Friday Marks 60th Anniversary of Start of Korean War In Which 555 Floridians Lost Their Lives

Lost amid all the comparisons of President Barack Obamas dismissal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal is President Harry Trumans relieving Gen. Douglas MacArthur of command during the Korean War. Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the start of that war which led to the showdown between Truman and MacArthur.

The Korean War has been called "the forgotten war" and is probably best remembered these days for the antics of Hawkeye Pierce, Frank Burns, Klinger and the gang from MASH. Thats unfortunate. Besides being one of the first times the Cold War grew hot, the Korean War was also the first time the United Nations was put to the test.

Killed in action defending South Korea were 36,515 American servicemen, including 555 from the great state of Florida. You can find a list of the Floridians who made the ultimate sacrifice to Korea at this site.

One Floridian who served in Korea as an artillery officer was a young man by the name of Lawton Chiles. Chiles would put on his boots from the Korean War during his legendary U.S. Senate campaign in 1970 when the then-unknown state senator walked across Florida as part of his campaign. He left a few notes on his experience and how Korea shaped him:

I was walking today in some service boots that I haven't worn since I was in Korea. I started thinking back and remembering that it was during the "cease-fire" and we had a colonel that wanted to keep the troops occupied so that they wouldn't get bored, so he had us go on forced marches. I used to lead the column on a 20-mile forced march wearing these boots. At that time I was a first lieutenant and could step out ahead of the column and slip back to the back and pick up stragglers and see how they were getting along and dog-trot back up to the head of the column and march at a clip that would make 20 miles in a day. I was kinda wondering what was wrong with these boots today 'cause I wasn't making quite that kind of time. Maybe it's the 18 years in-between and not the boots. Lt. Chiles was still at the head of the column today, but he was having a lot of trouble with Sen. Chiles who was a straggler. Sen. Chiles kept looking for a corpsman, and I think he was looking for a stretcher to ride on.