State Historical Society of Iowa
Several factors contributed to the Korean Conflict being called America's "Forgotten War." It never unified the country in its support the way World War II did. Americans were not asked to sacrifice through rationing and other programs. In World War II, defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan was the obvious goal. Korea was part of the Cold War global struggle against communism, but the United States was not directly fighting either the Soviet Union or China, its major proponents. American war aims in the Korean Conflict were not as clear. And the war never really ended. Neither side surrendered. A negotiated armistice established the 38th parallel as the dividing line between the two Koreas, just as it had been before the fighting commenced. The Korean peninsula was devastated. Was the cost of the war worth it?
The Korean peninsula off the east cost of Asia has had a long history of foreign invaders. In 1910, Japanese armies conquered Korea and occupied it until their defeat in 1945 at the end of World War II. During the war, several different nationalist factions fought against the Japanese for Korean independence. Some were supported by Communist China; others favored western democracy. In the last few months of World War II, the Soviet Union declared war against Japan and sent Russian soldiers into Korea. The U.S. made them stop their southern movement at the 38th parallel, and that line became the effective division between a communist North Korea and a western South Korea.
In 1950, after several border clashes near the dividing line, the North Korean army invaded the south and nearly occupied the entire peninsula. President Harry S. Truman and the West saw this act of aggression sponsored by the Soviet Union as part of a strategy for worldwide communist domination. Backed by a United Nations resolution condemning the invasion and building a military coalition led by the United States, Truman committed American forces to the defense of South Korea. The United Nations troops, under General Douglas MacArthur, began rolling back the North Korean forces. Fearing the advance, Communist China sent thousands of troops to support North Korea and American forces were driven back. Truman wanted to avoid an all-out war with China. MacArthur publicly disagreed and advocated bombing the Chinese. Truman fired the popular general who returned to the U.S and began a speaking tour attacking the president's policies as weak. In 1952, General Dwight Eisenhower was elected president, and he made a secret trip to Korea to help bring about an armistice in 1953 that ended the fighting. A strip of land at the 38th parallel was declared a "demilitarized zone" but both sides established heavy defenses along its border.
Counting civilian casualties, an estimated 2,800,000 people lost their lives in the Korean Conflict. American losses totaled 33,741. Of those, approximately 580 were from Iowa. In 1995, the United States dedicated a memorial on the Capitol grounds to those who served in the Korean War. Iowa had dedicated its own Korean War memorial five years earlier. According to the Iowa government website:
"The drive for a Korean War monument began in November 1984, when students from a Harding Junior High School class in Des Moines wrote the governor, asking why Korean War veterans did not have a memorial. The Iowa monument, erected on a grassy area south of the Capitol, includes a 14-foot-tall central obelisk and eight 6-foot-tall tablets which tell the story of the Korean War utilizing words, pictures, and maps of Korea engraved in granite. The monument was dedicated by Governor Terry Branstad on May 28, 1989."
| Korean War Source Set Teaching Guide |
| Printable Image and Document Guide |
At the end of World War II, several key world leaders got together to establish a new organization committed to preventing future world wars. In 1945, the United Nations was formed with 51 countries signing a charter that created the organization. At the ...
In this press release, President Truman announced that he was committing American forces to a combined United Nations military effort in Korea. The decision was made after war broke out along the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950. On that day, North Korean t...
The map, created by the US military a year before the invasion by the North. highlights suspected communist activities in South Korea. Activity highlighted by the map ranged from suspected guerrilla units of varying strengths to political and labor agitat...
Clifford Clark was special counsel to President Truman from 1946 to 1950. Clark played a central role in Truman's Presidential victory. In his letter to Truman, below, he praises the President for his actions and remarks on the start of the Korean con...
United Nations Security Council Resolutions 83 and 84 provided the international legal authority for member states to restore peace on the Korean Peninsula. The United States was designated as the leader of the unified command. This was the first time un...
This article is from the 1950 Pathfinder Magazine. It discusses the surprise attack on U.S. forces, and the entry of China as a military force on the side of the North Korean Army.
This photograph captured a grief stricken American infantryman whose fellow soldier has been killed in action and he was comforted by another soldier. In the background, a corpsman was methodically filling out casualty tags in the Haktong-ni area on Augus...
Landmines have been used in warfare for decades. The United States used M15 anti-tank mines for the first time in the Korean War. It was designed to be a "track breaker," causing a tank to no longer move but likely not killing the crew inside th...
In the image an American soldier loads an M16M1 cluster adapter at the Far Eastern Command FEC Printing Plant in Yokohama, Japan. The bomb type adapter contains 22,500 psychological warfare leaflets. The aim of psychological warfare, or psywar, is to gain...
