In memory of the Unknown Soldiers of the Korean War. Section U. National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Punchbowl Crater. Honolulu, Hawai’i.
AT THE PUNCHBOWL IN HAWAII,
WHERE BANNERS FOR HEROES ARE FLOWN.
THERE’S A RESTING PLACE, A PLOT OF LAND,
MARKED : “KOREA . . . . U.S. UNKNOWN.”
PEOPLE PASS BY WITHOUT A TEAR,
IT’S SAD “THEY’RE SO ALL ALONE,”
FOR WITHIN THIS SPOT THERE ARE HEROES;
THE SOULS OF OUR UNKNOWN.
THEY REST HERE TOGETHER NAMELESS,
REGARDLESS OF FAITH OR RACE.
KNOWN ONLY TO GOD;
“YET” WE VETERANS KNOW THEIR FACE!
WE PRAY THEY ARE AT PEACE TODAY,
WITHIN THIS “HALLOWED GROUND.”
FOR TODAY WITHOUT THESE NAMELESS MEN,
WORLD PEACE COULD NOT BE FOUND.
CLOUDS ACROSS THE SKIES WILL SHED
THEIR TEARS IN MANY A FOREIGN PLACE,
TRUE! THEY’RE KNOWN ONLY BUT TO GOD,
BUT WE VETERANS KNOW THEIR FACE.
FORGIVE OUR LACK OF MEMORY FOR NAMES
AND THE DISREGARD WE’VE SHOWN, BUT
FOREVER AND A DAY WE’LL SEE YOUR FACE;
“THE FACE OF OUR UNKNOWN.”
R.C. HOLTZER
1,789,000 Americans served in the Korean theater. 33,742 were killed in action, died while a P.O.W., or died from wounds sustained in battle. 8,176 are still unaccounted for. 1,794 of those were killed and never identified. Of that number, 864 are buried at Punchbowl. Statistics courtesy of korean-war.com and miafacts.org
Who remembers the Korean War? How many pages are devoted to it in our school textbooks today? Who visits those graves marked “U.S. Unknown Korea” at cemeteries across the U.S.? Who sheds a tear for those nameless and forgotten soldiers interred there? Who places flowers at those graves for the families whose loved one never returned? Who says a quiet word of thanks for the freedom we enjoy because of their ultimate sacrifice?
Remember Korea.
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