II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2914 

To recognize and honor the soldiers of the United States and the Republic 

of Korea who served, were wounded, or were killed from 1953 until 

the present in the defense of the Republic of Korea, to require the 

placement of a commemorative plaque at the Korean War Veterans 

Memorial in Washington, D.C., and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 19, 2006 

Mr. DEWINE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To recognize and honor the soldiers of the United States 

and the Republic of Korea who served, were wounded, 

or were killed from 1953 until the present in the defense 

of the Republic of Korea, to require the placement of 

a commemorative plaque at the Korean War Veterans 

Memorial in Washington, D.C., and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DMZ War Veterans 

5 Recognition Act of 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the Korean War, which began in 1950 and 

4 ended when the Korean War Armistice was signed 

5 in 1953, is commonly known as the ‘‘Forgotten 

6 War’’; 

7 (2) a later war in Korea, known only to some 

8 veterans and their families as the ‘‘Unknown War’’ 

9 or the ‘‘DMZ War’’, occurred long after the Korean 

10 War Armistice was signed in 1953; 

11 (3) according to military documents, the leader12 ship of North Korea issued a declaration of war 

13 against the United States in a speech in 1966, which 

14 read that ‘‘U.S. imperialists should be dealt blows 

15 and their forces dispersed to the maximum in Asia. 

16 . . .’’; 

17 (4) the 124th Special Forces unit of North 

18 Korea— 

19 (A) was trained— 

20 (i) to destroy the camps and civilians 

21 of the United States; 

22 (ii) to disrupt travel and communica23 tion between the Armed Forces; and 

24 (iii) to sabotage and assassinate the 

25 government officials of South Korea and 

26 the United States; and 


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1 (B) repeatedly confronted the soldiers of 

2 the United States and the Republic of Korea 

3 when crossing through the Demilitarized Zone; 

4 (5) since the Armistice was signed, over 40,000 

5 Armistice violations have occurred, many of which 

6 involved troops of the United States who were sta7 tioned in and around Korea; 

8 (6) some of those violations, like the capture of 

9 the USS Pueblo, caught the attention of the media, 

10 although most have not; 

11 (7) since the end of the Korean War, many sol12 diers of the United States have died or been wound13 ed in Korea as a result of hostile fire; 

14 (8) some veterans of the Republic of Korea suf15 fer from exposure to Agent Orange, which was used 

16 during a period that began in 1968 and ended in 

17 1969 in and around the DMZ; 

18 (9) because the hazardous properties of Agent 

19 Orange last for at least 100 years, soldiers of the 

20 United States who later served in the Demilitarized 

21 Zone had been exposed to the chemical long after 

22 the Armed Forces stopped using it; 

23 (10) the military personnel of the United States 

24 who served in the Korean War during the period 


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1 that began in 1966 and ended in 1969 received the 

2 Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; and 

3 (11) a few of the soldiers who fought and died 

4 in the Korean War have been— 

5 (A) nominated posthumously for the Con6 gressional Medal of Honor; and 

7 (B) awarded— 

8 (i) the Silver Star or Bronze Star for 

9 valor in combat; and 

10 (ii) the Purple Heart for being wound11 ed in combat. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 (a) PLAQUE.—The term ‘‘plaque’’ means the plaque 

14 directed to be placed at the Korean War Veterans Memo15 rial in Washington, D.C. under section 4(a). 

16 (b) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the 

17 Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of 

18 the National Park Service. 

19 SEC. 4. PLACEMENT OF COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE. 

20 Not later than November 11, 2009, the Secretary 

21 shall place on or near the grounds of the Korean War Vet22 erans Memorial in Washington, D.C., a plaque to com23 memorate the sacrifices of those who served, were wound24 ed, or were killed from 1953 until the present in the de25 fense of the Republic of Korea, that contains the following 


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1 inscription (in which the bracketed space shall include the 

2 date on which the plaque is placed): ‘‘Dedicated to the 

3 soldiers of the United States and the Republic of Korea 

4 who served, were wounded, or were killed from 1953 until 

5 the present in the defense of the Republic of Korea. The 

6 efforts of those soldiers have enabled the Republic of 

7 Korea to develop into a successful and modern country. 

8 Since 1953, the Armed Forces of the United States experi9 enced more than 40,000 ‘Armistice violation incidents.’ 

10 Those incidents have caused the deaths of over 100 sol11 diers of the Armed Forces of the United States and the 

12 wounding of hundreds more from hostile fire in the Ko13 rean Peninsula and its surrounding waters. Unknown to 

14 most citizens, the soldiers of the United States and the 

15 Republic of Korea fought and won the ‘DMZ War’ be16 tween November 1966 and December 1969. That war 

17 caused the majority of the Armistice casualties. We re18 member the service, sacrifice, and valor of all of those sol19 diers on this 40th anniversary of the start of the DMZ 

20 War. Their fellow soldiers and their families will never for21 get them. Let this Plaque aid their countries to remember 

22 them as well. Placed this day, 

23 [llllllllll].’’. 

Æ 


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