Browse Exhibits (1 total)

The Korean War Veterans Memorial adds a more somber and mournful tone to Memorial Park. It is unique from the other monuments in the park, and most war monuments in general. It does not simply laud soldiers’ service and America’s role in the war. The monument also emphasizes the soldiers’ suffering in the Korean War, showing a disheartened man facing miserable weather conditions. The soldier is nondescript - he is meant to be representative of all the soldiers in the war. As such he evokes the adversity that every Korean War soldier experienced. Soldiers in the Korean war had to face particularly harsh weather as depicted in the monument. Senator John H. Chafee, who commanded a rifle company in the Korean War, spoke to these difficult conditions in a speech given at the dedication of a monument at Brown University. He said that American soldiers were not just fighting against North Koreans and the Chinese army, they were also fighting against the weather and the terrain. Senator Chafee told listeners that “the rugged hills and mountains, the scorching hot summers, and subzero winters were challenges that no Marine or soldier who fought there will ever forget. It was aptly called ‘the coldest war.’”[1] The senator praised the soldiers resilience in these conditions, and opined that their endurance was the reason America was able to drive the North Koreans out of South Korea. The soldiers’ courage in the face of great struggle is strongly conveyed by the monument itself.