The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association

R. Allan Christianson, the architect
of the Memorial, in submitting
his winning design of the
Memorial in a national competition
conducted in 1994, best
described the concept of the
Memorial as follows:
American servicemen and
women braved violent combat
in Korea. The Nation suffered
great losses in the War
and spiritual anguish in its
aftermath. Friends parted,
lives were uprooted, futures
were transformed; many died
or were injured. We now join
together to understand, to
honor, to heal and to look
ahead.
In Korea, each serving
brought their own experience;
their uniqueness, their
dreams into peril. With each
soldier the nation risked a part
of itself. Many thousands,
each with their own signature
on life, united for freedom.
This Memorial intends to
symbolize and express the life
spirit of those who served,
directly and indirectly, in the
Korean War. It is a reflection,
in part, of just one who
served. It is meant to signal
remembrance of the breadth
and pulse of their identity.
And, it is a marker for the
array of human qualities nurtured
by the freedom we protect.
This Memorial is positioned
and shaped to capture sunlight.
As the sun travels the
horizon, columns of light articulate,
sequentially, aspects of
human spirit, experience and
feeling. Through solid and
void, light and shadow, the
sun traces a spectrum of individual
and shared experience.
It is hoped this Memorial
will become a welcome place;
that it can evoke memory,
emotion and vision through
the eyes of each visitor. It is
meant to be very personal.
Pennsylvania Remembers
Ed Stevens founded the Korean War
Veterans Association of Western PA, Gen.
Matthew Ridgway Chapter of which he’s
president.
Although Defense Department records
showed more than 41,000 Korean War veterans
in southwestern Pennsylvania - more
than 26,000 of them in Allegheny County
alone - “There was no roster, I had to find
them the best way I could.” says Ed Stevens.
Word of mouth has been effective enough
that the association now has almost 500
members. It meets monthly at Soldiers and
Sailors Memorial Hall, Oakland, where he is
a member of the boards of directors and managers.
In 1993, Stevens founded the Korean War
Veterans of Western Pennsylvania Memorial
Fund, of which he also is president, to raise
money for a tangible tribute to the more than
5.7 million Americans involved directly or
indirectly in the war.
The city donated the site, which was dedicated
July 27. R. Allan Christianson of
Bordentown, NJ, won a national competition
with a design that includes; A veterans wall
about 180 feet long of polished black granite.
It will contain the names of the 906 service
personnel from 16 western Pennsylvania
counties who died during the war and about
800 plaques bought by individuals and each
The Pensylvania Korean War Veterans Memorial.
inscribed with the name of a veteran not necessarily
a Korean War veteran - and his or her
military history.
A flag plaza with four poles. One 25-foot
pole will fly the state flag, another the
POW/MIA flag. One 30-foot pole will fly
Old Glory, and another will be what Stevens
termed “an all-nations flagpole.” The South
Korean flag will fly from it Tuesday.
Subsequently, the flag can be that of any
nation.
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The Graybeards