[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 120 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S10578]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      KOREAN WAR VETERANS MEMORIAL

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the 5.7 
million service men and women who served our Nation during the Korean 
war. All too often, these individuals have been America's forgotten 
soldiers, having fought and died in what has been called the forgotten 
war.
  With the dedication of the National Korean War Memorial on July 27, 
here in Washington, DC, the memory of the supreme effort that so many 
made will now be honored by future generations. Though we will never be 
able to express in mere words or stone the greatness of the deeds 
performed by our veterans in that war, the memorial will at least keep 
fresh the memories of our fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, and 
brothers and sisters who made the greatest of all sacrifices in that 
far-off land.
  Today, over 37,000 veterans from the Korean war reside in West 
Virginia. One of those 37,000 is my friend Edmund Reel. I want to tell 
you his story because his experiences and actions speak far more 
eloquently about him and his fellow veterans than I could hope to.
  Edmund is from Moorefield, WV, where he is a retired command sergeant 
major after 28 years of service. He devotes all of his free time to 
major veterans' groups, helping his former comrades in arms.
   Edmund arrived in Korea on August 25, 1950. Serving in Company M of 
the 8th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry, he saw action from Taegu to the 
Yalu. On November 1, he was captured by the Chinese. For the next 34 
months, Edmund was a prisoner of war. Shuffled between North Korean and 
Chinese prison camps, he was subject to torture, hard labor, 
starvation, and constant beatings. Edmund remembers that one time, 
during a particularly brutal winter day, he was forced to stand on a 
hill for hours with a heavy rock above his head. During a day of hard 
labor, he fell in a deep hole, fracturing his back. North Korean 
officers offered him medical care if he would convert to communism and 
be used as a propaganda tool. Edmund refused. Though his body was 
broken, his will would never be. Despite his injury, Edmund was forced 
to continue hard labor, cutting logs and building bomb shelters. Many 
of Edmund's buddies never got out of those prison camps. He saw them 
die, as many as 35 a day, from starvation and sickness.
  On August 24, 1953, Edmund was released and was soon headed home to 
the States and West Virginia.
  His story is just one of many that make up the history of the 
American experience in Korea. He, like so many others, was sent to that 
distant country, joining with other soldiers from other allied nations 
in fighting a common, merciless aggressor. They knew the justness of 
their cause, democracy against totalitarianism.
  The debt we owe to our Korean war veterans, like the veterans of 
other wars, is immeasurable. The memories of those young soldiers, 
sailors, and airmen who gave, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, that 
``last full measure of devotion,'' remain etched in our minds. Places 
such as Heartbreak Ridge, Inchon, and Chipyong-ni will forever be 
hallowed ground where Americans gave their lives for freedom. They 
sacrificed so that a people they did not even know might remain free. 
In doing so, they ennobled themselves and our Nation. Those living and 
dead of the Korean war will always serve as examples of true 
Americans.


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