Korean War Veterans Memorial

Washington, D.C.: Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial, monument in Washington, D.C., honouring the U.S. military personnel who served in the Korean War (1950–53). It was authorized by Congress in 1986 and dedicated by U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton and South Korean Pres. Kim Young Sam on July 27, 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the signing of the cease-fire that ended hostilities. The memorial is located on a 2.2-acre (0.9-hectare) site at the western end of the Mall, southeast of the Lincoln Memorial and on the south side of the Reflecting Pool, across from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

A competition held for the design was won in 1989 by a team from the architecture school of Pennsylvania State University. The design was changed during the approval phase of the project, raising objections from the Pennsylvania State team, who filed a lawsuit; they ultimately lost their suit and removed their names from the project. The final design was constructed as modified by the architecture firm Cooper-Lecky Architects. Later on-site modifications were made to improve accessibility and to add a computerized honour roll of those killed in action, missing in action, or taken prisoners of war.

The central aspect of the memorial is a group of 19 stainless steel sculptures by Frank C. Gaylord II. They are larger-than-life-size figures (approximately 7 ft 3 in [221 cm] in height) constituting an idealized patrol of U.S. servicemen representing the army, the navy, the air force, and the Marine Corps. The figures are spread across a triangular plot of land called the Field of Service. They are depicted as moving, in various attitudes of watchfulness, toward a flag near the point of the triangle. The land is covered with juniper bushes and dotted with trees to represent the rough Korean terrain. The apex of the triangle contains a granite slab inscribed with the motto “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.” The combatants are armed and are clad in rain ponchos that appear to be billowing in the wind. Some carry items of field gear, such as day packs and radios.

Footpaths on either side of the Field of Service lead to a Pool of Remembrance. Along the path south of the statues is a mural wall, designed by Louis Nelson, made of 41 black granite panels totaling approximately 164 feet (50 metres) in length. It honours members of the various military contingents that supported the ground troops—pilots, doctors and nurses, communications officers, canine corps, supply staff, and others—during the conflict. Etched onto the granite are 2,400 images of service people and military equipment chosen from a pool of 15,000 photographs in the National Archives; the faces of the people look directly out from the panels to the 19 statues. The granite is highly reflective and, mirroring the statues, creates the illusion of 38 figures, a phenomenon intended in part as a reference to the 38th parallel, the site of the eventual cease-fire boundary between North Korea and South Korea. Along the path on the north side of the statues is a granite curb on which are inscribed the names of the 22 countries of the United Nations that sent combat units or medical support to the conflict in support of the South Korean side.

The Pool of Remembrance, at the apex of the triangle, is surrounded by linden trees. A stone wall juts into the pool, an allegorical reference to the Korean peninsula. On it are inscribed statistics of the number of military taken as prisoners of war, killed in action, and missing in action, along with the motto “Freedom is not free” inlaid in silver.