Korean War Veterans Oral History Interviewing Project

Noted historian Max Hastings has written, "In the past twenty years the public fascination with military history has become a minor literary phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. It has centered overwhelmingly upon the Second World War. In the past decade, more surprisingly, Vietnam has also given birth to a major publishing industry. How is it, then, that the other great mid-twentieth century conflict with communism, Korea, remains so neglected?" S.L.A. Marshall, the fine military historian, has described the Korean War as "the century's nastiest little war." Korea has often been referred to as "The Forgotten War," and yet over 1.3 million Americans served in the Korean Theatre and over 33,000 did not return. The Arthur L. Kelly American Veterans Oral History Project housed in the University of Kentucky Oral History Program contains over 300 interviews with American veterans, yet only three of these interviews are with Korean War veterans. With this grant, William J. Marshall and Jeffrey Suchanek, co-editors of Time On Target: The World War II Memoir of William R. Buster (Kentucky Historical Society Foundation, 1999) will begin to correct the inadequate documentation of Kentucky veterans' participation in the Korean War. Marshall and Suchanek will attempt to interview veterans from all branches of the armed services, including women and African Americans, as well as from all major campaigns (Pusan Perimeter, Task Force Smith, Inchon Landings, Bloody Ridge, The Gauntlet, punchbowl, etc.).