[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 123 (Thursday, July 27, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10783-S10785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               KOREAN WAR

  Mr. GLENN. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business 
for 6 or 7 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GLENN. Mr. President, we just came back from the dedication of 
the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and I just want to say a few words 
about that. It has been a long time since 1986 when we started this 
effort. A lot of people were involved; a lot of people worked very hard 
to see this memorial come to fruition.
  Korea was sort of the forgotten war. I think there were several 
reasons for that. It came so closely on the heels of World War II, 
which was a war with many nations involved, global in scope. Then, all 
at once, here we were involved in Korea. The area of conflict was more 
geographically limited. But what transpired within the borders of Korea 
was every bit as violent as anything that happened anywhere in the 
world in World War II.
  Now, I think it is a shame after the war--I always have felt this way 
after a war when people come back. When you leave for the war bands are 
playing, you are off for freedom, this sort of thing. When you come 
back, sometimes the band is playing and the talk about freedom and 
protecting freedom is there, it is true. But when you are out there and 
you are in combat, the whole horizon of the world narrows down. And it 
is you and the people you are with in combat, its survival, and you 
take losses. Then you come back. Yes, it is ``thank you'' a little bit. 
But then it is sort of forgotten.
  I think that was particularly true in Korea. Korea became the 
forgotten war, largely because it came so closely on the heels of World 
War II. And because, a few years later, Vietnam became such a divisive 
war, attracting so much attention on the national scene that Korea was 
really that forgotten episode out there.
  I know it is not good to compare one war with another as far as 
losses go, not to those involved, whether families or friends, nor to 
the people who are out there getting shot at, wounded, and killed. I 
know you cannot compare one war with another and do it properly. But 
Korea, for the length of it, was one of the bloodiest wars that this 
Nation has ever fought. Vietnam was stretched out over a period of 
about 10 years. There were 58,000 Americans--58,000 Americans lost--
killed in Vietnam. In 3 years in Korea we lost 54,000 Americans--some 
of the bloodiest fighting that ever occurred.
  It was the Chosin Reservoir. In the annals of military history, 
particularly of the Marine Corps, Chosin Reservoir 

[[Page S 10784]]
and some of the things that happened there were almost unbelievable. 
Surrounded by 120,000 Chinese and North Korean troops, this small group 
of marines made their way out from the reservoir, bringing their dead 
along with them, piling in the back of the trucks, in the weapons 
carrier, and so on. They did not leave anybody up there.
  Yesterday, in my office, I had the honor of pinning a Purple Heart on 
a gentleman who had been bayoneted at Chosin Reservoir and came out--
they kept him on the hood of the vehicle to keep him warm. He got over 
to Japan and was in the hospital there. He never put in for the Purple 
Heart. His son wrote to me. We turned it over to the Marine Corps. They 
checked the records. Sure enough, no Purple Heart. Bayoneted 43 years 
ago, and I had the honor of pinning that Purple Heart on him in my 
office yesterday.
  One of the things irritating to me is that, when people go out and 
fight a war, and they come back and want to have a memorial so somebody 
remembers down the road, they have to raise the money to put up the 
memorial themselves. Is that not ironic?
  A grateful nation, yes. But not quite grateful enough to put up a 
memorial to the 54,000 Americans killed out there.
  So some years ago, a number of people--I was one of them--got 
together and decided there should be a memorial; that this should not 
be a forgotten war. I played a very small role in it, I was not a 
leading part of it. We raised the money for it. As I say, I was a very 
tiny part, and I truly was. Gen. Ray Davis, a Marine Medal of Honor 
winner, wound up spearheading this effort, and he was the master of 
ceremonies at the dedication ceremonies just a little while ago.
  For those who were there, we do not need a memorial. I do not need a 
memorial for Korea. Because those who were there--Senator Warner is 
here on the floor, Senator Chafee was over there--those who were out 
there remember very, very well what happened. You remember an awful lot 
of things.
  You remember the squadron commander getting shot down, seeing him 
bail out, seeing the plane crash, and you were not able to get him out 
of there.
  You remember other people going down in flames. You remember people 
not coming out at a rendezvous point after a strike and having to write 
to their next of kin. That is the hardest part, I can tell you that. 
Anybody there can testify to it.
  You remember getting hit and the airplane keeps on flying. My memory 
of things like that is very, very vivid, as though they just happened 
this morning.
  So what I am saying is, for those who were there, we do not need a 
memorial. But I think it is important that the Korean Memorial is 
there.
  The design of it is very good. It shows people slogging along. The 
figures there represent all the different services and all the nations 
that were out there, the 20 nations beside our own that were involved. 
This is a memorial to all of those who sacrificed so much, whether on 
the ground, in the air, or wherever they were. It is a memorial to all 
of them. It will be a symbol for my children, my grandchildren, my 
great grandchildren, my great, great grandchildren that the freedoms 
that we have, and our position in the world, did not just happen. It is 
not something that just was automatic. It is something that happened 
because there were an awful lot of people who went out, whether it was 
World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or elsewhere, and 
represented this country in conditions that were very, very tough.
  So we do not need a memorial, perhaps for our generation, the 
generation that took part in Korea. When you meet someone who was out 
there, a handshake, a look in the eye, just knowing that they 
understand, is your memorial. But I think it is important that we have 
an impressive memorial, like the Korean Memorial, for those who come 
after. Maybe they can get some little bit of inspiration from it about 
dedication to country, loyalty, and patriotism.
  These are the things that the memorial is all about. For those who 
were there, we do not need it. We have our own memories, a memory 
memorial that does more than the bricks, mortar, stainless steel, 
bronze, and marble down there on the Mall as a companion piece to the 
Vietnam Memorial.
  I say as a companion piece because many Americans can remember being 
in Washington and standing on the Lincoln Memorial steps, looking down 
the reflecting pool toward the Washington Monument. Over on the left is 
the Vietnam Memorial, very impressive. Now, over on the right, is a 
companion piece, the grove of trees where the Korean Memorial is.
  The bravery demonstrated in Korea, whether at Chosin Reservoir or 
elsewhere, was just as valorous as any other war in which Americans 
have fought. Truly, uncommon valor was a common virtue there, as much 
as it was in any other war.
  I hope that our kids can get a little taste of that bravery, of what 
happened out there. That I see as the memorial's basic function.
  So today perhaps the forgotten war is not quite as forgotten as 
people thought. I hope that, as people from all over this country come 
and see this impressive memorial, they, too, will have a small 
appreciation for what happened back in those days. The forgotten war is 
not forgotten. We have a beautiful memorial now. We are proud to have 
taken part in dedicating it today.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.


