Korean, U.S. Navy sailors reflect on shared sacrifices and commitments at UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan
Published: 01 Jul. 2025, 07:00
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- LEE SOO-JUNG
- [email protected]
![South Korean Navy and Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea personnel visit a burial site where Korean servicemen who served in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (Katusa) were laid to rest at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [LEE SOO-JUNG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/07/01/c0b7e97d-8ec4-4eb0-ad41-44a88f2d29ca.jpg)
South Korean Navy and Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea personnel visit a burial site where Korean servicemen who served in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (Katusa) were laid to rest at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [LEE SOO-JUNG]
The spirit of courage and sacrifice to defend freedom and uphold democracy shown during the Korean War is still present among today’s American sailors, who train alongside their South Korean Navy counterparts year-round and in combined exercises, a Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea spokesperson said on Monday.
"The sailors who served during the Korean War embodied values like courage, duty, sacrifice and resilience," Tony Curtis, Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea spokesperson, said in a statement to the Korea JoongAng Daily on Monday.
The southern port city of Busan, the last bastion of hope that North Korean forces failed to seize during the war, is now home to 2,333 souls who fought for South Korea during the Korean War.
"Whether operating at sea, responding to crises, or working together in port, our forces remain committed to the same mission: defending peace, deterring aggression, and strengthening the ironclad U.S.-ROK Alliance," Curtis said, using the acronym of the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
The UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea holds the graves of 2,278 foreign servicepeople from 13 nations that sent their forces to Korea under the UN flag, including Britain, Canada, France and Australia. The cemetery also holds the graves of 39 Koreans and the remains of 11 unidentified servicepeople, as well as the graves of five people classified as "others." The cemetery is the sole UN-designated cemetery in the world. It spans approximately 14.39 hectares (35 acres) and receives around 400,000 visitors globally each year.
Servicepeople of today honor the heroics of the past
![South Korean Navy and the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea personnel pay tribute to fallen servicemen who died while defending South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA NAVY]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/07/01/99a8ae00-f1f0-446f-b343-222507622956.jpg)
South Korean Navy and the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea personnel pay tribute to fallen servicemen who died while defending South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA NAVY]
The United States deployed 1,789,000 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel to defend South Korea during the war. It also suffered the most losses among the countries that backed South Korea, with 36,492 U.S. servicepeople perishing during the conflict.
In what appeared to be a gesture of mutual appreciation for each other’s contributions, Master Chief Petty Officer Kim Yo-han from the South Korean Navy laid a wreath for fallen U.S. servicepeople. Master Chief Petty Officer Nicholas Messina from the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea did vice versa.
Three joint military salutes followed. After the brief ritual, the servicepeople lingered a bit longer to visit the exact spot where their predecessors were interred.
At these sites, they read the gravestones of fallen servicepeople from both countries, which specify their names, military units and date of death.
While most South Korean servicepeople were buried at the Seoul National Cemetery, 39 Koreans who served in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (Katusa) were laid to rest in the Busan cemetery with their foreign comrades.
“The ceremony reminded us that freedom is never free,” said Curtis from the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea. “The ceremony honored the courage and commitment of the men and women — Korean, American, and United Nations forces — who fought shoulder to shoulder to defend South Korea.”
75 years of camaraderie
![South Korean Navy and the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea personnel visit a burial site where Korean servicemen who served in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (Katusa) were laid to rest at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA NAVY]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/07/01/90fb2623-59f2-4079-b204-b71347290da7.jpg)
South Korean Navy and the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea personnel visit a burial site where Korean servicemen who served in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (Katusa) were laid to rest at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [REPUBLIC OF KOREA NAVY]
Curtis called such ceremonies a "part of that remembrance" but stressed the U.S. Navy's commitment "goes further — through engagements with Korean War veterans, educational programs, ship visits and memorial visits that keep their stories alive for today’s sailors."
Curtis noted that current servicepeople uphold the spirit of courage and sacrifice of their predecessors when training with South Korean servicepeople in joint drills. “By coming together now, we reaffirm our alliance and our shared commitment to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Curtis said.
The South Korean Navy is also resolute in preserving the bilateral alliance founded upon the sacred sacrifices of the fallen servicepeople.
Kim from the South Korean Navy said that the joint ceremony made service members determined to "support the strong South Korea-U.S. alliance" by upholding the spirit of sacrifices of the servicepeople who defended South Korea’s freedom and peace.
Kim noted that the fallen servicepeople's contribution has become a “precious value sustaining the alliance.”
The South Korean Navy and its U.S. counterpart appear to be closer than ever, especially after the relocation of Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea to Busan in 2016.
