46 GI Snapshots Of The Korean War In Color

The Korean War in Photos (1950 – 1953).

 

The Korean War never ended. Combat began on 25 June 1950, when North Korea invaded South Korea, seeking unity under Communism. The two Koreas were shaped after Japan surrendered in World War 2; both counties formerly established in 1948. The North got sealed in by cold sea, Stalin and Moa; the South gazed at Western-style democracy secured by its US sponsor straddling a gargantuan defence budget.

Foreign interests reduced Koreans into extras in a battle for their existence.

The fighting ended on 27 July 1953 – both Koreas coerced into an prolonged stand off by their allies, the major Cold War powers. The result was that both countries became more endangered then a whale in a Japanese marine park. What followed served the interests of the US, China and the old Soviet Union. North Korea wanted to end the fighting in 1952. The Soviet Union and China wanted it to continue, part of their plan to tie the US down as the plotted incursions on Europe. The South wanted to carry on fighting until Korea was unified in its image. But they were dissuaded – the US was fearful of Communist plans for Europe. American troops were needed elsewhere.

The outcome can be debated but the millions of mostly Korean citizens killed and wounded died for division; they’re a people camped either side of the ridiculously misnamed ‘Demilitarized Zone’,’ one of the most militarized slices of land on earth.

What you don’t expect to see from that time, then, are scenes of normality: locals shopping, smiles and dames – always the women – photographed by male US soldiers and the high-tech cameras bought on R&R in Japan.

As of April 2018, there are 7,704 American soldiers still unaccounted for from the Korean War.

 

Via: m30wc51