Ground Breaking Ceremony

Finally ground has been broken to construct a long overdue statue of one of the heroes of the Korean War General Walton Walker:

When Gen. Walton Walker died after a noncombat-related traffic accident during some of the darkest days of the Korean War, his 8th Army soldiers were taking a beating from the enemy.

On Tuesday, the 58th anniversary of Walker’s death, South Korean and U.S. military officials gathered at Yongsan Garrison on Tuesday to break ground on a statue dedicated to the man, one of the war’s earliest U.S. generals who was credited for doing much to buy time so United Nations forces could turn the war around.

On the 58th anniversary of Walker’s death, officials marked the beginning of construction of a statue in his honor by cutting a ribbon and moving a ceremonial shovelful of dirt outside the 8th U.S. Army headquarters building.

The statue, paid for by the Republic of Korea/U.S. Friendship society, is slated for completion in late 2009.  [Stars & Stripes]

General Walker’s Legacy A Victim of Anti-Americanism

ROK Drop readers may remember the difficulty the Korea/U.S. Friendship Society had trying to find a location to build this statue:

KAFA asked Busan’s United Nations Memorial Cemetery in 2005 if it could put a statue of Walker there. Some of the 11 countries whose soldiers are buried there said no, because the statue wouldn’t represent the United Nations.

“He is just a symbol of the U.S.,” said cemetery spokeswoman Park Eun-jung.

The association then asked the city of Daegu — home to the U.S. military’s Camps Henry and Camp Walker, named after the general — if it could erect the statue there. KAFA made its request during election season and during a period of elevated anti-Americanism, following the deaths of two South Korean schoolgirls killed by a military vehicle driven by U.S. soldiers three years earlier. City officials said they would review the plan after election, but civic groups protested, and the new mayor rejected it. A Daegu city spokesman said Friday he was unable to comment on the matter.

The claim that General Walton Walker does not represent the United Nations is ridiculous and one that the US should have protested to the United Nations about.  General Walker was the ground commander for the 8th Army during the war that included troops from UN member nations that were dispatched to aid in the defense of South Korea.

Where the Statue Should Be

With that said the statue shouldn’t be built in Pusan anyway, Daegu is the most fitting place since it was the key city on the front lines of the Pusan Perimeter:

It was the Pusan Perimeter defense that was General Walker’s greatest legacy during the war and Daegu should be the city any memorial to General Walker should be constructed.  It is a shame that once again anti-Americanism is prevented the construction of this statue in a city that General Walker and his men so valiantly defended from North Korean aggression.

Future of the Statue

For those wondering, since the statue is being built on Yongsan Garrison, it will remain there after US forces vacate the base in the coming years because the current 8th Army Headquarters is slated to become a museum after the base is handed over to the Korean government.  Let’s hope that when the base is handed over General Walker’s statue will not be vandalized and attempted to be tore down by the anti-US groups like another statue of an American General was.

Further Reading:
The Marmot’s Hole
Korea Times
Stars & Stripes