Temporary battlefield cemeteries and remains recovery
The
Korean War began when
North Korean People's Army forces attacked south in June 1950. As the fighting progressed, temporary
military cemeteries for battle casualties were established by United Nations forces near the towns of
Taejon (9 July 1950), Kwan-ui (Kwan-ni),[13]Kumchon,[13] and
Sindong.[14] When the North Korean forces pushed towards Busan, these cemeteries had to be abandoned.[14]
Later, as the
Battle of Pusan Perimeter developed, temporary cemeteries were established at
Masan,
Miryang, and
Taegu, with a Busan cemetery being established on 11 July 1950.[15] As the fighting pushed into North Korea, temporary cemeteries were established in or near the towns of
Kaesong,[13]Sukehon,
Wonsan,
Pupchong (
Pukchong County),[13]Yudarn-ni and Koto-ri.[16] Some eleven division-level cemeteries were established in the first two months of fighting[17] and later five UN military cemeteries were established in North Korea.[18]
At the beginning of the war, the nearest U.S. Army
mortuary affairs unit was the 108th Graves Registration Platoon in
Yokohama, Japan, which was searching for the remains of missing World War II American airmen.[15][19] The only other American
active duty graves registration unit was at
Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.[20] The 108th was reconfigured as the 114th Graves Registration Company and deployed to establish temporary cemeteries at
Hungnam,
Pyongyang, and Suchon as the fighting continued.[15]
Supporting the
2nd Infantry Division was the Graves Registration Section of the second Quartermaster Company, which collected the remains of Allied and American soldiers to be further processed by the 148th Graves Registration Company.[21] When UN forces launched the
Inchon Invasion in September 1950, a platoon from the 565th Graves Registration Company accompanied them.[15] Other mortuary affairs units included the 293rd Graves Registration Company, activated in April 1951.[15] It was difficult to recover remains and conduct burials in Korea, due to the rugged geography and harsh climate, and the threat of
unexploded ordnance and
booby-traps.[6][22]
Construction of the Tanggok cemetery
Construction of the United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) at Tanggok began on 18 January 1951 and was carried out by hand-labor over a 28.2 hectares (70 acres) site.[23] It was dedicated by General
Matthew Ridgway on 6 April 1951.[14][23][24] Graves Registration units then concentrated American and allied remains at Tanggok before they were permanently buried or repatriated.[14][19]
Besides burial services, refrigeration units to store remains were added,[23] as were cremation facilities. Casualties from the
Colombia Battalion were cremated at Tanggok by the American Graves Registration Service and then repatriated to Colombia in 1954.[25] Today the 2,300 graves in the cemetery are set out in 22 sites designated by the nationalities of the buried service members.[12]
Post-armistice
Following the signing of the
Korean Armistice Agreement in July 1953, the United Nations Command sought to recover bodies interred in North Korean territory.[26] Cemeteries for POWs in North Korea were established at 16 POW camps.[27] From September to October 1954, the resulting exchange of casualties, dubbed
Operation Glory, between United Nations forces and the North Koreans resulted in 4,219 remains being recovered, of which 1,275 were non-US casualties.[28] Also exchanged were the remains of approximately 14,000 North Korean and Chinese casualties.[29] From 1950 to 1954, approximately 11,000 casualties were interred at UNMC, which was maintained by the United States Army Graves Registration Agency.[5][30][31]
Foundation as a United Nations cemetery and transfer to CUNMCK
It was officially established as the United Nations Memorial Cemetery on 15 December 1955 with the passage of
UN General Assembly Resolution 977(X).[32] Following the war, the cemetery was funded from the United Nations budget, but the Sino-Soviet world objected to this funding.[33][34] In 1973, the cemetery was transferred from the UN to the Commission for the United Nations Memorial Cemetery (CUNMCK), which is composed of representatives from the 11 countries who have servicemembers buried there.[12][35]
Interfaith memorial chapel – built by the United Nations Command in 1964[12]
Main gate – designed by Korean architect
Kim Joong-up and built by the city of Busan in 1966.[12][36] The end of the eight pillars supporting the roof was designed as a bowl and a symbol representing the moment and the eternity, expressing a soft and solemn standing for the soldiers.
Memorabilia display hall – built by the UN in 1968[12]
The Wall of Remembrance, completed in 2006, has the names of the 40,896 United Nations casualties (killed and missing) inscribed on 140 marble panels.[42][61]
The UNMCK maintains a website in
Korean, English, and
Turkish, which allows website visitors to post online flowers and tributary messages.[62]
Notable graves
The cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 military personnel and 11 non-combatants.
