The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (UNMCK; ), located at Tanggok in the Nam District,; also see
Korea 1:50,000 Pusan Sheet 7019 III (1947)
an

City of Busan,As a transliteration from Korean, the city name 부산 () was typically spelled "Pusan" in McCune-Reischauer until 2000. The official Revised Romanization spells the name Busan. See Republic of Korea, is a burial ground for United Nations Command (UNC) casualties of the Korean War.The Korean War started on 25 June 1950 when North Korean forces pushed south of the 38th parallel which divided Korea following World War II. With authorization from the United Nations, forces from the United States and other nations pushed the North Koreans back to the north. When these UN forces approached China, Chinese forces intervened and the battlefront eventually stabilized along the 38th parallel. The Korean Armistice was signed on 27 July 1953 to end the fighting. It contains 2,300 graves and is the only United Nations cemetery in the world. Laid out over , the graves are set out in 22 sites designated by the nationalities of the buried servicemembers.

History

Temporary battlefield cemeteries and remains recovery

The Korean War began when North Korean People's Army forces attacked south in June 1950. As the fighting progressed, temporary

military cemeteries A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

for battle casualties were established by United Nations forces near the towns of Taejon (9 July 1950), Kwan-ui (Kwan-ni),
Kum-chon, and Sindong. When the North Korean forces pushed towards Busan, these cemeteries had to be abandoned. Later, as the Battle of Pusan Perimeter developed, temporary cemeteries were established at Masan,

Miryang Miryang (perhaps pronounced as Milbeol using Idu script), formerly also spelled as 推火郡 (probably pronounced as Milbeol or Miribeol using Idu script), Milbeol (密伐) and Milseong (密城), is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Ko ...

, and Taegu, with a Busan cemetery being established on 11 July 1950. As the fighting pushed into North Korea, temporary cemeteries were established in or near the towns of

Kaesong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close t ...

, Sukehon, Wonsan, Pupchong (

Pukchong County Pukch'ŏng County is a county in eastern South Hamgyŏng province, North Korea. Geography It borders the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea) to the south. Away from the coast, it is entirely mountainous. The Hamgyong Mountains traverse the county. ...

), Yudarn-ni and Koto-ri. Some eleven division-level cemeteries were established in the first two months of fighting and later five UN military cemeteries were established in North Korea. Graves registration service - korea

At the beginning of the war, the nearest U.S. Army

mortuary affairs Mortuary Affairs is a service within the United States Army Quartermaster Corps tasked with the recovery, identification, transportation, and preparation for burial of deceased American and American-allied military personnel. The human remains ...

unit was the 108th Graves Registration Platoon in Yokohama, Japan, which was searching for the remains of missing World War II American airmen. The only other American active duty graves registration unit was at

Ft. Bragg, North Carolina Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 29,000 military personnel. The military reserva ...

. The 108th was reconfigured as the 114th Graves Registration Company and deployed to establish temporary cemeteries at Hungnam, Pyongyang, and Suchon as the fighting continued. Supporting the 2nd Infantry Division was the Graves Registration Section of the second Quartermaster Company, which collected the remains of Allied and American soldiers to be further processed by the 148th Graves Registration Company. When UN forces launched the

Inchon Invasion The Battle of Incheon (), also spelled Battle of Inchon, was an amphibious invasion and a battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations Command (UN). The operation involved so ...

in September 1950, a platoon from the 565th Graves Registration Company accompanied them. Other mortuary affairs units included the 293rd Graves Registration Company, activated in April 1951. It was difficult to recover remains and conduct burials in Korea, due to the rugged geography and harsh climate, and the threat of unexploded ordnance and

booby-traps A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...

Construction of the Tanggok cemetery

Construction of the United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) at Tanggok began on 18 January 1951 and was carried out by hand-labor over a site. It was dedicated by General Matthew Ridgway on 6 April 1951. Graves Registration units then concentrated American and allied remains at Tanggok before they were permanently buried or repatriated. Besides burial services, refrigeration units to store remains were added, as were cremation facilities. Casualties from the

Colombia Battalion The Colombian Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Colombian Army that served under United Nations Command during the Korean War from 1951 to 1954. The first Colombian military unit to serve in Asia, the battalion was attached to the U.S. 7 ...

were cremated at Tanggok by the American Graves Registration Service and then repatriated to Colombia in 1954. Today the 2,300 graves in the cemetery are set out in 22 sites designated by the nationalities of the buried service members.

