soldiers were killed during fighting.

"Those war dead and foreign veterans left their loved ones and their hometowns to fight for Korea, which they never knew, and for a people they never heard [of] or met before," he said.

U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Leon J. LaPorte also spoke to the audience.

"On this special day, we honor those men and women who selflessly served in the name of peace and freedom," he said. "While their sacrifices serve as a poignant reminder that freedom is not free, they also encourage and inspire us.

"We must never forget those who gave their lives in the defense of liberty," he said. "We consider it our duty to preserve and to honor their memory."

Retired Army Col. Paul Sechusen and his wife, Delores, both 75, traveled from Culver City, Calif., as part of a group tour and to attend the ceremony.

Sechusen and his wife of 54 years were newlyweds when he received orders to report for combat duty on the Korean peninsula.

The main reason for coming back to Korea for the first time since the war, he said, was to see the incredible change. Plus, Delores said, she pushed him to return.

"It's amazing," he said of Seoul. "It's a whole different place."

He remembers burned-out buildings and shantytowns, a far stretch from the high-rise apartment towers and hustle and bustle of a city now ranked one of the world's most expensive in which to live.

Following a lunch, the veterans visited the hallway where the names of the U.N. forces killed in action are carved into the walls.

After a wreath-laying ceremony, they were treated to front-row seats to watch a South Korean Ministry of National Defense Honor Guard ceremony.

Ellie