How has the Korean War been remembered?

The Korean War (if it is studied at all) is usually presented as part of the Cold War or from the point of view of particular nationalities who fought in it. In contrast, this resource aims to explore the impact that the war had on a variety of participants at the time.

It also considers how memory of the war became ‘lost’, in Britain at least, and then how the memory was recovered by British military veterans.

The resource then broadens its focus to consider which participants in the war or victims of the war students might include in a memorial and for what reasons.

Key areas of focus

• The immediate impact of the Korean War on military veterans, civilians and participating countries.
• The extent to which British military veterans ‘forgot’ about the war between 1953 and the 1980s.
• The subsequent process of gradual memorialisation of a neglected war.
• Design of a new British Korean War memorial.