The War Memorial

Day 7 of our trip and almost at its conclusion was spent visiting the War Memorial of Korea. We had actually tried to go here earlier in our trip but it was unfortunately closed on that day, but we persevered and came on a day that it was open. The War Memorial was another history lesson about the Korean war, with videos and displays to help you visualize the events of the time.

The museum was opened in 1994 and became the largest landmark of its kind in the world. The museum housed 13,000 items in six halls under different themes; Memorial Hall, War History, Korean War, Expeditionary Forces Room, ROK Armed Forces Room, and Large Equipment Room plus the outside exhibition area.

The Entrance to the War Memorial of Korea.

From the entrance to the museum itself, looking over the giant square with flags from all over the world.

A large obelisk like statue with statues of fighting soldiers on either side. I thought it was pretty cool.

One of the statues to the side of the obelisk. These things were massive, the fist on these guys were as big as my head.

This was the statues on the other side of the obelisk.

This is the famous statue on the memorial grounds named "Statue of the Brothers", is a symbol of the Korean war. It depicts a scene where a family's older brother, an ROK officer, and his younger brother, a North Korean soldier, meet in a battlefield and express reconciliation, love and forgiveness. Being a statue made in Sth Korea, obviously the ROK soldier is the older, bigger officer and the younger smaller Nth Korean resting in his arms. I'd dare say that this statue might look very different in Nth Korea. The crack in the dome under the brothers stands for the division of Korea and the hope for reunification.

The Aussie flag stands proudly between the British and maybe Dutch flag ... not too certain about that one.

This is Memorial Hall. Along the sides are the names of all the Republic of Korea Armed Forces soldiers and policemen killed in Korean War and Vietnam War as well as all the United Nations Forces soldiers killed in the Korean War.

Here are the names of the Aussies that died defending South Korea.

Around the outside grounds of the museum held many of the weaponry used during the war. Things, like missile launchers, planes, helicopters, jets, tanks, vehicles, etc.

This was one of the tanks.

Inside the museum as I mentioned contained many videos and displays of various events throughout the Korean war. This was a display of the North Koreans, complete with soviet made tanks, invading South Korea at 4am on Sunday 25th July, 1950.

At the time of the North Korean invasion, the South Korean troops were under skilled, poorly trained and inadequately equipped to defend their country. While the Soviets supplied large amounts of up-to-date military equipment, including 200 jet fighters and 500 heavy tanks to the northies before they left. Wanting to help defend their country, 100,000 students joined in the fight against Nth Korea. Here is a scene of the "Battle of Pohang Middle School" by student volunteers. The students are fighting against the northies complete in their school uniforms.

John crossing the 38th parallel ... doom doom doom!

This is a little model of the DMZ area. You can clearly see the conference rooms in the middle, to the left is the South Korean Freedom house and to the left is the North Korean Panmun-gak building.

Now to tell you about the Panmunjom Axe Murder incident. The incident was sparked when a overhanging poplar tree was blocking the view of one of the guard towers on the South Korean side, preventing them from seeing to the next guard tower. Even though the tree was on the South Korean side, it was near a road that the North Koreans used, and they fiercely opposed the tree being cut down. At about 11am on 18 August 1976, when work was to begin on cutting down the tree. North Korean soldiers stormed in and starting attacking the UNC and ROK soldiers. The Nth Koreans used the axes that were meant for cutting the tree on their victims. Two American soldiers were killed, Captain Bonifas and Lieutenant Barrett. The attack only lasted 4 minutes before the Nth Koreans fled. The site is now a symbol to freedom everywhere.

I found this to be quite humorous. It shows that North Korea are just puppets to China and Soviet Union at the time. So its Joseph Stalin pushing Mao Zedong in turn pushing the North Korean solider into the fire first or is that actually Kim Il Song???

Our Aussie diggers in their gear ... ready for war.

In remembrance of the Korean soldiers and UN military participants who lost their lives in the Korean War, the respect towards the warriors (1,300 identification tags) has been embodied as tear drops. The iron barbed wire around the tags symbolizes the horror, suppression and danger of the tragic war. All hung from the UN symbol on the ceiling.

A statue of the moment South Korea won their country back.

So ends, one of the best trips I've been on. It was quite memorable and John and Clarence certainly made it more enjoyable. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

On a final note, just cause I love it ... they deliver Maccas in Korea ... talk about getting even fatter!