Organizers, including memorial committee President James Ro, helped to select eight people to lead a campaign in South Korea. “It’s simply beautiful and meaningful looking at the rows of names and reflecting on the bravery of the men and women,” Whitaker said.įundraising for the memorial was a transpacific effort.
Nearly a quarter of the city’s more than 138,000 residents are of Asian descent, with an estimated 18,000 Korean Americans, according to Fullerton Mayor Bruce Whitaker. With an estimated 600,000 residents of Korean descent, Southern California has the largest Korean population outside South Korea.Īnd there were Fullerton’s many Korean American residents, some of whom settled there after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Kim donated $200,000 in seed money and recruited support both locally and from South Korea. The memorial, more than 10 years in the making, was the brainchild of Jin Oh Kim, a Korean American from Orange County who owned a wholesale shirt business. “All of us have so much appreciation for these heroes who didn’t even know where Korea was on a map when they went to defend our country,” said Sukhee Kang, 68, former mayor of Irvine and senior advisor for the Korean War Memorial Committee, which raised money for the memorial and designed it. The American and South Korean flags fly overhead, along with the California flag and an emblem representing prisoners of war and service members missing in action. The names were obtained from records at the United Nations Peace Memorial Hall in Busan, South Korea. Among them are 58 from Orange County and 2,612 from California, according to organizers. It is our duty to those who answered the call to remember their service and their sacrifice.Five star-shaped granite blocks contain the names of the fallen, grouped by home state. A conflict once regarded as ‘the forgotten war’ is an important part of Canada’s military history. “Each year, the roll call of surviving veterans gets shorter.
We also reflect on those who returned home with battle scars, both visible and invisible. “On this solemn day, we remember the 516 Canadians who lost their lives in defending peace and security for Korean civilians. “In the years following the armistice, about 7,000 Canadians served as peacekeepers on the Korean peninsula, helping to forge the strong bond that exists to this day between Canada and the Republic of Korea. The brutal fighting ended with an armistice on July 27, 1953. Members of the Canadian armed forces showed great bravery throughout the conflict, including at Hill 355 and the Battle of Kapyong. They endured heavy combat and terrible conditions. “Canadians joined allied nations under the United Nations flag to defend the sovereignty of South Korea. “Today is Korean War Veterans Day, a day to honour the service of more than 26,000 Canadians who answered the call on land, at sea and in the air during the Korean War.
Premier John Horgan has issued the following statement marking Korean War Veterans Day:
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