The sculpture is positioned over a granite base, which is inscribed with the names of the 1,743 Illinois residents killed in Korea. Although a number of people have been involved in the effort to erect the memorial, the driving force behind the project is former Marine Gunnery Sgt. Carl I. Greenwood of Springfield. Six years ago, he began what became a personal crusade to honor the memory of Illinois' Korean War dead. There were 58,000 casualties over 10 years in Vietnam, but we lost nearly that many in three years in Korea.
Nobody knows that.
Determined to honor those who lost their lives and ensure that this chapter of the nation's and state's history is not forgotten, Greenwood originally designed a model for a memorial, and toted it around the state to veterans groups and other organizations in an effort to raise funds needed to build a permanent memorial. For six years, he criss-crossed the state, rallying support for his cause at every stop and raising money through just about every means imaginable. We held spaghetti and mostaccioli dinners, and I stood out there and begged, borrowed and bummed in the hot sun at the state fair selling raffle tickets. A U. of I. student familiar with Youngman's work visited Greenwood's archery business, and during an informal discussion, mentioned that there was an art professor at the university who might be just the person Greenwood was seeking to design the memorial. I met with Carl, and he took me out to the cemetery to look at the proposed site for the memorial.