Residents, township officials and honored veterans comprised the audience for Evesham Township’s commemoration ceremony observing the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, held at the Gibson House on July 27.
The township’s Disability and Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee originated the idea. The committee contributes to township decisions on “supportive services and other cultural, educational, social and wellness opportunities,” with a focus on Evesham’s veterans and individuals with disabilities, committee chairman Jeff Shapiro explained. He then introduced Mayor Jaclyn Veasy, who spoke of the event’s importance.
“Today, we are celebrating two anniversaries to remember and commemorate,” she said. “This year marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War; 67 years ago today, the Korean Armistice Agreement ended more than three years of fighting.”
Amidst a tableau that featured combat gear, photographs and a painting depicting uniformed servicemen and a wartime battle, Veasy thanked the evening’s honored guests, including: Korean War veterans; veterans of other wars and conflicts; Judy Yoo, president of the Federation of Korean American Association of North Eastern USA; Tina Sung, president of The Greater Southern New Jersey Korean American Association; representatives from the Korean Veterans Association of the Philadelphia Region; and George Cook of the Purple Heart Association.
Burlington County Freeholder Dan O’Connell, state Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego, a representative from the Office of Congressman Andy Kim and members of township council also were on hand for the event.
“We pause to remember the uncommon courage and sacrifice of ordinary Americans who fought to defend freedom and protect the values we hold dear,” Veasy said to the audience. “We honor the two million Americans who, alongside tens of thousands of coalition troops from our allies around the world, answered the call to defend freedom and democracy on the Korean peninsula.”
She added that the families those soldiers left behind exhibited their own strength worthy of recognition. Citing those whose lives were lost and other casualties — 33,739 American deaths, more than 103,000 wounded and 7,700 unaccounted for, according to the U.S. military — Veasy explained that the human element of the “forgotten war” cannot be forgotten.
“Today, we honor our Korean War veterans … and we remember their families, who supported them throughout,” she said. “We will always remember the immeasurable costs incurred by those who fought on the Korean peninsula.”
The event also saw the ceremonial dedication of a bench at the Gibson House Community Center.
“We are honored to be dedicating this memorial bench today as a sign of our gratitude to the veterans of the Korean War,” said Veasy. “We hope that anyone who visits this bench will remember the sacrifice of the troops who fought for liberty and human dignity.”
Addiego added her own perspective as the daughter of a proud Korean War veteran.
“My father was affected by war just like any other veteran,” she noted. “He spoke of friends he made and lost, camaraderie and close calls. He spoke of love of country and a desire to leave this world a little better for his children. That’s what this ‘forgotten war’ meant to the people who signed up to participate in it.”
The state senator then presented a flag to Shapiro, which was flown over Congress, on behalf of Kim. O’Connell also spoke, offering gratitude to the day’s honorees on behalf of the county and remarking on the sobering circumstances and historical battles of a war that “never officially ended, because a treaty was never signed.”
“In three years, more bombs were dropped on Korea than in the Pacific during World War II,” he observed. “While many Americans don’t know the history of the conflict, what we do know is that American and U.N. forces fought bravely.”
Veasy then invited “one of our very own hometown heroes and Korean War veteran” Ken Mills to say a few words.
“We had a lot of firsts in Korea — we used jet planes for the first time,” said Mills. Invoking the recent death of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis that he “would be remiss” in excluding, Mills mentioned the racial progress he witnessed as a soldier in Korea and his hope for an even brighter future: “We were integrated … We have come a long way but we have farther to go.”
A high school sophomore when the war began, Mills watched a number of his friends go off to war and then signed up for the U.S. Army after graduation. The typing classes he had taken earned him a spot as a battalion clerk, who did a little bit of everything.
Mills offered a humorous account of his introduction to the Army — “the airlines lost my duffel bag, so nothing ever changes,” he intoned with a straight face — and a 14-day journey by ship to Japan that proved “a 19-year-old can adjust to anything,” before heading to Korea for a reassignment.
After thanking the township and the advisory committee for the remembrance ceremony, Mills offered a parting insight before leading the attendees in a moment of silence: “One thing I learned in Korea is that freedom is not free. You have to fight for it sometimes.”
Veasy unveiled the symbolic bench during the dedication ceremony, a placeholder for the final version that will be installed in the Gibson House garden.
Two certificates from Kim acknowledged both the flag presented to Shapiro as well as last year’s establishment of the Disability and Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee.
Deputy Mayor Heather Cooper provided the evening’s closing remarks.
“On this anniversary, we honor all those who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met because of their commitment to defend freedom,” she said, ending her speech with the words of writer J. R. R. Tolkien: “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all the lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
The ceremony was recorded and can be watched here.