                                 Heroes

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to commend our distinguished 
colleague for those remarks. Indeed, I was privileged to join him, 
Senator Chafee, and a number of others from the Senate and the House 
today at the dedication of the Korean War Memorial.
  If I may say, Mr. President, the remarks of this distinguished 
Senator reflect his hallmark, that is a man of humility, in terms of 
his own heroic service to his country, be it in the Marines in World 
War II, Korea, or in the aftermath in the space program.
  The Senator mentioned valor in aviators, and I want to share with him 
one personal recollection of my squadron commander. I was but a 
communications officer, not a pilot, in the squadron, VMA-121. We had 
the old AD-1's. The Senator remembers that workhorse of an aircraft. He 
flew them himself.
  This particular man's name was Al Gordon, Lieutenant Colonel, USMC. I 
was back in the ``commshack'' monitoring a routine mission taking off, 
and he was leading it, a flight of four aircraft. They took off and got 
about 30 miles away. They were still in their climb when he developed 
an engine fire. His wing man called quickly to tell him he was trailing 
smoke and to bail out.
  The frantic conversation, which I learned, was that Colonel Gordon 
acknowledged his wingman's plea, but looked down and said, ``There's a 
village. I'm carrying 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of bombs. I have to divert 
the aircraft from civilians before I go out.''
  But in so diverting, he lost altitude, and when he finally got out of 
his aircraft, there was not enough distance between the aircraft and 
the ground. His chute streamed, but too late. I had the misfortune of--
well, maybe it is not a misfortune--but anyway, to go out and reclaim 
his body, this brave hero, and bring him back.
  I had the opportunity when I was Secretary of the Navy, many years 
later, to finally find his widow and give her a small artifact and tell 
her the story of the bravery of her husband.
  So this memorial does stand to those who did not come back and many 
who did, but bear the scars of the war. I just wish to say, Mr. 
President, how much I respect our distinguished colleague from Ohio and 
his remarks today.
  Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coats). The minority leader is recognized.


