When North Korea invaded South Korea in the early morning hours of June 25, 1950, the United States was plunged into an intense and costly war in order to help stem the tide of communism. The ensuing three-year military conflict included twenty-two countries and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2 to 4 million civilians and military personnel, including 36,940 American soldiers. Often overshadowed by other world events, the Korean War has fallen into a vast no-man's land in the American psyche, somehow lost between the headiness of World War II and the anguish of Vietnam. According to Max Hastings, one of the leading historians on the Korean War, "United States losses in three years were only narrowly outstripped by those suffered in Vietnam over more than ten." In addition to the immense personal cost, the worldwide political ramifications of the war were huge and are still manifesting themselves even today. Yet the war is one that most Americans would rather forget. Indeed, ...
