Local Korean War Vets "No Longer Forgotten"

The 1950s-era Korean conflict may be called America's "Forgotten War," but a new memorial unveiled Saturday will serve as a permanent reminder to current and future generations of those who fought and died.

Hundreds gathered Saturday at Conestee Park just outside Mauldin to dedicate a new Korean War memorial honoring those men and women who served, including the more than 6,000 Greenville County vets now in their 70's and 80's known to still be living.

The war was known as the forgotten war both for the lack of attention it received during and after the conflict, and for being lost amid the sheer global scale of World War II that preceded it, and the great turmoil and angst generated by the Vietnam War that came after.

The memorial, spearheaded by The Korean War Veterans Association, Foothills Chapter of SC #301, is meant not so much for those who served, but for those who know little or nothing about the war, memorial committee chairman Lew Perry told Patch. 

"We are no longer forgotten here," said Perry, who entered the war in 1952 and served in the Navy aboard the destroyer USS Lowry. "[This] means something more for the young people, their families and young children, than it does to us. We've been there, done that, and we want the young children and the young families to know what it was like over there. They're not learning it in school, but they'll have a monument here they'll love to come and visit."

According to data from the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States suffered 33,686 battle deaths in the bloody and brutal war, along with 2,830 non-battle deaths and 8,176 missing in action.

The memorial also includes an Honors Walkway of engraved memory bricks. New bricks may still be purchased from any member at $50 for a single brick and $75 for a double brick. For more information, or for a brick form by mail, contact Perry at 864-574-5569.

Check out our photo gallery of the dedication ceremony above.