Between November 27 and December 13, 1950, the Chinese 9th Army unsuccessfully
attempted to encircle 30,000 United Nations soldiers who fought their way from
North Korea's Chosin
Reservoir to the port of Hungnam.
In response to orders for his troops to retreat, Major General Oliver P. Smith
responded, "Retreat, hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in
a different direction."
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense.
On June 25, 1950, 75,000 North Korean People's Army soldiers crossed the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea. The invasion caught South Korea and its allies by surprise and by June 27, the South Korean government evacuated the capital of Seoul. Within days, South Korea's military lost more than 75 percent of its strength.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's attack on June 25, and two days later passed Resolution 83 urging nations to assist South Korea. That same day, President Harry S. Truman ordered the U.S. military to Korea as part of a United Nations mission to stop the North Korean attack.
The United Nations forces that arrived in early July 1950, slowed the North Korean advance, giving the United States and allied nations time to prepare an offensive campaign against North Korea. Under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur, United Nations forces launched a daring naval invasion well behind enemy lines at the South Korean port of Inchon in September 1950. Within weeks, the North Korean People's Army retreated north of the 38th Parallel; however, the United Nation's pursuit of the North Koreans across this line triggered Chinese and Russian military intervention.
By the end of 1950, United Nations forces had been pushed south to the 38th Parallel. Campaigns waged by both sides between January 1951 and July 1953, saw little exchange of territory. Years-long peace negotiations resulted in the signing of an armistice between the combatant nations on July 27, 1953. When hostilities ended, approximately 1 million United Nations, North Korean, Russian, and Chinese soldiers and 2.5 million civilians were dead.
The July 27, 1953, armistice ended hostilities on the Korean peninsula "until a peaceful settlement is achieved." To this day, a final settlement to end the Korean War remains elusive.
You can learn more about our nation's veterans, the Korean War, and the Korean and Korean American population data and records collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies. For example:
President William J. Clinton and Republic of Korea President Kim Young Sam dedicated the Korean War Veterans Memorial
on July 27, 1995—the 42nd anniversary of the armistice ending the Korean War.
The memorial honors all United Nations casualties, including 628,833 killed and 1,064,453
wounded.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Jesse L. Brown—the U.S. Navy's first African American aviator—was killed during the Korean War on December 4, 1950.
A veteran of 20 combat missions, Brown was shot down by enemy fire while supporting the U.S. Marines during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Brown became the first African American naval officer killed in the war.
After failing to approve apportionment legislation following the 1920 Census, Congress passed Public Law 71-12 on June 18, 1929. The law authorized the 1930 Census and automatically apportioned the House of Representatives. Congress used the Webster Method to assign seats by rounding fractional remainders using the arithmetic mean .