Bush Breaks Ground for Korean War Memorial

President Bush broke ground Sunday on what he called a long overdue memorial to America’s Korean War veterans, including thousands he said had died “so that the enslaved might be free.”

“For what you did for stopping totalitarianism, the entire free world still salutes you,” Bush said during the Flag Day ceremony on the site near the Lincoln Memorial.

Congress authorized the memorial in 1986. It took organizers nearly twice as long to win approval from fine arts and planning commissions as it did to wage the 37-month war, which ended July 27, 1953.

The memorial will feature sculptures of 16 larger-than-life soldiers advancing toward an American flag, a reflecting pool and a grove of linden trees. A granite wall will be etched with images representing those who supported the troops in combat.

The fighting killed 33,629 Americans, and thousands of others died from noncombat causes.

The 2.2-acre site is on the opposite side of the Reflecting Pool from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In the crowd of 5,000 that gathered in sweltering heat for the ground-breaking were hundreds of Korean War veterans.

“When tyranny threatened, you were quick to answer your country’s call. Sadly, your country wasn’t quite as quick to answer your call for recognition of that sacrifice,” said Bush.

In other Flag Day ceremonies, the Humphrys Flag Co. unveiled the world’s largest flag--measuring 500 feet by 260 feet--at a farm in Pottstown, Pa. Each stripe on the American banner is 20 feet wide; each star is 16 feet across.

The nylon flag broke the record held by China, the company said. The Guinness Book of Records lists China’s flag at 413 feet by 275 feet, or 113,575 square feet. The Pottstown flag covers 130,000 square feet.

Another huge flag was displayed Sunday in Washington, D.C. The 411-foot-long banner was unfurled in a ceremony near the Washington Monument, at which 216 people--one for each year since 1776--were sworn in as naturalized U.S. citizens.