“South Korean naval forces and the U.S. naval forces are completing their missions based on one-team spirit and perfect teamwork while closely cooperating through a joint duty system, called Side by Side,” Kim said. “We sail together!”
Everyday gratitude for fallen servicepeople
![A white chrysanthemum flower planted next to the gravestone shows that a Canadian soldier died on June 24, 1953, in a photo taken at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [LEE SOO-JUNG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/07/01/03833b3b-ffd7-4d27-b2ec-793390baf7f4.jpg)
A white chrysanthemum flower planted next to the gravestone shows that a Canadian soldier died on June 24, 1953, in a photo taken at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [LEE SOO-JUNG]
“On a day when many white flowers are seen in the graveyard, I can tell there must have been intense battles on that day [some 70 years ago],” said Suh Jeong-in, custodian of the cemetery.
A day at the cemetery begins with remembering who died on that date, some 70 years ago, during the Korean War, with the fallen called “Heroes of the day.” The cemetery staffers plant a single white chrysanthemum beside their gravestones or plaques as a gesture to tell the servicepeople that they are “unforgotten.”
“It is heartbreaking to see so many white chrysanthemums,” Suh said.
People unable to visit the site, such as bereaved relatives of foreign servicepeople, can make online floral tributes. Tributes can be given to fallen servicepeople as a whole, to individual servicepeople, or to specific countries.
The cemetery airs live surveillance camera footage to ensure their families’ graves are well-maintained. It also offers virtual reality technology-embedded services to let them feel that they are physically present at the site.
“Those who are far away from the cemetery can perceive those images and clips as a reality,” Suh said. “Seeing is believing.”
South Korean Army soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Division hoist the UN flag at 10 a.m. every day.
Such an action seemingly symbolizes that Korean servicepeople are now returning the dedication of what foreign UN servicepeople offered to protect South Korea in the early 1950s, at a site where they rest eternally in peace.
![A volunteer cleans a gravestone of a fallen British soldier who died while defending South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan in an undated photo. [UN MEMORIAL CEMETERY IN KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/07/01/4ef6295d-14b9-4cfd-a1e0-54ea33826905.jpg)
A volunteer cleans a gravestone of a fallen British soldier who died while defending South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan in an undated photo. [UN MEMORIAL CEMETERY IN KOREA]
On Sundays, 100 "UN peace volunteers" — from Korean elementary school students to senior citizens in their 80s — cleanse gravestones of the fallen servicepeople and pluck out weeds. For the last 15 years, the cemetery has run a rotating pool of 1,000 volunteers, divided into 10 groups.
The volunteering aims to make children and teenagers aware of the value of servicepeople’s sacrifices by visiting their graves, especially by teaching them the age at which they died. The youngest buried serviceperson is J.P. Daunt from the Royal Australian Regiment, who died at the age of 17.
“Through labor-intensive activity, the cemetery teaches lessons of peace and freedom to young generations at the site where they can feel the breath of the buried servicepeople,” Suh said.
'A tribute to their legacy'
![A South Korean Army soldier partakes in a ceremony to pay respect for fallen soldiers of South Korea and the United States at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [LEE SOO-JUNG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/07/01/ac953301-a4ff-46e8-a930-5d6ac0374547.jpg)
A South Korean Army soldier partakes in a ceremony to pay respect for fallen soldiers of South Korea and the United States at UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan on June 24. [LEE SOO-JUNG]
To help young people more easily relate to the values embodied in the fallen servicepeople’s sacrifices, Suh is now aiming to introduce AI technology to tell their stories.
“Using the servicepeople’s photos donated by their families, we are planning to introduce an AI-powered docent that will vividly deliver stories from their profiles, backgrounds and the battles they fought to visitors,” Suh said.
The cemetery is also trying to become a diplomatic venue.
In 2005, when Busan hosted the APEC summit, the leaders of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as well as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, visited the cemetery and paid their respects. Gyeongju, a city near Busan, is set to host the APEC summit in November.
“I hope the heads of state will visit our cemetery when they attend the APEC summit this time, as our cemetery is on the way from Gimhae International Airport to Gyeongju,” Suh said. “For them, this place is equivalent to their national cemeteries, but just in Korea.”
The Commander U.S. Naval Forces Korea also notes how the UN cemetery in Busan helps servicepeople of today resonate with lessons from the war.
"It gives us an opportunity to reflect not just on the outbreak of war, but more importantly, on the shared sacrifices made in its defense and the seven decades of peace and prosperity that followed," Curtis said.
"The U.S. Navy takes immense pride in honoring those who served in the Korean War, particularly the veterans who fought under incredibly challenging conditions," Curtis said. "Our presence in Korea today is, in many ways, a living tribute to their legacy."
BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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