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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,
March 1953
By county of residence
(Source: U.S. Department of Defense records)
Adams:
- 2nd Lt. Robert E. McIntyre, Army, March 5.
Alexander:
- Master Sgt. Harold Sells, Army, March 23.
Champaign:
- Pfc. Kenneth W. Reich, Army, March 5.
Clark:
- Pfc. Harold E. Yelton, Marines, March 28.
Cook:
-
Master Sgt. Stanley
R. Bator, Army, March 25.
-
Pvt. Willard J.
Bruette, Army, March 21.
-
Pvt. Richard Fugate,
Army, March 22.
-
Pfc. Oscar Garcia,
Marines, March 28.
-
Cpl. Felix Giangrande,
Marines, March 29.
-
Pfc. James M. Lewis,
Marines, March 26.
-
Sgt. Reginald
Madison, Marines, March 2.
-
Pfc. Clarence
Menclewicz, Army, March 7.
-
Cpl. Edward F.
Poczekaj Jr., Marines, March 28.
-
Cpl. Sirio A. Ricci,
Marines, March 29.
-
Pfc. Robert E.
Schultz, Marines, March 26.
-
Pfc. Isaac Simpson
Jr., Marines, March 27.
-
Pfc. Adam Swornog,
Army, March 25.
-
Pvt. John P. Walsh,
Army, March 4.
Iroquois:
- Pfc. Richard Williamson, Army, March 7.
Kane:
- Cpl. Roy J. Andresen, Marines, March 20.
Knox:
- Pfc. Everett J. Howard, Marines, March 26.
LaSalle:
- Pfc. Raymond Szymovicz, Marines, March 28.
Macon:
- Cpl. Glen K. Trulock, Army, March 23.
Macoupin:
- Cpl. Richard L. Loveless, Army, March 24.
McHenry:
- Sgt. Charles Martin, Marines, March 23.
Peoria:
- Cpl. Donald E. Shaver, Marines, March 28.
Sangamon:
- Pfc. James R. Moffitt, Marines, March 26.
Vermilion:
- Sgt. 1st Class Bernard R. Hewitt, Army, March 7.
Williamson:
- Sgt. Robert E. Burton, Marines, March 27.
Winnebago:
- Pvt. Charles H. Long, Army, March 23.
Key events during the Korean War,
March 1953
For nearly 20 months, two armies were deadlocked along a jagged
front bisecting the Korean Peninsula, with Communists to the north
and NATO forces in the south. Since July of 1951, the war had been
characterized by isolated but intense fighting, yet neither side
meant to change the status quo in any meaningful way, and the line
had hardly budged despite the bloodshed along it.
Meanwhile, month after month, the armistice talks at Panmunjom
went nowhere, still bogged down over whether North Korean and
Chinese prisoners, fearing for their lives if they were forcibly
returned north, should be repatriated.
But things began to happen in March of 1953, both at the front
lines and also at Panmunjom. The relative quiet of February was
shattered during March 1953 as heavy fighting erupted when Chinese
forces attacked several United States outposts. This marked the
beginning of a renewed intensity in the fighting that would continue
right up to the armistice several months later.
Hill 355, known to American forces at Little Gibraltar, was
assaulted by the Chinese on March 17. The 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd
Infantry Division, was initially driven off the hill, but retook a
portion of it later in the day, with heavy casualties suffered by
both sides.
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 Places with names like Old Baldy, T-Bone, Outpost Erie and Pork
Chop Hill soon became infamous when Communist Chinese forces
launched attacks starting on March 23. The determined and savage
Chinese attacks seized these outposts from the defending 7th
Infantry Division and a Colombian battalion. The Chinese managed to
hold onto their gains despite a vicious counterattack by the United
Nations as hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds rained down on
the combatants. The fighting was often in very close quarters.
Then, on March 26, the Chinese attacked the Vegas, Reno and
Carson outposts defended by the 5th Marine Regiment. The attackers
seized these outposts, but the U.S. Marines retook them and held
these strategic hills despite repeated counterattacks by the Chinese
that ended up destroying an entire Chinese regiment.
The world was rocked on March 5 when Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin
died. Stalin had ruled the nation with an iron fist for three
decades and greatly extended the borders of communism worldwide. New
Soviet Premier Georgi Malenkov spoke of a "peaceful coexistence"
between communist nations and the rest of the world, something that
was not being borne out on the battlefields of Korea.
Only weeks after Stalin's death, progress was finally made at the
armistice talks at Panmunjom on the thorny issue of exchanging
prisoners of war. On March 28 North Korean Premier Kim Il Sung and
Communist Chinese representative Peng Teh-huai announced that they
would agree to a POW exchange. Finally, after nearly three years of
war, a peaceful settlement to the conflict seemed within reach.
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,
http://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/
library/Pages/default.aspx. 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 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 on 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.
Meanwhile, the Denis J. Healy Freedom Center, 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] |
