It’s National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day 2009 and Gov. Rell has ordered that U.S. and State of Connecticut flags be flown at half-staff until sundown. “Thousands of Connecticut’s best and bravest served with honor and distinction in the Korean Conflict,” Rell said in a statement this afternoon. “It is only fitting that we commemorate the heroism of these veterans, living and dead, by lowering state and national flags in their honor on the anniversary of the July 27, 1953, armistice.
For you youngsters, the Korean War, 1950-53, was the fight for the peninsula between North and South Korea. China was aligned with the North and the U.S. and United Nations were on the side of the south, following the June, 1950 incursion into the South.
According to the World Almanac, quoting the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, there were about 3 million U.S. veterans of the Korean War in 2006, out of 5.8 million who served. There were 33,667 battle deaths, 3,249 other deaths, and 103,284 wounded during the war.
“The citizens of Connecticut and the United States remember and appreciate the enormous sacrifices these courageous men and women made on our behalf,” Rell said.