Thursday, February 10, 2000 Older Editions

Korean vets to be honored

By Rebecca Lipchitz

The sacrifices made by veterans of the forgotten war will be remembered in Andover this year, and in coming years, with the establishment of a Korean War veterans' commemoration committee.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen has endorsed the formation of committees across the country to honor Korean War veterans upon the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the war, the invasion of South Korea on June 25, 1950.

One committee, the only one in the region, is forming in Andover, according to Andover Veterans Agent John Doherty, a Vietnam War veteran.

"We came home as outcasts and suspects from Vietnam, but all some Korean War veterans heard was 'Did you go somewhere?'" Doherty says.

In 1950, the United Nations sent armies from 20 countries, including the United States, to defend South Korea from North Korea, which was supported by the Chinese Army and Russian government.

Nearly 6 million Americans served in some capacity between 1950 and 1953. Computer searches show 574 of those veterans are from Andover, Doherty says.

The total number of deaths in and out of battle during the Korean War equaled the total deaths in Vietnam: 58,000, Doherty says.

Soldiers who fought in Korea also battled extreme weather conditions unlike any other climate of any other battlefields, Doherty says.

But the country's fatigue of war at the end of World War II in 1945 and the politics surrounding the Korean War led to the government minimizing the war to a "police action," according to President Truman, or the Korean Conflict, since war was not formally declared by the United States Congress.

In an effort to bring Korean War veterans the recognition they deserve, 12 Andover veteran volunteers and Doherty will host several events beginning June of 2000 ending near Veterans Day in 2003, the length of the Korean War.

Veteran Cliff Lawrence, a lifelong resident of Andover, says he joined the committee to help find other Andover veterans who deserve to be recognized.

"I was perturbed that it was called a 'conflict.' It felt like a war to me," says Lawrence, a semi-retired teacher of deaf-blind students who served as a reconnaissance photographer and specialist in electronics with the Navy during the war.

Leo Doherty, a former Marine drill sergeant now retired from Raytheon, says he joined to ensure the stories of those who served are told.

"Recently, area veterans provided burial honors to Marine Al Magoon, who suffered the horrors of 30-degree-below-zero fighting at the Chosin Reservoir, and another Marine, Ed Wright, who was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star at the Battle for Bunker Hill," says Leo Doherty.

Of the many Andover veterans who served during the Korean War, four were killed in action and identified, and are now memorialized on a plaque on the Ballardvale Green: John P. Andonian, Frederick H. Graves Jr., Donald W. Lee, Jr. and Samuel E. Turner.

According to John Doherty, 9,000 Americans are still missing in action in Korea.

Recent reports say that economic and political pressure has led North Korea to allow governments more access to an area just North of the 38th parallel, which may contain remains of more than 400 soldiers, John Doherty says.

Over the next four years, members of the Andover committee will be scheduling events and posting materials to commemorate Korean War Veterans.

More information is available at http://Korea50.army.mil