"FREEDOM IS NOT FREE" is the inscription on the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Korean War started JUNE 25, 1950.
Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, killing thousands.
Outnumbered South Korean and American troops, as part of a UN "police" action, fought courageously against the Communist Chinese and North Korean troops, who were supplied with arms and MIG fighters from the Soviet Union.
General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United Nations Command from 1950 to 1951, made a daring landing of troops at Inchon, deep behind North Korean lines, and recaptured the city of Seoul.
General Douglas MacArthur warned in a speech to the Salvation Army, December 12, 1951, stating:
"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline.
There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."
With temperatures sometimes forty degrees below zero, and Washington politicians limiting the use of air power against the Communists, there were nearly 140,000 American casualties in:
-the defense of the Pusan Perimeter and Taego;
-the landing at Inchon and the freeing of Seoul;
-the capture of Pyongyang;
-the Yalu River where nearly a million Communist Chinese soldiers invaded;
-the Battles of Changjin Reservoir, Old Baldy, White Horse Mountain, Heartbreak Ridge, Pork Chop Hill, T-Bone Hill, and Siberia Hill.
President Harry S Truman stated while lighting the National Christmas Tree, December 24, 1952:
"Our hearts turn first of all to our brave men and women in Korea. They are fighting and suffering and even dying that we may preserve the chance of peace in the world...
And as we go about our business of trying to achieve peace in the world, let us remember always to try to act and live in the spirit of the Prince of Peace. He bore in His heart no hate and no malice - nothing but love for all mankind.
We should try as nearly as we can to follow His example. We believe that all men are truly the children of God...
As we pray for our loved ones far from home - as we pray for our men and women in Korea...let us also pray for our enemies.
Let us pray that the spirit of God shall enter their lives and prevail in their lands...Through Jesus Christ the world will yet be a better and a fairer place."
Get the book, Prayers and Presidents - Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred.
Fighting in Korea was halted July 27, 1953, with the signing of an armistice at Panmunjom.
At the College of William and Mary, May 15, 1953, Dwight Eisenhower stated:
"It is necessary that we earnestly seek out and uproot any traces of communism."
Dwight Eisenhower stated December 24, 1953, lighting the National Christmas Tree:
"The world still stands divided in two antagonistic parts. Prayer places freedom and communism in opposition one to the other.
The Communist can find no reserve of strength in prayer because his doctrine of materialism and statism denies the dignity of man and consequently the existence of God.
But in America...religious faith is the foundation of free government, so is prayer an indispensable part of that faith...The founders of this, our country, came first to these shores in search of freedom...to live...beyond the yoke of tyranny."
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