Korean War

Early on the quiet Sunday morning of June 25, 1950, June 24th in Washington, the North Korean Peoples Army attacked South Korea, crossing the 38th parallel with 135,000 soldiers and 22 Russian built tanks and touching off what has been referred to as Korea, the Forgotten War. The Korean War was one of the bloodiest in history, with 37 months of fighting in which both sides used the most advanced machines of war except atomic weapons, jet aircraft were used in combat for the first time, the helicopter was used extensively, and all of Korea except the area inside the Pusan perimeter was laid waste. More than one million civilians were killed and millions more were wounded and left homeless, United Nations forces suffered more than 1,460,000 casualties, more than 2,000,000 Chinese and North Koreans were killed, wounded or missing, and United States casualties included 54,246 killed, 103,284 wounded, and 8,177 missing. It honors the 85,314 Iowans who served and their families and is dedicated to the 508 Iowans who made the supreme sacrifice.

Des Moines, Iowa · United States