Today is the anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
And the Watkins-Logan Veterans home honored Korean Vets this morning.
As the colors are presented…
And the veterans gather…
Their thoughts go back in time…59 years ago…just 5 years after the end of the Second World War…when as young men, they were sent to another faraway place to fight and maybe, die.
59 years ago, on July 27, the 7th longest war in US history ended. The Korean War from 1950 to 1953. Americans fought there almost as long as they did in world War II, but for many today, it’s just a footnote in the cold war.
But for some men who live in this home behind me, it was life and death.
And today those vets were honored at a ceremony at the Watkins-Logan Veterans Home.
And as the speeches and presentations were made, they must have thought back to that cold peninsula nearly 2/3rds of a century ago.
As North Korea invaded the south, and the United Nations, led by the US, pushed them back.
Over 36,000 US soldiers were killed in the war that ended with an armistice on July 27th, 1953.
And today, they were all alive in the memories of men who were there…and remember.