Aging Mo. veterans recall serving in Korean War

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Omissions and misconceptions still prevail in American history books and today's culture when it comes to recalling those who fought in the Korean War.

Several St. Joseph men who fought in the war discussed their thoughts during this, the 55th anniversary year of the signing of the armistice. To them, the Korean War is still best known by its forlorn moniker: "The Forgotten War."

Frank Flesher -- who served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army -- listed two reasons for the war's persistent anonymity.

"It was a relatively short war," he said, lasting from 1950 to 1953. The fact that the war occurred between World War II and the Vietnam War also appears to be a contributor, he added.

Both the Korean and Vietnam wars seem to be victims of lapsed attention whenever history is transcribed, said Flesher, who directs the National Military Heritage Museum in St. Joseph.

Textbook omissions

Students spent more time poring over earlier wars in the days when he taught junior high and high school classes.

"The textbook writers have left a lot out, reference Korea," he said.

At least one remedy may be available to better showcase the war's relevance.

"One of the things we're trying to do is set up exhibits" on the war and other contemporary wars, Flesher said of the museum. "There needs to be a refocusing of history."

As more veterans die -- such as the declining numbers of those who fought in World War II -- so do the efforts to record living history for future study.

"Unfortunately, we're starting to join that disintegrating line," the 75-year-old Flesher said.

At the Missouri Veterans Home in Cameron, administrator Celia Reed said 57 of 197 current residents hail from the Korean War era.

"A number of World War II veterans are leaving us, and there are more and more Korean veterans," she said.

Lloyd Pasley, a former St. Joseph interim chief of police who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, also fears the war has largely been abandoned by historians.

"But they [Korean veterans] would like to forget," he added.

A changed Korea

Pasley and his wife, Barbara, visited South Korea in 2003 in a trip sponsored by the Federation of Korean Industries. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the war's armistice, which was signed July 27, 1953, and established a truce and demilitarized zone separating the North from the South.

"I got to see three of my old battlefields," Pasley said.

He and nearly 400 other American veterans also observed a changed South Korea from the country they knew decades earlier, since growth in the nation's democracy and economic development had transformed its landscape.

Another Marine, Don E. Thornton, cited another factor why Korea doesn't muster the same emotions as other wars.

"It was unpopular, just like Vietnam," he said.

By contrast, most contemporary knowledge of the Korean War seems to emanate from the movie and television series "M*A*S*H." Pasley said "M*A*S*H" didn't accurately reflect the war, but does closely depict the reality of casualty rates handled by such units.

Flesher said he enjoyed the show, which named locations in Korea not far from where he was stationed.