How Did Peter Wojciechowski Remember The Korean War

The Korean War was a war on June 25, 1950, between North Korea with the support of China and the Soviet Union and South Korea with the support of the United States, and by the end of the war, the U.S lost 33,686 men in combat alone. Peter Wojciechowski was a veteran of the Korean War and was interviewed. He was enlisted in the marines and was sent to Japan at Camp McGill, where he worked with radios. In remembering Korean War veterans, it is important to consider the experiences of the camps, the significance of Japan, and remembering the “Forgotten War”. When talking about camp experiences, food is essential for determining the outcome of the experience. When Wojciechowski escorted his deceased brother for burial, he landed at Hickam,

Usually, after a soldier goes through boot camp during the Korean War, they are shipped off to army camps with or without his knowledge. Wojciechowski explains his time after boot camp,”I didn’t have any idea until they gave us our orders that I was gonna be going to Camp McGill just outside of Nakuska, Japan. And so that’s where I went”(Wojciechowski). Because there are American camps in Japan, the U.S could send troops to fight more frequently and efficiently due to Japan being very close to Korea. How Japan could let the U.S set up camps was through treaties. The article “Korean War and Japan’s Recovery” explains, “Acheson signed the San Francisco Treaty on September 8, 1951, the same day he and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru signed the United States-Japanese Security Treaty. The treaty allowed the United States to station troops in Japan and made the Japanese islands into an important facet of America’s global containment structure”(“Korean War and Japan’s Recovery”). Since the treaty let America station troops in Japan, that means more troops and resources can be sent safely rather than sending everything into hostile territory where there is potential for attack. However, importance isn’t significant if no one remembers

When asked the question of what would you tell young people today, Wojciechowski recalls, “I went out to the bank one day on December 7th, and I went to one of the tellers. It was a young gal who’d just gotten out of high school, and I said, “Today’s December 7th. What happened December 7th, 1941?” She looked at me, and she said, “Did Columbus discover America?” And I thought, “Oh, my goodness sakes.” And this is what happening, and especially with Korea. They say it’s the “forgotten war.” Yeah, it is”(Wojciechowski). Wojciechowski is saddened by the fact that young people don’t remember about the important events in history, especially the Korean War. However, there a reason why young people don’t remember history is due to to the fact that they choose not to. In an interview with history instructor, Melinda Pash, she explains, “When the war first broke out, people worried that American involvement would usher in the same type of rationing and full mobilization that had characterized the Second World War. That failed to occur and within a few months, most Americans turned back to their own lives, ignoring the conflict raging half a world away”(Pash). The fact that even in when the war was happening, people still choose to forget about the Korean War, if the first generation chooses to ignore the war, then later generations after will never know about the