The Korean War Veterans Memorial was authorized by Public Law 99-572 on Oct. 28, 1986 "…to honor members of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Korean War, particularly those who were killed in action, are still missing inaction, or were held as prisoners of war." The law established an advisory board of 12 veterans appointed by the president to coordinate all aspects of the memorial’s construction. The site is located adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial directly across the reflecting pool from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The American Battle Monuments Commission managed the project and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided assistance. The architect of record is Cooper Lecky Architects. President Bill Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young Sam dedicated the memorial on July 27, 1995. Since the dedication several modifications have been incorporated: a kiosk to provide shelter for National Park Service personnel and a computer system with data housing the "Honor Role," which was accessible to the public. Correcting accessibility issues and replacement of the lighting in the statuary and along the mural wall with a state-of-the-art fiber optic system were required. Reconstruction of the pool and tree grove by the National Park Service and Corps of Engineers to improve tree maintenance and operate the reflecting pool was completed in July 1999. The overall cost for the design and construction of the memorial and kiosk was $16.5 million.

There are 19 statues sculpted by Frank Gaylord of Barre, Vt., and cast by Tallix Foundries of Beacon, N.Y. They are approximately 7’3" tall, heroic scale and consist of 14 Army, 3 Marines, 1 Navy, 1 Air Force. They represent an ethnic cross section of America with 12 Caucasian, 3 African American, 2 Hispanic, 1 Oriental, 1 Indian (Native American).

The juniper bushes are meant to be symbolic of the rough terrain encountered in Korea, and the granite stripes of the obstacles overcome in war. The Marines in column have the helmet chin straps fastened and helmet covers. Three of the Army statues are wearing paratrooper boots and all equipment is authentic from the Korean War era (when the war started most of the equipment was WWII issue).

Three of the statues are in the woods, so if you are at the flagpole looking through the troops, you can't tell how many there are, and could be legions emerging from the woods. The statues are made of stainless steel, a reflective material that when seen in bright sunlight causes the figures to come to life. The blowing ponchos give motion to the column, so you can feel them walking up the hill with the cold winter wind at their backs, talking to one another. At nighttime the fronts of the statues are illuminated with a special white light; the finer details of the sculpture are clearly seen and the ghosts appear.

Position	Service	Duty	Race	Weapon
1	Army	Lead Scout	Caucasian	M-1 Garand Rifle
2	Army	Scout	Caucasian	M-1 Garand Rifle
3	Army	Squad Leader	Caucasian	M-1 Garand Rifle
4	Army	BAR Gunner	Afro-American	BAR
5	Army	BAR Assistant Gunner	Caucasian	M-1/2 Carbine
6	Army	Rifleman	Afro-American	M-1 Garand Rifle
7	Army	Group Leader	Caucasian	M-1/2 Carbine
8	Army	Radio Operator	Caucasian	M-1/2 Carbine
9	Navy	Medical Corpsman	Hispanic	None
10	Army	Army Fwd Observer	Caucasian	M-1/2Carbine
11	USAF	Air-Ground Controller	Caucasian	M-1/2Carbine
12	USMC	Gunner	Caucasian	Machine Gun
13	USMC	Assistant Gunner	Caucasian	Tripod
14	USMC	Medical Corpsman	Afro-American	None
15	Army	Rifleman	Asian-American	M-1 Garand Rifle
16	Army	Rifleman	Caucasian	M-1 Garand Rifle
17	Army	Assistant Group Leader	Caucasian	M-1 Garand Rifle
18	Army	Rifleman	Hispanic	M-1 Garand Rifle
19	Army	Rifleman	American-Indian	M-1 Garand Rifle

Mural Wall:

The Mural Wall was designed by Louis Nelson of New York, N.Y., and fabricated by Cold Spring Granite Company, Cold Spring, Min. The wall consists of 41 panels extending 164 feet. Over 15,000 photographs of the Korean War were obtained from the National Archives to create the mural. The photographs were enhanced by computer to develop a uniform lighting effect and size, and to create a mural with over 2,400 images. The mural depicts Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel and their equipment. The etchings are arranged to give a wavy appearance in harmony with the layout of the statues. The reflective quality of the Academy Black Granite creates the image of a total 38 statues, symbolic of the 38th Parallel and the 38 months of the war. When viewed from afar, it also creates the appearance of the mountain ranges of Korea. It is organized by service as shown below:

Upon close inspection, you will see that all of the images look straight out from the wall over the platoon of statues; the soldiers they were there to support.

Also shown are U.S. Navy air evacuation, hospital ships, iron lung, air landing officer, Corsair pilots, submarines, Seabees, landing forces, ships: APA's, AKA's, LC1's, LCVP's.

Also shown are POW handing, traffic control, military police, Red Cross, canine corps, KATUSA's (Koreans attached to the U.S. Army), photographers, reporters and a shrine.

Hibiscus Plantings:

To the south of the Memorial are three beds of Rose of Sharon hibiscus plants. This plant is the national flower of South Korea.

Honoring the dead, the missing the POW's and the wounded from the U.S. and UN Forces...statistics engraved in stone...walk out into the pool area on a peninsula symbolic of Republic of Korea, which is a peninsula.

Twenty-two nations responded to the UN call to defend freedom and repel the communist aggression...names of all nations are engraved on the curb stone along the north entrance. Seventeen nations provided combat units, five provided medical support.

The Honor Roll contains all verifiable names of those on active duty who were killed in action, still listed as missing in action, and captured as prisoners of war in the Korean War (these names come from the National Archives, DoD and relatives). Those who died elsewhere in the in service to their country in the cause of freedom during the Korean War, June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, will also be included if family and friends so request and have verifiable data.

On June 25, 1950, the North Korean offensive started from four locations across the 38th parallel into South Korea. In 41 days the South Korean and American forces would be driven back into the Pusan perimeter, just a few miles from the southern shore of the tip of South Korea. In August reinforcements from the Eighth Army and Marine Corps would arrive.

By the end of September the Eighth Army would break out of the Pusan perimeter while Infantry and Marine Corps landed at Inchon and liberated Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

Three months later Marines, forward details from the Army and other British, French, Turkish, South Korean and other United Nations forces would stand at the Yalu River, the border between Korea and China, thinking the war was nearly over.  Soon after reaching the border, a force of 300,000 Chinese troops who had moved into North Korea during the UN advance and concealed themselves in the mountainous terrain, attacked the UN forces from the rear. The UN forces would soon be fighting their way back to the coast to be taken off by the Navy or to secure positions in the south. The next 2½ years of the conflict would become trench warfare or battles for hilltops fought back and forth across the 38^th parallel.

During the war several decisions were made that would set the course of World history. Prior to the conflict America was disarming from World War II, ignoring the communist threat. After the North Korean invasion, President Truman set the doctrine that no country would fall to communism. It marked the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and established our industrial base for the next 50 years.

Message: "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE"...Takes legions of men and women who fight a war against oppression...a memorial of faces, complimenting the memorial of names across the reflecting pool...