Between 1951 and 1954 there were about 11,000 burials of UN troops from 21 countries. As of 2012, there are 2,300 wards of eleven countries, including 36 of the
Republic of Korea troops deployed to the
United Nations military bases. Burials of seven countries' graves were retrieved back to their homeland, including Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxembourg, Philippines and Thailand.[69] The burials of
British Commonwealth Forces Korea are located in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery. The numbers are 885 British troops, in accordance with the English customs of the dead.[70]
^The Korean War started on 25 June 1950 when North Korean forces pushed south of the
38th parallel which
divided Korea following World War II. With authorization from the United Nations, forces from the United States and other nations pushed the North Koreans back to the north. When these UN forces approached China, Chinese forces intervened and the battlefront eventually stabilized along the 38th parallel. The
Korean Armistice was signed on 27 July 1953 to end the fighting.
^Korean War casualties only. In 2012, the cremated remains of Archie Hearsay were buried with his brother,
Joseph, who had died in Korea while both were serving. See:
"Ashes of Canadian veteran buried beside brother in S. Korea". TBNewsWatch (Dougall Media). The Canadian Press. 25 April 2012. Archived from
the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
^Brent, Winston A. (2001). 2 Squadron in Korea: Flying Cheetahs 1950–1953. Nelspruit: Freeworld Publications. p. 134.
ISBN978-0958388092.
OCLC174758735.
^
abDickon, Chris (2011). The Foreign Burial of American War Dead: A History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. pp. 138, 141.
ISBN978-0786446124.
OCLC659753667.
^
ab"Korea 2007". Det Norske Kongehus. 28 November 2007.
Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014. Among [the soldiers] is Norwegian Second Engineer Reidar George Tveit ...
Crown Prince Haakon [also] laid a wreath at the new monument commemorating the Norwegian soldiers ...
^Reportedly of North Koreans who refused to be repatriated following the war because they had criticized the regime. See: Baldwin, R F (2013) [2011]. Seven Years in Asia: A Wander's Tale. Booksmango. p. 278.
ISBN978-6162450969.
OCLC781689455.
^
abcdCook, James C. (March–April 1953).
"Graves Registration in the Korean Conflict". The Quartermaster Review. Fort Lee, VA: Army Quartermaster Museum.
Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
^Cannon, Florence (May–June 1952).
"Our Honored Dead". The Quartermaster Review. United States Quartermaster Museum & The Memorial Day Foundation.
Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2013. [After July 1950], reports of burials were received from cemeteries in the Miryang, Taegu, Kaesong, Pyongyang, Sukehon, Wonsan, Pupchong, Hungnam, Yudarn, Koto-ri and Tanggok areas.
^Sledge, Michael (2007) [2005]. Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 40–41, 58, 80, 190.
ISBN978-0231509374.
OCLC60527603.
^"Operation GLORY: Historical Summary". Condensed from Graves Registration Division, Korean Communications Zone (KCOMZ). Fort Lee, VA: Army Quartermaster Museum. July–December 2004.
Archived from the original on 28 December 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2013. Note: the calculation of remains comes from Coleman as the "Historical Summary" gives a total of 4,023 UN remains received.
^Nahm, Andrew W.; Hoare, James E. (2004). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea. Lantham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 173.
ISBN0810849496.
OCLC54081516.
^Department of External Affairs (1956). Conference Series: Canada and the United Nations. Ottawa. p. 15.
^Hutchinson, Garrie (2006). Pilgrimage: A Traveler's Guide to Australia's Battlefields. Melbourne: Black Inc. p. 384.
ISBN978-1863953870.
OCLC234310738.
^Hall, Colin Michael (1994). Tourism in the Pacific Rim: Development, Impacts, and Markets. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. p. 48.
ISBN978-0470233757.
OCLC258617555.
^"New Zealand Memorial in Korea". National monuments & war graves. NZ Identity & Heritage. 19 February 2013.
Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
Martz, John D. Jr. (May–June 1954).
"Homeward Bound". Quartermaster Review. Fort Lee, VA: US Army Quartermaster Foundation. Archived from
the original on 2 November 2013. A description of the post-
interment processing of casualties undertaken at
Kokura, Japan, in which they were identified and prepared for repatriation.