People came from remote villages, small towns, and large cities, and from all levels of society—farmers, workers, merchants, and professionals. Some fought on the side of communism, others for the idea of self-government, and still others for the man next to them. Under brutal conditions, they clashed for three years, and when the fighting ended, the border between North and South remained near the 38th parallel, close to where it had begun. Nearly four million people were dead and another million had suffered wounds, many of them lasting for life. The Korean War became known as the war no one wished to remember, even as soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines, and civilians, living and dead, bore its cost.