Posted on: Monday, June 23, 2003

Event to mark Korean War's 53rd anniversary

Advertiser Staff

A ceremony to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the Korean War will be held Wednesday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The 10 a.m. program at the Punchbowl landmark will include a 21-gun salute by the 25th Infantry Division (Light) Artillery Battery and selections by the U.S. Marine Forces Pacific Band.

Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, will provide the keynote address. Heung Sik Choi, South Korea's consul general, and retired Brig. Gen. Irwin K. Cockett Jr., director of the state's Office of Veterans Services, will also provide remarks.

Choi and the consuls general of Japan, Australia and the Philippines, along with representatives of American and Korean veterans organizations, will present floral wreaths of remembrance.

The ceremony is part of a three-year-long commemoration organized by the the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Commission. The commemoration, which will end Nov. 11, has included special events in Hawai'i, in South Korea and across the U.S. Mainland.