Introduction
The UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea honors UN soldiers from 16 countries and UN aids from five countries that were killed during the Korean War from 1950-1953. 36, 492 American soldiers are among those who died. This serene park spreads across a grassy plain area of 135,000 square meters. The citizens of Busan dedicated the Main Gate in 1966. There are many annual events held here such as April’s Tributary Ceremony of the Veterans of the Korean War, May’s American Memorial Day, June’s Korean Memorial Day, and October’s UN Ceremony Day.
During the Korean war many temporary cemeteries had to be established. These were first created by the United Nations forces near towns of Taejon, Kwan-ui, Kum-chon, and Sindong. As battletlines moved, some cemeteries had to be abandoned and new ones constructed. Eventually construction of a permanent location began in 1951 at Tanggok.
Following the armistice in July 1953 the United Nations started to recover more bodies including an exchange of remains with North Korea resulting in 4, 219 remains recovered. It was officially established as the United Nations Memorial Cemetery on December 15, 1955.
The cemetery contains the bodies of 2,300 men from Australia (281), Canada (378), France (44), the Netherlands (117), New Zealand (34), Norway (1), South Korea (36), South Africa (11), Turkey (462), the United Kingdom (885), and the United States of America (36), as well as unknown allied soldiers (4) and non-belligerents (11). Additionally, there is a stone memorial with bronze panels erected to commemorate Commonwealth soldiers who died and whose burial places are unknown.
General Richard S. Whitcomb : Served in WWII and was afterward promoted to Brigadier General, serving in the Philippines as a port commander. During the Korean War, Gen. Whitcomb commanded the Korean Base Section. He led the relief and reconstruction effort after a large fire which displaced 30,000 people. He spearheaded an effort to get the Korean people back on their feet after the war large fire which had the people in a deep economic depression.
He violated military law by distributing military supplies to the Korean people. He was summoned to court, facing military imprisonment, and was later released. He is quoted saying,
“War is not done by guns and swords and it remains undone unless it is done for the sake of the people in the country”.
He even encouraged his officers to give 1% of their pay to the construction of hospitals in Busan. He had a such a passion for Korea that upon retirement he went back to Korea where he married and continued to work for the good of the Korean people. His legacy was to recover the remains of those soldiers who were never returned from the battlefield. At his passing, he was given a ceremony and final resting place at the UN Cemetery.
This video is a brief synopsis of his accomplishments and life in Korea.
2019 UND STUDY ABROAD IN SOUTH KOREA 