Post-armistice

Following the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement in July 1953, the United Nations Command sought to recover bodies interred in North Korean territory. Cemeteries for POWs in North Korea were established at 16 POW camps. From September to October 1954, the resulting exchange of casualties, dubbed

Operation Glory Operation Glory was an American effort to repatriate the remains of United Nations Command casualties from North Korea at the end of the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement of July 1953 called for the repatriation of all casualties and priso ...

, between United Nations forces and the North Koreans resulted in 4,219 remains being recovered, of which 1,275 were non-US casualties. (Also exchanged were the remains of approximately 14,000 North Korean and Chinese casualties.) From 1950 to 1954, approximately 11,000 casualties were interred at UNMC, which was maintained by the United States Army Graves Registration Agency.

Foundation as a United Nations cemetery and transfer to CUNMCK

It was officially established as the United Nations Memorial Cemetery on 15 December 1955 with the passage of

UN General Assembly Resolution A United Nations General Assembly resolution is a decision or declaration voted on by all member states of the United Nations in the General Assembly. General Assembly resolutions usually require a simple majority (50 percent of all votes plus on ...

977(X). Following the war, the cemetery was funded from the United Nations budget, but the Sino-Soviet world objected to this funding. In 1973, the cemetery was transferred from the UN to the Commission for the United Nations Memorial Cemetery (CUNMCK), which is composed of representatives from the 11 countries who have servicemembers buried there.

Cultural heritage and tourism

The cemetery is designated as Site 359 in the listing of Registered Cultural Heritage Sites in Korea by the

Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea The Cultural Heritage Administration () or CHA, formerly the Cultural Properties Administration, is the agency of the South Korean government charged with preserving and promoting Korean cultural heritage. It is headquartered in the city of Dae ...

. Also, it is a visitor attraction for

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of co ...

tourists. In 2011, United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

described it as the only United Nations cemetery in the world.

Memorials

An Honour Guard from the Republic of Korea 53rd Division carries out flag ceremonies daily. The UN Sculpture Park was established in October 2001 and twenty-nine permanent memorials are in the cemetery. The memorials include: * Commonwealth of Nations memorials: ** Australian Memorial ** British Memorial – dedicated 2010 ** Monument to Canadian Fallen – an identical monument is located in downtown

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

** Commonwealth Memorial *** Commonwealth Missing in Action Memorial ** New Zealand Memorial – designed by Warren and Mahoney architects and built of marble from the Coromandel Peninsula ** South Africa Memorial – the 2001 sculpture ''Reconciliation'' by South African sculptor Strijdom van der Merwe, was created as part of the

International Sculpture Symposium The International Sculpture Symposium movement was spearheaded by Karl Prantl in Austria in 1959. This initiative grew from the need to facilitate communication and exchange between members of the international sculpture community. It was also roo ...

* French Memorial – dedicated 2007 * Greek Memorial – dedicated 1961 * Interfaith memorial chapel – built by the United Nations Command in 1964 * Main gate – designed by Korean architect

Kim Joong-up Kim Joong-eop (1922–1988) was a prominent Korean architect and educator. He was born in Pyongyang as the second son of his father, Kim Yeong-pil (金永弼) and his mother, Yi Yeong-ja (李英子). He had six siblings; four brothers, and two s ...

and built by the city of Busan in 1966. The end of the eight pillars supporting the roof was designed as a bowl and a symbol representing the moment and the eternity, expressing a soft and solemn standing for the soldiers. * Memorabilia display hall – built by the UN in 1968 * Norwegian Memorial * Thai Memorial – dedicated November 2008 * Turkish Memorials I and II – dedicated 1960, 1962, and 2008 * UN Forces Monument – dedicated 1978 and refurbished in 2007 * United States Korean War Memorial – the

Frank Gaylord Frank Chalfant Gaylord II (March 9, 1925 – March 21, 2018) was an American sculptor best known for "The Column", a sculptural tableau of United States soldiers and sailors which is part of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. C ...

sculpture was carved from Barre Granite at the Rock of Ages Corporation in Barre, Vermont, and dedicated under the auspices of the American Battle Monuments Commission in 2013 * The Unknown Soldiers' Pathway The Wall of Remembrance, completed in 2006, has the names of the 40,896 United Nations casualties (killed and missing) inscribed on 140 marble panels. The UNMCK maintains a website in Korean, English, and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, which allows website visitors to post online flowers and tributary messages.

