07/27/2021
Today on Korean Armistice Day we’re proud to spotlight our very own Korean Service veteran, and secretary/treasurer, Kenny Ripa!
Kenny voluntarily enlisted in the US Army in April of 1962 and served in the Army Security Agency as an Electronic Equipment Repairman. After basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, MO, he completed electronics training in Fort Devens, MA, then spent a year on the border of North and South Korea where he repaired field equipment. He served out his last year in Fort Walters, Texas, as electronic support for the Army divisions. He is still active volunteering with the American Legion.
---- More about Korean Armistice Day & History of the Korean War ----
Sixty-eight years ago, on July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed ending the Korean war, now officially recognized as Armistice Day. At 10 a.m. that day, in Panmunjom, 18 official copies of the tri-language Korean Armistice Agreement were signed. The signing of the agreement marked the end of the longest negotiated armistice in history with 158 meetings spread over two years and 17 days. The agreement allowed the POWs to stay where they liked; drew a new boundary near the 38th parallel that gave South Korea an extra 1,500 square miles of territory; and created a 2-mile-wide “demilitarized zone” that still exists today.
The Korean War began June 25, 1950, with the North Korean army's invasion of South Korea and has the moniker “the forgotten war” due to it starting as a police action, growing to a conflict, and ending with a ceasefire with no clear winner. The fight on the Korean peninsula became symbolic of the fight between east and west, good and evil, and communism itself. With President Harry Truman famously saying, “If we let Korea down, the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another.”
In total, there were 5,720,000 US servicemembers that served worldwide at this time, with 1,789,000 in theater. Nearly 5 million people died during the Korean war, more than half of them were civilians. 40,000 Americans died in action, and more than 100,000 were wounded.
Western United Mutual would like to thank all past and present servicemembers for their sacrifice!
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