American military troops were starved, beaten, and tortured by their Korean and Chinese captors. Every rule set forth in the Geneva Convention was broken when thousands of Americans died at the hands of barbaric Communists in the Korean War. Pictured here: American prisoner of War in Korea brutally executed by North Korean soldiers and left to rot on the ground to be picked at by crows and insects. Note his hands were bound behind his back at the time.
On October 24, 2013 Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia addressed the United States House of Representatives for a few minutes regarding the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War Armistice agreement.
BACKGROUND
The Korean Armistice Agreement is the armistice which “tentatively” ended hostilities in the Korean war.
It was signed by General William Harrison Jr. representing the United Nations Command (UNC), General Nam Il representing the North Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People Volunteer Army .
The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, and was designed to “insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved.”
It should be mentioned that no “final peaceful settlement” has been achieved yet. The war is only a tentative peace agreement at this point. No peace treaty was ever signed which means that the Korean War has not officially ended.
As is typical in such situation the U.S. provided the lion’s share of troops engaged in combat (88% of the 341,000 international soldiers) and suffered the most casualties (According to the data from the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States suffered 33,686 battle deaths, along with 2,830 non-battle deaths during the Korean War and 8,176 missing in action) which aided South Korean forces, with twenty other countries of the United Nations offering assistance.
It is one of the wars (although it wasn’t called that at the time – instead it was called a “police action” – so the President Truman didn’t have to seek Congressional approval for war) that America “lost” (although many term it a “stalemate” – even that was achieved only by the threatened use of an atomic bomb by the United States on April 5, 1950). The consequences and cost of this war is still being felt today.
Rep. Connolly’s comments are as follows:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice and to thank the men and women who served in uniform, as well as commend the members of the Korean War Veterans Association and the National Unification Advisory Council (Washington Chapter) for their efforts on behalf of the veterans of the Korean War and their families. More than 1.7 million Americans served in Korea during the 3-year war and more than 44,000 never returned home. Racial integration efforts in the U.S. military began during the Korean War, where more than 100,000 African Americans fought in integrated units for the first time. Twenty-one other countries from the United Nations also supplied assistance to the war on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea reported some 373,599 civilian and 137,899 military deaths by the time peace finally came on July 27, 1953. On behalf of the 11th Congressional District of Virginia, I thank the men and women who served honorably in uniform during the Korean War for their service and sacrifice” (source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov).
See related video: President Obama speaks regarding the Korean War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4qZ3I8u4tc