[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 19960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               IN APPRECIATION OF OUR KOREAN WAR VETERANS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, on July 27, 1953, our country signed an 
armistice agreement that ended the Korean War after 3 years of 
devastating combat. Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the war's 
end. Today I rise to honor the courage and sacrifice of the military 
veterans who fought this war and to proclaim that our country has not 
forgotten their service.
  More than 1.8 million Americans fought on the front lines of our 
battle to defend freedom and democracy on the Korean Peninsula. They 
joined with allies from 21 different nations to ensure that the people 
of South Korea would not be ruled by the tyranny and oppression of 
communism. More than 36,500 soldiers committed the ultimate sacrifice 
in this effort, and another 103,000 Americans were wounded in some of 
the bloodiest and most traumatic fighting the world has ever seen.
  Currently, around 12,000 veterans of the conflict live in South 
Dakota. They are now among the elder statesmen of our country's long 
lineage of heroism, true role models to our youth and an inspiration to 
those service members now fighting around the world against terrorism 
and brutal dictatorship.
  On June 25, 1950, North Korean dictator Kim Il-Song sent 135,000 
troops to invade South Korea. The international response was immediate, 
and President Truman sent troops to defend the South Koreans 2 days 
later. For more than 3 years, these troops fought to preserve the 
integrity of South Korea. But this conflict was not simply about 
protecting the sovereignty of one nation against the designs of its 
invader. Rather, the Korean War represented an epic struggle of two 
political ideologies: the democratic values of peace, freedom, and 
self-determination against a communist system based on tyranny and 
violence.
  No less than the fate of the world was at stake on the hills and 
plains of the Korean peninsula. With some of the century's most 
infamous tyrants Mao and Stalin backing the North Koreans and the 
world's beacon of democracy fighting alongside the South Koreans, this 
conflict could not have had higher stakes. Consequently, we future 
generations of Americans are deeply indebted to the veterans of the 
Korean War; it is to them we owe the preservation of our very way of 
life.
  And yet, despite the significance of their achievement, these 
soldiers were never greeted with the type of homecoming befitting their 
heroism. A nation that, after World War II, was weary of war never 
fully grasped the enormity of the military's mission in Korea. Few 
returning troops were greeted with the ticker-tape parades and 
community celebrations that were common after World War II. The Korean 
War became the Forgotten War.
  As our country honors the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, I say 
to America's veterans of this war, you are forgotten no more. Your 
legacy is our nation's prosperity, our continuing commitment to liberty 
and democracy. Your legacy is a thriving, democratic nation of 40 
million souls on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. With great 
personal sacrifice and tremendous dedication, you secured our future. 
And while we sometimes take our way of life for granted, the veterans 
of the Korean War remind us that, as their Korean War Commemoration 
Flag proclaims, ``Freedom is not free.'' Without the dedicated service 
and sacrifice of the soldiers we celebrate in this, the Year of the 
Korean Veteran, our nation would not be able to enjoy the freedom and 
prosperity that we too often take for granted. So, on behalf of later 
generations of veterans, like myself, and on behalf of all the citizens 
of South Dakota and all Americans, thank you for your lasting 
contribution to our nation's greatness. You, the veterans of the Korean 
War, are true American heroes, and we salute you.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President I have a poem written by my constituent 
Dee M. Tramontina of Buck Hill Falls, PA.
  I rise today so that I might call special attention to the thoughts 
and observations of my constituents who would like to accord proper 
recognition to those brave Americans who sacrificed, fought and died in 
the Korean conflict.
  I would like to recognize both Dee M. Tramontina and Albert 
Tramontina, Jr., who, on behalf of the Monroe Chapter of the Korean War 
Veterans Association, have shared a poem with me concerning the 
conflict which ended 50 years ago.
  I would like to call attention to this historic anniversary by asking 
that Dee's poem be printed in the Record.

                     The ``Forgotten War'' No More

                          (By Dee Tramontina)

     Some have made the grave mistake
     Of calling Korea the forgotten war
     But you can bet that none of them
     Had to storm the Inchon shore

     I am also very positive it's memory
     Sadly stays with all of those
     That at the Chosin Reservoir
     They shivered, fought and froze

     Perhaps you know of someone
     Who fought among the ranks
     And saw the awful, bloody terror
     Of ``Old Baldy'' or the Yalu River banks

     Be assured that a foggy memory
     Would be a relief to maintain
     For those that charged up the hill:
     ``Heartbreak Ridge'' it seems, in vain

     We can be sure that there are some
     To this very day can still
     Hear the horrors of the battle
     We know as ``Pork Chop Hill''

     Definitely an everlasting imprint
     Of the 38th parallel has been burned
     Into the hearts and minds of families
     Of the many heroes that never returned

     We are coming up on fifty years
     Since Panmunjom brought peace
     In honor of those that fought there
     May the memory never cease

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