Finding the MIA

When United States and United Nations troops were moving north in November 1950, the promise was that they would be home by Christmas. This is at last coming true for First Lieutenant Dixie S. Parker of Iowa, who was killed 27 November 1950.

After fifty-seven years his body, lost in the foxhole where he died, is being returned for burial in our national cemetery.

While thousands are still unaccounted for, the search goes on with GIs being identified every so often. While all wish the process was moving faster, and more completely, our hats must go off to the government (www.dtic.mil/dpmo) and their continued effort to locate, identify, and bring home those who died in this awesome war.
http://www.wmbb.com

Senior Fellow, Paul M. Edwards

Culture Wars

Cara has a wonderful idea (http://caramac.umwblogs.org/), suggesting that we might be far better off conducting a cultural war rather than a shooting war.

She also points out the similarities between Korea and Vietnam; not so much the causes or fighting, but the remembrance. The tombstones of those men who died in those wars are still reporting these wars as “conflicts.”


Senior Fellow, Paul M. Edwards

The Real War

The Baltimore Sun (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/broadband/photoedge/blog/)
has recently used the length of the Korean War as part of a trivia question.

What are the dates of the Korean War, it asks, then reports the answer as 57 years. It then goes on to say that the “real war” was from 1950 to 1953. Well, they are right of course, if you are not concerned with what was going on.

Even the US Army acknowledges that the war continued well into the new year, and thus see the end, for official purposes, as 1954. But even that is not a good picture, as anyone who was there between 1953 and 1954 will know. The war may have been over as far as the politicians were concerned, but not the GI in the field.

Senior Fellow, Paul M. Edwards

Best Interests

So what are China, Russia, and the United States doing in the Korean peace talks?

Is it that everyone who had an interest in the war nearly sixty years ago still retains the same interest? Or, perhaps, these are the nations that see some significance in Korea remaining divided.

Is it South Korea that is refusing to send the promised rice until the nuclear plants are destroyed? Don't think so. Is it China that is interested in opening the border so that Koreans can move back and forth with their families? Don't think so.

Perhaps the move, recently taken by the South to just go ahead and talk with the North, is a good move.

www.kimsoft.com/korea/4-talks.htm
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/IF02Dg01.html

Senior Fellow, Paul M. Edwards

'MacArthur' Too Simple An Explanation

I'm still thinking about David Halberstam's book The Coldest Winter, which is turning out to be a best seller.

There are a lot of things about the book I don't like, but the author must be given his due credit. Reading it puts me in the strange position of defending General MacArthur.

In a better world I would die my death rather than defend this man who, in my opinion, was the worst egomaniac among an army of egomaniacs. But, come on, to blame the whole war on him? No, I don't think so.

Certainly his ego got in the way and in the final analysis made a difficult job even more difficult, but there is a lot of blame to be spread around. To focus so harshly on General MacArthur leaves the reader with a far too simple explanation for a very complex problem.

Senior Fellow, Paul M. Edwards

The Coldest Winter

There seems to be no end to the amount of comment available in the news and on the net about The Coldest Winter. I finally got around to reading it. What can I say? It is long.

And it tells a story that is perhaps the only Korean War story that has been well told. If I had no prior knowledge of the Korean War then it would be generally informative, but there is certainly nothing new.

All the sources are secondary, and a significant number of them are questionable in terms of accuracy. But, certainly, it is well written.

And while the stories don't always seem to relate to the events taking place, they are descriptive. Whatever it is, it does bring to focus events that have not been properly considered, and highlights a war that, even today, is remarkably unacknowledged.

http://www.slate.com/id/2174591/fr/rss/

Senior Fellow, Paul M. Edwards