Gilbert Collier News Today

My longtime friend John Graves, a recently retired professor of history at Henderson State University, recently made me aware of his cousin and Korean War hero, Eugene C. Morehart of Mabelvale.

My longtime friend John Graves, just retired as a professor of history at Henderson State University, recently made me aware of his cousin and Korean War hero, Eugene C. Morehart of Mabelvale.

The Fullerton monument to the Korean War is the only one on the West Coast and the first to include the names of all 36,591 Americans who died in the war from 1950 to 1953. Thousands of Koreans, from Seoul to Southern California, wrote checks toward the $1-million cost.

The memorial is the first to include the names of the more than 30,000 Americans who died in what is sometimes called the "forgotten war."