                       Remembering the Korean War

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I, too, commend the distinguished Senator 
from Ohio and associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from 
Virginia because I believe the Senator from Virginia said it very well. 
We owe a big debt of gratitude to all Korean war veterans.
  It is this memorial, I think, that perhaps puts that gratitude in 
proper light and emphasizes the remarkable contribution that each and 
every one of those veterans made to our freedom. We have the good 
fortune to serve each 

[[Page S 10785]]
day with three of those veterans. We just heard two of them. Senator 
Warner, Senator Glenn, and Senator Chafee all served admirably during 
that difficult time. All came back to serve this country in other 
capacities with great dignity and extraordinary valor.
  President Kim this afternoon, during the dedication, remarked again 
that freedom is not free. That statement reminded me of a comment made 
several years ago while I visited East Germany that democracy is 
something one either has to fight for or work at.
 But we do not have the luxury of doing neither. These three 
distinguished veterans of the Korean war understand the need to do 
both. They fought for freedom and, ever since returning, have worked at 
democracy. So I know I speak for all Senators in our expression of 
personal gratitude to them for their achievements and for the 
contribution that they have made to this country.

  Mr. President, ``The struggle of man against power is the struggle of 
memory against forgetting.''
  Those words, by the Czech writer Milan Kundera seem especially 
poignant today as America dedicates a memorial to those ``forgotten 
veterans,'' which Senator Glenn so eloquently addressed, the men and 
women who fought and died in the Korean war. And it is a honor that is 
long overdue.
  The other day, I had the privilege of visiting with two Korean war 
veterans from South Dakota, who had come to Washington this week for 
the dedication.
  Don Jones was 22 years old when his foot was ripped apart by a hand 
grenade in North Korea on October 1952. He spent 6 months recuperating 
in a Tokyo hospital, and then he went back to Korea to fight some more.
  Orville Huber was 24 years old when he was hit in the head by a piece 
of shrapnel in July 1953, just 2 weeks before the war ended.
  They both won the Purple Heart.
  After the war ended, they returned to South Dakota. There were no 
parades, no fanfare. When I asked them what they would like to hear the 
American people say after all this time about the sacrifices that they 
made in Korea, Orville responded simply: ``We would just like to hear 
that people remember.''
  Perhaps the reasons the Korean war has receded in our memories is 
because it was unlike either the war that preceded it or the war that 
followed. Rationing brought World War II into every American home, and 
television brought the Vietnam war into our homes.
  But Korea was different. Except for those who actually fought there, 
Korea was a distant land and, eventually, a distant memory.
  So today, as we dedicate our Nation's Korean War Veterans Memorial, 
it is fitting that we remember what happened in Korea and why we went 
there in the first place.
  The wall of the Korean War Veterans Memorial bears an inscription 
that reads: ``Freedom is not free.'' It was repeated by President Kim 
yesterday in the joint session of Congress, and repeated again by the 
President of the Republic of Korea today during the dedication.
  In the case of South Korea, the price of repelling Communist 
aggression and preserving freedom was very high indeed.
  Nearly 1\1/2\ million Americans fought to prevent the spread of 
communism into South Korea. It was the bloodiest armed conflict in 
which our Nation has ever engaged. In 3 years, 54,246 Americans died in 
Korea--nearly as many as were killed during the 15 years of the Vietnam 
war.
  Freedom is not free.
  Nearly 1\1/2\ million Americans sacrificed part of their lives to 
preserve freedom in Korea--and more than 54,000 Americans sacrificed 
all of their lives. The nobility of their sacrifice, at long last, is 
now recorded for all of history at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
  Look into the faces of the 19 soldier statutes that make up the 
memorial and you can feel the danger surrounding them. But you can also 
feel the courage with which our troops confronted that danger. So it is 
a fitting tribute indeed to the sacrifices of those who fought and died 
in that faraway land.
  But there is also another tribute half the world away, and that is 
democracy--democracy--in the Republic of South Korea. Over the past 
four decades, the special relationship between our two nations that was 
forged in a war has actually grown into a genuine partnership. Our two 
nations are more prosperous, and the world is now safer, because of it.
  As the writer said, ``The struggle of man against power is the 
struggle of memory against forgetting.''
  The free world won an important battle in the struggle against power 
more than four decades ago when we beat back the forces of communism in 
South Korea.
  Today, it is the responsibility of all those who value freedom to 
remember the struggle and the honor and the commitment of all of those 
who fought and who ought to be remembered in perpetuity. The Korean War 
Veterans Memorial is one way that we can truly live up to that 
responsibility.
  Freedom is not free. We must recognize--and I hope future generations 
will always recognize--that democracy truly is something we must either 
fight for or work at.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I am assuming that we are going to be 
going to the gift ban reform very soon.
  Since there is this break, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in morning business.
  The Senator is recognized to speak for 10 minutes.

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