United Nations Cemetery – Busan – South Korea

Memorial Site

The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea honors the fallen from 21 U.N. countries who participated in the Korean War from 1950-1953. The United Nations Command established its central cemetery in Busan, Korea in mid-January of 1951. It is the only U.N. memorial cemetery in the world. From 1951 to 1954, approximately 11,000 dead soldiers of the U.N. Forces were buried, and a portion of them returned home (all of Belgians, Colombians, Ethiopians, Greeks, Filipinos & Thais; most of Americans, some of Frenches and Norwegians).

Now here lie 2,300 bodies of soldiers: 281 Australians, 378 Canadians, 44 Frenches, 117 Hollanders, 34 New Zealanders, 1 Norwegian, 36 Koreans, 11 South Africans, 462 Turks, 885 British, 36 Americans, 4 unknown soldiers & 4 noncombatants.

This serene park spreads across a grassy plain area of 135,000 square meters, with flags of each of the 21 U.N. nations. Some notable sites and memorials include: Memorial Service Hall, Memorabilia Hall, two Turkish Monuments, the Greek Monument, the Australian Monument, the British Common Wealth Monument, and two ponds. There is a Wall of Remembrance with the engraved names of the 40,896 United Nations casualties (killed and missing) of the Korean War on 140 marble panels.