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 The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Illinois Department of
Veterans' Affairs, Illinois Korean Memorial Association, and the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, along with media
partners the Illinois Press Association and the Illinois
Broadcasters Association, are sponsoring "Illinois Remembers the
Forgotten War." For more information, visit
www.illinois-history.gov
or
www.veterans.illinois.gov.
Illinoisans killed in action in Korea, November 1952
By county of residence
(Source: U.S. Department of Defense records)
Boone:
- Cpl. James E. Friend, Marines, Nov. 8.
Champaign:
- 1st Lt. Walter W. Winkler, Army, Nov. 2.
Clark:
- Pfc. James E. Higgins, Army, Nov. 4.
Cook:
-
Pvt. R.L. Lindsay,
Army, Nov. 15.
-
Pvt. Norman C.
Plinske, Army, Nov. 21.
-
Pfc. Robert E. VanHook, Army, Nov. 16.
Effingham:
- Pvt. Harley G. Gerth, Army, Nov. 3.
Kane:
- Pfc. Jack K. Pate, Army, Nov. 6.
Marion:
- Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Ford, Army, Nov. 6.
Randolph:
- Pvt. Karl R. Rosenbach, Army, Nov. 3.
Rock Island:
- Pvt. James H. Woest, Army, Nov. 27.
Union:
- Pvt. Dempsey E. Ray, Army, Nov. 23.
White:
- Cpl. Louis L. Campbell, Army, Nov. 18.
Key events during the Korean War, November 1952
November 1952 began as October had ended in Korea, with yet
another deadly skirmish being fought along the ragged front line
that divided North and South Korea. On Nov. 3, the 14th North Korean
Regiment tried to seize Hill 851 in the Heartbreak Ridge area.
United States troops, anchored by the 2nd Battalion, 160th Infantry
Regiment of the 40th Infantry Division, held against the onslaught.
Later that month, Chinese forces attacked U.N. positions at the
Hook, an aptly named terrain feature defended by Great Britain's
Commonwealth Division. A determined three-day assault by the Chinese
was finally thwarted by a battalion from the famed Black Watch,
along with a contingent of Commonwealth Division tanks.
One of the more bizarre events of the propaganda war the
Communists waged occurred Nov. 15-27. The Communists held what
became known as the "Prisoner of War Olympics," where prisoners from
various camps competed in a variety of "sports." The Communists
continually tried to portray the People's Republic of North Korea as
a paradise and wanted the world to think that captured United
Nations soldiers were well treated and enjoying healthy activities
in the "Communist wonderland." This came at the same time that the
North Koreans interrupted the ongoing armistice talks over the issue
of POWs, since it was apparent to them that large numbers of North
Korean and Chinese POWs wanted to defect to the South if given the
freedom of choice (as some 7,900 North Koreans and 14,700 Chinese
eventually did). Staging these "Olympics" was a transparent
propaganda attempt that largely failed.
Back in the States, the American public was focused on the
presidential election. They wanted little more than to find an
honorable way out of Korea and to bring the troops home, and on Nov.
4 voters expressed as much when they elected World War II hero
Dwight D. Eisenhower as president. Very soon, the man who vowed to
visit Korea if he was elected president would be commander in chief
of United States forces who had been mired in the Korean War for 2
1/2 years.
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Illinois Korean War Memorial
The Illinois Korean War Memorial is located in Springfield's Oak
Ridge Cemetery, the same cemetery that contains the Lincoln Tomb.
Oak Ridge is the nation's second-most visited burial ground, behind
only Arlington National Cemetery.
Dedicated on June 16, 1996, the memorial consists of a
12-foot-tall bronze bell mounted on a granite base. At the
circumference of the base are four niches, each with a
larger-than-life figure representing a branch of the armed services.
Inscribed on the base are the names of 1,754 Illinoisans killed in
Korea.
The Illinois Korean War Memorial is administered by the Illinois
Historic Preservation Agency and may be visited daily free of
charge.
Korean War veterans oral history project
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum
The oral history program at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum offers "Veterans
Remember," a collection of interviews with Illinois residents
about their wartime experiences, at the library's website,
www.alplm.org/oral_history/home.html. The interviews concern the
experiences of Illinois veterans who fought in several conflicts,
including the Korean War, as well as the experiences of those on the
home front. Visitors to the website can listen to or watch the
interviews in their entirety. Several of the interviews have
transcripts, and most have still images as well.
Website visitors will need a computer capable of playing MP3
audio files or MPG compressed video files in order to listen to the
interviews. The transcripts and still images are also accessible.
Volunteers conducted and edited many of the interviews and developed
the transcripts that accompany them.
Korean War National Museum
The Korean War National Museum, or KWNM, celebrates the 60th
anniversary of the Korean War with a new board of directors, new
professional staff and a renewed focus on getting a world-class
museum built now, in the lifetime of the Korean War veterans. Media
reports have outlined a proposal of the KWNM to obtain 7,000 square
feet of prime space at Navy Pier in Chicago for a state-of-the-art,
world-class museum where visitors could come to honor and learn
about the service and sacrifices of the Americans, South Koreans and
their U.N. allies in the "forgotten victory." Those plans are
continuing to be developed, and the KWNM hopes to be able to share
more news soon.
Meanwhile, the Denis J. Healy Freedom Center, located at 9 South
Old State Capitol Plaza in Springfield, is open Tuesday through
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are
accepted.
The KWNM welcomes donations of photographs, documents, diaries
and artifacts of those who served in the Korean War. To learn more
about the KWNM, or to volunteer or donate, visit
www.kwnm.org or look for the
museum on Facebook.
Korean War booklet
The Illinois Korean Memorial Association, an all-volunteer
organization, has published a booklet, "A Brief History of the
Korean War," copies of which have been provided free of charge to
public libraries, high schools and junior high schools in Illinois.
Individuals may obtain a copy by sending a $10 check or money order
to: Illinois Korean Memorial Association, P.O. Box 8554,
Springfield, IL 62791.
Tax-deductible donations are welcome. All donations go to the
book project and to the upkeep of the Illinois Korean War Memorial.
[Text from file received from
the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency] |