Marine infantrymen in this photograph are shown taking cover behind a tank while it fires on Communist troops ahead near Hongcheon County on May 22, 1951. Five uniformed army soldiers are seen kneeling behind a tank and one man is seen coming out of the t...
After serving as a navigator in the Army Air Force in World War II, William Sinclair was contacted in 1947 about competing for a commission in the newly formed Air Force. He graduated in July 1949 from pilot training and 18 months later, he was off to ser...
Prisoners of war were taken by both sides in the Korean War. The United Nations set up several prison camps, with Goeje-do being the largest one. About 170,000 people were committed to United Nations camps, and 7,614 people died in those camps. Sixty-five...
Lowell Lein, U.S. Marines, Korea 1950-1951, gives a firsthand account of the battle of Inchon, South Korea. The Republic of Korea army was cornered near the town of Pusan with its back to the Sea of Japan. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of t...
Bob Gates, an Iowa native andmember of the U.S. Marines in Korea from 1950-1951, talks about his experience in the Korean conflict. Bob fought in three of the more infamous battles in Korea: The Punchbowl, Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge. Gates tells ab...
As a boy during World War II, James Miho and his family were interned as part of the Japanese-American evacuation. His older brother served as a military intelligence officer during the US occupation of Japan and in Korea, where he suffered fatal wounds. ...
After he enlisted in the Air Force and washed out of cadet training, Paul Bradley went to Officer Candidate School and trained to become a navigator and then a bombardier. In Korea, he rode in the nose of a B-26, mostly at night, "looking for targets...
This photograph shows an aerial view of the U.S.S. Iowa taken after battery gunfire aimed at Communist defenses near Koje, Korea. The USS Iowa was commissioned in 1943 and served until 1990. The Iowa sailed to the Korean peninsula in 1952, targeting North...
Iowa soldiers serving with the 3rd Division's "Rock of the Marne," are shown in this photograph sending a New Year's greeting from Korea in 1951. The 3rd Division's "Rock of the Marne" was known as a rapid-response unit and...
This photograph captured a grief stricken American infantryman whose fellow soldier has been killed in action and he was comforted by another soldier. In the background, a corpsman was methodically filling out casualty tags in the Haktong-ni area on Augus...
This photograph shows an aged Korean woman who paused in her search for salvageable materials among the ruins of Seoul, Korea. The photo was take on November 1, 1950, by Army Captain C. W. Huff.
Corporal Robert Tague of Fort Dodge and Sergeant John Brandenhorst of Oskaloosa posed in this photograph with hospital attendant F.E. Hodkinson of Des Moines at Naval Station Great Lakes' hospital in March 1951. Several Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals ...
This photograph shows a wounded Korean soldier in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) hospital being attended by a Red Cross worker from Burlington, Iowa, Mary Jane White. White wears a uniform with a Red Cross logo on the left sleeve. She is bent dow...
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy appointed a special subcommittee on October 6, 1953, to investigate the war crimes committed by Communist forces in Korea with the purpose of bringing them to the world's attention. The Korean War Atrocities report, which...
Korean War Marine veteran Arthur Gentry recalls when he and approximately 5,000 soldiers were evacuated out of Korea near Hamhŭng (Hamheung). He remembers that about 100,000 North Korean refugees were also evacuated, and singing the Marine Corps Hymn as ...
Napalm is a weapon that often is associated with the Vietnam War, but it was also used in Korea. In total, the US used 32,000 tons of napalm, often with devastating consequences for civilians.. During prisoner interrogations, North Korean soldiers stated ...
The Korean War was the first proxy war of the Cold War era. North Korea's initial offensive was backed by the Soviet Union. When the US-led UN troops halted North Korea's advance and pushed North Korean troops back to the Chinese border, Communist...
This CRS report provides estimates of the costs of major U.S. wars from the American Revolution through current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It presents figures both in "current year dollars," that is, in prices in effect at th...
Marines of the First Marine Division are shown in this photograph paying their respects to fallen comrades during memorial services at the division's cemetery at Hamhung, Korea, following the break-out from Chosin Reservoir on December 13, 1950. A tot...
On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, creating the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. The order mandated the desegregation of the U.S. military, however, the 24th Infan...
The source shows General MacArthur's homecoming after being fired from command by President Truman on April 11th. He was fired because he refused to follow the orders of Truman, his Commander in Chief. .MacArthur wanted to invade China, but Truman'...
General W. K. Harrison, Jr., is shown in this photograph signing armistice ending the three-year Korean conflict. Harrison is at the left table, while North Korean General Nam Il is at the right table. According to the National Archives, 158 meetings happ...
