Dedication of U.S. Korean War Memorial in Busan, South Korea on July 28

The U.S. Korean War Memorial at the United Nations (U.N.) Cemetery in Korea will be officially dedicated on July 28, 2013. The ceremony will take place at 9:45 a.m. Korean time in the U.N. Cemetery in Busan, South Korea. The ceremony is open to the public.

Designed and constructed by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), this memorial is the first non-World War I or World War II memorial constructed by the agency outside the United States. The U.N. Cemetery in Busan is the only U.N. cemetery in existence.

“The United States took a stand against totalitarianism when North Korea attacked South Korea in 1950,” said ABMC Secretary and former U.S. Senator Max Cleland. “What the American Armed Forces accomplished alongside their comrades from South Korea and the other U.N. nations is remarkable and cannot be forgotten.”

The memorial consists of a polished slab of dark gray Vermont granite that is 8 feet 10 inches tall, 4 feet wide and 1 foot thick. Quarried and shaped by Rock of Ages in Barre, Vt., the granite slab serves as a “witness stone” in tribute to those Americans who served during the Korean War including the 36,574 Americans who died in Korea between 1950-1953. Construction in South Korea was managed by the Far East District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of ABMC.

“Honor, freedom and peace, the principles which the United States fought to preserve during the Korean War are the only words engraved upon the memorial,” said Cleland. “Nothing else needs to be said.”

This is the third memorial commemorating the Korean War created by ABMC. The first is located in Honolulu at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, which tells the story of America’s 20th century efforts in the Pacific. That memorial was dedicated in 1966. The Korean War Veterans Memorial located on the National Mall in Washington, DC was dedicated in 1995 and is now under the care of the National Park Service.

Established in 1923, ABMC commemorates the service, achievements and sacrifice of the U.S. Armed forces. ABMC administers 24 cemeteries and 26 monuments, memorials and markers overseas. For more information visit www.abmc.gov or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com\abmcpage.

For more information on the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea, please visit http://www.unmck.or.kr/.