News Release
For Immediate Release
June 26, 2002

GREENLEAF SPEAKS AT KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL CEREMONY

HARRISBURG—Speaking before a gathering of Korean War veterans, city and state officials, and the South Korean ambassador to the United States at the dedication of the new Pennsylvania Korean War Memorial in Philadelphia, Sen. Greenleaf lauded the veterans who dedicated themselves to the construction of the memorial.

“I have worked with people who devoted many years to finding funding, selecting a design, and getting this monument built, and I am pleased to have been successful in obtaining $675,000 in state funding for this project,” he said.

Greenleaf said that those who worked to gather donations for the monument “have succeeded in telling a story that has not been told.”  Noting that the Korean War, which began  50 years ago this month, is known as the forgotten war, Greenleaf said that the monument ensures that the Korean War and its veterans “will be remembered for generations to come.”

The senator, who was invited to speak because he was instrumental in securing state funding for the memorial and because of his interest in the fate of unaccounted for soldiers from the Korean War, said that federal officials should be committed to finding those prisoners of war who may still be alive and in finding out the fates of others whose families still await word. He has traveled to the Korean peninsula several times and introduced a resolution on the POW/MIA issue.

According to the State Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, more than 350,000 Pennsylvanians served in the Korean War and 2,333 died of wounds received in the war.