Notable graves

The cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 military personnel and 11 non-combatants. Amongst those are the graves of Bill Madden GC, third Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, (who died as a prisoner of war), Kenneth Muir VC (killed in action in the

Battle of Hill 282 The Battle of Hill 282 took place on 23 September 1950 during the Korean War, and involved the 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in an assault on this position as part an operation by 27th British Commonwealth Brigade on the Nakton ...

while serving with the

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

), and

Philip Curtis Lieutenant Philip Kenneth Edward Curtis VC (7 July 1926 – 23 April 1951) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Common ...

VC, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (killed in action in the Battle of the Imjin River while serving with the

Gloucestershire Regiment The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...

). Also buried is Lt. Col.

Charles Hercules Green Charles Hercules Green (26 December 19191 November 1950) was an Australian military officer who was the youngest Australian Army infantry battalion commander during World War II. He went on to command the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Reg ...

DSO, commander of the

3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment The 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) is a mechanised infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Kapyong Lines, Townsville as part of the 3rd Brigade. 3 RAR traces its lineage to 1945 and has seen operational serv ...

, who was mortally wounded at

Battle of Chongju The Battle of Cheongju was a battle during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98). Jo Heon attacked the Japanese-held city of Cheongju and captured it on 6 September 1592. Background Jo Heon and the monk Yeonggyu gathered a force of 2,600 ...

and died at nearby Anju. Dutch Lt. Col. Marinus Petrus Antonius den Ouden, commander of the

Regiment Van Heutsz The Regiment van Heutsz is a line infantry regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army. The regiment was named after J.B. van Heutsz, a former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, and was formed on July 1, 1950. It is notable for its service as p ...

, was killed in action during Operation Roundup in 1951 and is buried with members of his regimentposthumously, den Ouden was awarded Netherlands' highest military award, the Military Order of William. In the early days of the war, journalist Christopher Buckley died from a land mine explosion, and was subsequently buried at the cemetery. Following his death in 2018, Korean War veteran and Victoria Cross recipient

Bill Speakman William Speakman-Pitt, VC (21 September 1927 – 20 June 2018), known as Bill Speakman, was a British Army soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and ...

was buried there in 2019.

Total burials

Between 1951 and 1954 there were about 11,000 burials of UN troops from 21 countries. As of 2012, there are 2,300 wards of eleven countries, including 36 of the Republic of Korea troops deployed to the United Nations military bases. Because burials of seven countries' graves were retrieved back to their homeland, including Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxembourg, Philippines and Thailand. The burials of

British Commonwealth Forces Korea British Commonwealth Forces Korea (BCFK) was the formal name of the Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth army, naval and air units serving with the United Nations (UN) in the Korean War. BCFK included Australian, British, Canadian, India ...

are located in United Nations Memorial Cemetery. The numbers are 885 British troops, in accordance with the English customs of the dead.

Notes

References

External links

*
South Africa War Graves Project: South Korea

– for photographs of the cemetery in 1954 from the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum
Wikivoyage Map

UNMCK
at WikiMapia * * {{Australia in the Korean War 1951 establishments in South Korea 1955 establishments in South Korea 1973 establishments in South Korea Aftermath of the Korean War Australian military cemeteries British military memorials and cemeteries Buildings and structures in Busan Canadian military memorials and cemeteries Cemeteries in South Korea Military history of France during the Korean War Korean War memorials and cemeteries Monuments and memorials in South Korea New Zealand military memorials and cemeteries South African military personnel of the Korean War Turkish military memorials and cemeteries outside Turkey Tourist attractions in Busan