[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 94 (Wednesday, July 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         MEMORIAL DAY SPEECH BY MIKE CARONE, KOREAN WAR VETERAN

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 18, 2000

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, on Memorial Day 2000, a constituent and 
Korean war veteran, Mr. Mike Carone, gave the following speech during 
ceremonies in McHenry, Illinois:


       On June 25 of this year, it will be 50 years since Truman's 
     police action--the Korean War--began. It lasted three years, 
     until July 27, 1953, when an armistice was affected by 
     President Eisenhower.
       It was a United Nations action that included 20 countries. 
     We were a major participant with seven Army divisions, four 
     Army regiments and one Marine division on the ground with 
     participation from both Navy and Air Force. One-and-a-half 
     million Americans served in Korea during the three years of 
     the war, and 200,000 of them engaged in combat during that 
     period.
       It signaled the beginning of the end of communist expansion 
     in Asia and the end of the Cold War because we actively 
     resisted and stood our ground. The United Nations, including 
     the South Korean Army, lost one-quarter million lives. 
     Thirty-six thousand American lives were lost in combat, of 
     which over 4,000 were Marines. Total United Nations wounded 
     totaled over one million. Over 100,000 Americans were wounded 
     in action, of which 24,000 were Marines.
       Today, there are still 8,100 Americans missing in action.
       Hardly a police action.
       I dare say there is hardly a page or even a paragraph 
     written about the Korean War in the history books our 
     children read.
       I was getting out of Marine boot camp at Parris Island when 
     it started and remember the drill instructors trying to find 
     out where Korea was at. Korea was called the ``Forgotten 
     War'' because it started five years after the Second World 
     War and our country was in a peacetime mode. World War 11 
     vets came home, got a job, got married, bought a house and 
     car and had babies. But the Russian and Korean communists, 
     with approval of the Chinese communists, were not in a 
     peacetime but an aggressive expansionist mode and invaded 
     South Korea.
       Our country at that time was war-weary and, after the 
     Korean War started, wanted it to end quickly so they (we) 
     could forget it. That wasn't the communist plan, and the 
     Chinese entered the war with infinite human resources. Over 
     1,000,000 communist forces lost their lives, and they failed 
     to expand communism in Asia.
       I was a machine gunner in ACO 1st Battalion 5th Regiment of 
     the 1st Marine Division from January 1951 to January 1952 and 
     earned four Battle Stars. Many Marines were killed and 
     wounded during that year. It was and is Marine Corps 
     tradition that our dead and wounded are never left behind--
     sometimes at the cost of the living.
       I remember when our battalion would be relieved for a few 
     days rest, sometimes every one-and-a-half to three months. We 
     would assemble in formation, and the names of those killed-
     in-action during the previous engagement would be read. 
     Sometimes it took 10 minutes, and other times it would take 
     45 minutes to read the list. Then the bugler would sound taps 
     to honor the dead as we will do later today.
       I, like many Korean War veterans, eventually returned to 
     civilian life, got a job, got married, went to college, 
     bought a house, had kids and tried to put the war experiences 
     behind us but could never forget our buddies who were killed 
     or later died of their wounds.
       Thirty years after the Korean War, I could no longer 
     suppress those memories and became active in veteran 
     organizations and attempted to find those Marines that I 
     served with in the Korean War. I have found some of them, we 
     talked about those war experiences we shared and tried to put 
     to rest those memories.
       Today, 49 years after the Korean War, those war experiences 
     have dimmed, but I shall never forget those I knew who gave 
     their lives in many of the battles in that faraway land so 
     long ago.
       In conclusion, let us never forget those who gave their 
     lives in that forgotten war who were never forgotten by their 
     families and buddies, and that they be remembered by us along 
     with all the American veterans who gave their lives in all 
     the wars our country fought in defense of our freedom.

     

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