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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, July 26, 2003

Stamp honors Korean War veterans

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

A half-century after the guns ceased to fire in Korea, history buffs, average citizens and dedicated philatelists will get the chance to remember those who fought "The Forgotten War."

The unveiling of America's newest 37 cent postage stamp — the Korean War Veterans Memorial Stamp — will officially take place tomorrow in Washington, D.C., at 10 a.m. But six hours later, at 10 a.m. Hawai'i time, the stamp will get a second unofficial unveiling at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

The ceremonies coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice on July 27, 1953.

"Both are taking place at 10 a.m., which is supposedly the time 50 years ago when the guns stopped on Armistice Day," said Marc Dixon, United States Postal Service spokesman in Hawai'i.

"The ceremony we're doing here in Hawai'i is not an actual Postal Service ceremony. It's a state ceremony, and we're just a part of that ceremony."

Dixon said the Postal Service has issued stamps before that recognized the Korean War, in which 37,000 Americans died and 103,000 were wounded.

"But this stamp is more to recognize the veterans themselves," he said.

The stamp, which depicts Korean War Veterans Memorial statues shrouded in snow, was designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Ariz. It features a photo by John W. Alli of Catonsville, Md., taken during a snowstorm in Washington, D.C., in 1996.

Dixon said the stamp will be available at post offices in Hawai'i and the rest of the country beginning Monday.

Irwin Cockett, retired Army brigadier general and Korean War veteran, said the stamp, along with other 50th Anniversary Korean War tributes, should go a long way to alter public perceptions of "The Forgotten War."

"I think that's disappearing," said Cockett, who fought in Korea with the 5th Regimental Combat Team stationed at Schofield Barracks.