50th Anniversary At Inchon Remembered
About 3,500 mostly graying U.S. veterans of the Korean War and school children convened at an indoor stadium in Inchon, Korea Friday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Inchon amphibious landings. The course of war turned in favor of U.S.-led United Nations forces fighting communist invaders.
School girls danced and South Korean Marines smashed tiles in a martial arts performance.
Dozens of U.S. Marine and Navy veterans traveled to attend the ceremony. A U.S. Navy band paraded inside the stadium.
"I couldn't help today but go back in my mind to what took place here -- the tremendous sacrifice and the birthplace of victory and the birthplace of freedom for this peninsula," said Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz, commander of U.S. Forces in South Korea.
On Sept. 15, 1950, U.S. and South Korean Marines stormed ashore at Inchon, located at about the peninsula's midpoint.
The 30-foot tides, seawalls and hidden shore guns, and the risk of landing at the heart of a port made the operation almost suicidal. But it also meant the attack was unexpected.
For two days, U.S. warships slammed the shores to knock out the enemy force on the shore. A total of 13,000 Marines went ashore on invasion day with only 21 deaths.
The allied forces soon pressed on to Seoul, 25 miles inland, breaking the back of the North Koreans who had swept down South Korea in the war's early weeks to corner allied forces at the southern tip of the peninsula.
"The sacrifices of the veterans laid the groundwork for South Korea's prosperity," said Lt. Gen. Kim Myong-hwan, commander of South Korea's 2nd Marine Division.
After the war, South Korea grew to become the 13th largest economy in the world, while North Korea now struggles to feed its people.
Friday's ceremony was part of a two-day commemoration of the Inchon landings.
On Thursday, U.S. veterans gathered at Inchon to remember the six U.S. destroyers that led the invasion.
The war began on June 25, 1950 when North Korean invaders streamed cross the 38th Parallel. The United Nations voted to send troops to repel the invaders.
Despite the allied forces' brilliant success at Inchon, the war eventually stalemated and a truce was signed on July 27, 1953.
About 36,000 U.S. troops were killed during the three-year war. Besides the United States, 14 allied countries sent troops to fight on South Korea's side.
They were Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa, France, Greece, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Belgium, and Sweden.
The Korean border remains the world's most heavily fortified, with up to 2 million battle-ready troops standing guard on both sides.
But relations between the two Koreas have improved dramatically since a historic summit between their leaders in June.
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