
The north Korean artillery attack on Yongpyongdo on Tuesday 23 November certainly was brazen and definitely doesn’t bode well for the future of peace on the peninsula. This year has certainly been bad, but how soon we forget how bad it was before. Take the year 1968 for instance. In that year 15 US servicemen were Killed in Action with another 54 wounded. The ROKs that year lost 145 KIA and 240 WIA. Note that these were combat deaths, not accidents! The chronicle of that year is incredible:
- 24 Jan – US soldier KIA by nK agents
- 26 Jan – US soldier KIA by nK agents
- 14 April – 2x US and KIA by nK soldiers
- 21 Apr – US soldier KIA by nk soldiers
- 20 Jul – 2x US KIA by nK soldiers (separate firefights)
- 30 Jul – US soldier KIA by nK infiltrators
- 5 Aug – US soldier KIA by nK infiltrators
- 18 Aug – 2x US soldiers KIA by nK soldiers
- 27 Sep – 2x US soldiers KIA by nK infiltrators
- 5 Oct – US soldier KIA by nK infiltrators
- 23 Oct – US soldier KIA by nK infiltrator
(Source: The US Military Experience in Korea: 1871-1982; Command Historians Office, SJS, HQs USFK/EUSA, 1983)