Korean War veterans dedicate a memorial

UNVEILING: Dick Adams and Ken Green left, assist Leroy Neuenfeld to reveal the Korean War memorial erected by veterans and the Korean-American community.

The Korean War Veterans Association, Northern California Chapter #1, dedicated a Korean War memorial at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery, 11800 Gas Point Road, Igo.

More than 200 people attended the nearly two-hour ceremony under sunlit, cloudless skies with fresh snow capping the surrounding hilltops, causing some Korean War Veterans and South Korean-born Americans to compare the south Shasta County scenery with South Korea.

Bill McKinney, current commander of the local Korean War Veterans Association, served as master of ceremonies and introduced speakers including U.S. Representative Wally Herger, California State Assemblyman Jim Nielsen and Shasta County Korean community leaders Kim Chamberlain and Sung Kim.

The Redding Riverside Chorus provided musical entertainment and sang the U.S. national anthem while South Korean exchange students Jungmin Kim, 19, and Yeji Mun, 22, dressed in traditional Korean style, sang the Republic of Korea national anthem.

The keynote address was provided by former California State Senator K. Maurice Johannessen, who also served for several years as California's Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

During his welcoming remarks, McKinney remembered the day, June 25, 1950, some 59 years ago, when he, as a U.S. Air Force pilot serving occupation duty in Japan, was summoned to evacuate American diplomatic and civilian personnel shortly after the Chinese and North Korean armies invaded South Korea.

"We are here today not to celebrate war, but to remember those who sacrificed and served their country to defend those they did not know in a land they had probably never heard of," McKinney said.

"It was a war that historians didn't want to dignify by calling it a war. Instead they referred to it as a police action or a conflict" since the war ended in a stalemate that continues today, Nielsen said.

Recalling that many Korean War veterans consider their efforts and sacrifices as forgotten by most Americans, Rev. Don Mangrum said, "Forgotten war? Never! Not as long as there is one survivor left standing."

Ken Green, founding commander of the nation's first Korean War Veterans Association chapter, based in Anderson, led two chapter officers to the canvas-shrouded monument and unveiled a 5-feet tall, 3-feet wide black granite slab that is slightly more than six inches thick from top to bottom.

Gold lettering inscribed into the polished face of the slab tells the story, and white, red and blue lines depict the U.S. and Korean flags on either side of a map of the Korean peninsula with prominent cities marked as well as the DMZ (demilitarized zone) separating North from South.