'Forgotten War'and warriors

By Yi Woo-won

Recently, I became aware of a unique social campaign titled #6037 Campaign that was currently under way in Chilgok County where I live. I soon realized that it was the number of Ethiopian soldiers who had participated in the Korean War 70 years ago. They arrived in Korea in May 1951 after sailing for two months. The Ethiopian troops suffered 122 killed, 536 wounded and bravely none captured in the war. 138 veterans are still alive today.

The idea of the campaign was born when Paek Seon-ki, mayor of Chilgok County and Melese Tessema, 90, chairman of the Korean War Veterans of Ethiopia, started exchanging mails from March this year. This was when Paek came to realize that the majority of the veterans there could not afford to buy a regular face mask.

In addition to the masks, young students in and beyond the county sent 700 handwritten letters to the elderly-veterans, written in English, Korean and even Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia), probably via an electronic translation device.

The Korean War broke out in the predawn hours of June 25, 1950, when the communist North Korean troops launched a sudden, unprovoked attack against the Republic of Korea. They stormed across the 38th parallel with a large number of Russian made T-34 tanks. The unprepared South Korean troops were outnumbered and outgunned and proved no match. We had no tanks or warplanes.

Seoul fell to the Communists three days after the invasion and they kept marching swiftly down to the south. They were unchecked until they reached the Nakdong River near the city of Daegu. By September 1950, the communists held most of the peninsula except the Busan Perimeter in the south. The government of South Korea was forced to move to the city of Busan on the south coast.

Because of the urgent situation, the Republic of Korea (ROK) had to appeal to the United Nations. Then the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed a resolution, ordering the North Korean troops to withdraw to the 38th parallel and also encouraged member nations to give military support to the ROK. In response, 22 member nations joined in the war, of which 16 countries participated with combat troops of varying numbers and 6 countries provided medical services.

On Sept. 15, 1950, Gen. MacArthur commanded the surprise amphibious landing at Incheon behind enemy lines. The operation, which involved 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, was a turning point in the war and led to the recapture of Seoul two weeks later. Our allied forces kept charging to the north and reached the 38th parallel by September's end. Then in October 1950, some United Nations forces were approaching the Yalu River and it seemed the war would soon end with a victory for the South ― or the UN.

However, on Oct 25, 1950, Communist Chinese forces intervened in the war in so-called human waves. The U.N. allied forces were compelled to strategically retreat to the south and Seoul once again fell into the hands of the communists on Jan 4, 1951. Nevertheless, the allied forces regrouped and launched another major counterattack and retook Seoul on March 12, 1951, pushing back the Chinese and North Koreans across the 38th parallel.

Then, by the summer of 1951, both sides had settled down roughly along the lines where they had been at the beginning of the war. At this point, Russia called for a truce negotiation. The truce talks dragged on for over a year before an agreement was finally reached on July 27, 1953.

The United Nations Memorial Cemetery is located in Busan, South Korea. It was established in January 1951 and was dedicated to the victims of the Korean War. The cemetery contains 2,300 graves of service members from 11 countries; 36 are from the United States. They were brave soldiers of the United Nations peace troops who gave their lives while fighting to defend South Korea, a country which was unheard of or unfamiliar to them when they left home. The cemetery is the only one of its kind in the world, because the Korean War was the first war in which the United Nations committed military power.

The people of South Korea will and should be eternally grateful to those heroic warriors of the United Nations during the war. Without their sacrifices, South Korea wouldn't be what it is today, a free, democratic and prosperous nation that has grown from a poor beneficiary in 1950 to a budding benefactor now. It is our time to return the favor.

The writer (yiwoowon1988@gmail.com

) taught Korean Language and Korean Life and Culture at the University of Maryland in 1970-1980 and at U.S. Army installations in Daegu and Waegwan.