GUELPH POLITICAST #396 – Un-Forgetting the Korean War

This Saturday is Remembrance Day, our annual opportunity to stop and remember Canada’s war dead who made the ultimate sacrifice and the ones that came home. But not all wars are remembered equally. For instance, the Korean War has long been characterized as “the forgotten war”, so on this 70th anniversary of the unofficial end of the Korean War, how can we make sure that the forgotten war gets remembered?

On Remembrance Day 2013 in Guelph, the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War was given special consideration in the ceremony. Frank Bayne, a retired colonel who spent 14 months in Korea during the war, was the keynote speaker, and he commended his comrades for their bravery and denounced the characterization of the Korean War as a "conflict" or a "police action." Just five years after the end of World Ward II, 30,000 Canadian served in Korea, which is not exactly small potatoes.

There are plenty of scholars who are doing their best to make sure the Korean War gets remembered, and one of them is Dr. Andrew Burtch, a historian at the Canadian War Museum that specializes in post-World War II history. A few years ago he took part in a virtual event for the global affairs think tank the Wilson Centre to discuss Canada’s participation in the war and how it was key to the United Nations success in repelling the North Korean invasion. So why isn't the Korean War more of a part of Canada's story?

Dr. Burtch will join us on this week’s edition of the podcast to shed some light on the Korean War and Canada’s role in it. He will discuss what the war was about, and the complexities around how it ended. He will also talk about the role that Canada played among the UN forces, how Canadians distinguished themselves on the battlefield, and how the Korean War was thought about on the homefront as it was happening. Also, he will talk about the best ways to ensure that the Korean War is no longer forgotten.

So let's all remember the Korean War together, 70 years later, on this week's Guelph Politicast!

The Canadian War Museum presently has an exhibit dedicated to the Korean War called “Canada, Korea, and the War” and it runs until March 31 at the Museum in Ottawa. You can follow Burtch on social media @PostWarHist on Twitter, and you can buy his book Give Me Shelter: The Failure of Canada's Cold War Civil Defence wherever you can buy books. Remembrance Day services here in Guelph will take place on Saturday morning at McCrae House and then downtown at the Sleeman Centre, and to learn more check out the Legion Branch 234 website.

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