The Lewis Army Museum on Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington has displays on the Army’s involvement in the Korean War. Korea, which had been occupied by Japan for thirty-five years, was liberated after World War II and divided into two countries: North Korea, part of the Soviet sphere of influence, and South Korea, part of the American sphere of influence.
According to the Museum:
“The Korean War marked the first major conventional military action of the Cold War. Post-World War II Korea had been divided between a Soviet-backed government in the North and an American-backed government in the South. In 1950, North Korea stormed across the 38th Parallel of Latitude and invaded South Korea. President Truman argued before the United Nations that ‘communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to … armed invasion and war.’ The United Nations (UN) Security Council condemned the action and a U.S.-led coalition came to the aid of South Korea, while the Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China backed the North.”
According to the Museum:
“The soldiers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) were outfitted with communist-bloc uniforms, weapons, and equipment. Although tensions between North and South had been high since the end of World War II, the June 1950 invasion took South Korea by surprise. The KPA had been supplied with a combined arms force that the South Korean Army could not counter without outside help.”
The UN Resolution called for the restoration of peace and security to the region. American forces pushed the North Koreans back to the Yalu River, the border with China. This provoked the Chinese. In his book A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn reports:
“The Chinese then swept southward and the war was stalemated at the 38th parallel under peace negotiations restored, in 1953, the old boundary between North and South.”
While 16 countries sent troops to aid South Korea, about 90% of the aid came from the United States.
More museum military exhibits
Veterans Memorial Museum: The Korean War (Photo Diary)
Air Force Museum: Korean War Memorabilia (photo diary)
Air Force Museum: Korean War fighter planes (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: Jet fighters of the 1950s (photo diary)
Veterans Memorial Museum: Military Weapons (Photo Diary)
Museum of Arts and Culture: Bomber Boys (photo diary)
Museums 101: World War II (photo tour)
Ohio History Center: World War I (photo diary)