During his campaign for president, Eisenhower pledged to go to Korea, although he never specified or promised what the outcome would be. President Eisenhower went to Korea in December of 1952, and by this point the majority of citizens polled believed the...
Early in the Korean War then President Truman wanted to keep the US involvement on a small scale. While the US felt it had an obligation to South Korea and the majority of the public initially supported the war due to the North's actions, thishe lette...
Bell v. United States was a lawsuit reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the case, veterans of the Korean War were suing the U.S. government for denying them pay while they were in a Prisoner of War (POW) camp in North Korea as well as after their relea...
This article and photograph were published on May 17, 1989, in The Des Moines Register. They focused on the newly-installed Korean War Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the Iowa Capitol.
Visitors to the Korean War Memorial experience a memorial rich in symbolism. Walking uphill represents mountainous terrain, and the ground cover around the statues represents the rough terrain. Among the ground cover are granite slabs that represent rice ...
This informative and concise fact sheet tells of the symbolism, history and features of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Initiated by a letter to Governor Terry Branstad, students at Washington Irving Junior High School launched a campaign to fundraise for and create a memorial to Korean War Veterans on the Iowa Capitol grounds. Their goal was to raise $85,314 - $1 for each...
This is a 2010 report by the Congressional Research Service that provides estimates of the costs of major U.S. wars from the American Revolution through current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The first video from Iowa PBS is just four-and-a-half minutes long and provides a brief look at the soldiers from Iowa who served in Korea. The second is a 57-minute documentary of Korean War veterans from Iowa who share their experiences on the battlefield.
The first video from Iowa PBS is just four-and-a-half minutes long and provides a brief look at the soldiers from Iowa who served in Korea. The second is a 57-minute documentary of Korean War veterans from Iowa who share their experiences on the battlefield.
These images show area of light in South Korea and darkness in North Korea at night.
This online document is a detailed summary of Korean War casualties, updated as of May 16, 2008. The casualties are categorized between the Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy.
This online project is a developing website that houses multiple videos and tagged clips of veterans telling their experiences from the Korean War.
Explore the origins and outcomes of the Korean War, the challenges that soldiers faced and its rich legacy exemplified by the democratization and rapid economic development of South Korea.
This webpage from the Veterans History Project includes a small gallery of photographs of Korea War veteran Regina H. Schiffman, who served as a nurse during the war.
This exhibition presents both iconic and recently discovered National Archives records related to 12 critical episodes in the Vietnam War.
This online resource includes a brief history of the Iowa National Guard in the context of the Korean War.
This is a useful video (2:25 minutes) that provides an overview of the United Nations for kids.
This photograph shows the United Nations' prisoner of war camp at Pusan. The camp contains both North Korean and Chinese Communist prisoners.
Take a virtual tour of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to learn more about The Wall and all of the elements that make up the memorial.
This 28-minute video from the Korean War Legacy Foundation is a detailed look at the 24th Infantry Division as they serve in Korea.
Published by Bloomberg Politics, this article looks at how North Koreans are still finding anti-tank mines that were left in the ground, undeployed from the war.
This is a 2017 retrospective look at the Korean War and its impact. The photos and text tell the story from the perspective of both U.S. veterans who served in the conflict, and the South Koreans who prospered from the freedom left in their wake.
Korean War Memorial by Jennifer BurrowsThis is a 2010 book that tells about the creation and purpose of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Remembering Korea: The Korean War Veterans Memorial by Brent AshabrannerReaders are given an in-depth tour of this national monument through profiles of important figures, an examination of its planning and creation and an overview of the history of the war that claimed 35,000 American lives in this 2001 book.
Listed below are the Iowa Core Social Studies content anchor standards that are best reflected in this source set. The content standards applied to this set are elementary-age level and encompass the key disciplines that make up social studies for students 9th through 12th grade.
| No. | Standard Description |
| SS-US.9-12.20. | Analyze the growth of and challenges to U.S. involvement in the world in the post-World War II era. |
| SS-US.9-12.26. | Determine multiple and complex causes and effects of historical events in American history including, but not limited to, the Civil War, World War I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. |
| SS-WH.9-12.18. | Assess impact of conflict and diplomacy on international relations. |
| SS-Geo.9-12.23. | Analyze the consequences of human-made and natural catastrophes on global trade, politics, and human migration. |
| SS-Soc.9-12.14. | Identify characteristics of groups, and the influences that groups and individuals have on each other. |
| SS-Psy.9-12.14. | Examine how an individual's involvement in a collective group can influence their individual thoughts and behaviors. |
