The Concert

2010 Features

The Korean War: A Legacy

Gen. Colin Powell will speak on the service and sacrifice of veterans of the Korean War during the 2010 “National Memorial Day Concert”.

Despite United States hopes for peace, only five short years after the end of World War II, our service members were called once again to fight across the Pacific in a land many of them did not know.

On this year's National Memorial Day Concert, we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War and salute the more than a million and a half Americans who fought in that war.

And we remember those who sacrificed so much: the 33,000 service members who died, and the 105,000 who were wounded there.

On this year's concert, acclaimed actors Dennis Haysbert and Gary Sinise will share the story of the final days in the life of PFC Charles Johnson, Killed in Action while fighting in North Korea on June 12, 1953. Charlie's high school buddy and fellow soldier, Donald Dingee, fought with Charlie and relates how his selfless actions on the battlefield saved Don's life and the lives of many in his platoon.

The Charlie Johnson Legacy Project
Donald Dingee and the Johnson family have become partners in honoring Charlie as a role model for a new generation. Arlington High School - Charlie and Don's alma mater - has created the Charlie Johnson Legacy Project, a program that promotes Charlie's personal values of brotherhood, selflessness, compassion and integrity. The students are encouraged to live a "Charles Johnson" moment every day - to help someone without any reward intended. Learn more about The Charlie Johnson Legacy Project

Eulogy Deliveries
Each year on the “National Memorial Day Concert” we invite viewers to submit remembrances of loved ones or friends who died in one of America's conflicts. In the Fall of each year, we deliver these remembrances to the appropriate Washington DC memorials in solemn ceremonies. On November 19, 2008, as the eulogy submissions were being delivered to the Korean Memorial, a chance meeting occurred. LTC Frank Murphy (Ret), a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars was approached by a South Korean visitor to the Memorial.
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African-American and white soldiers at a base in Italy during World War II. Source: United States Army.

Desegregation of the Armed Forces
Since the Civil War, the army had segregated its black soldiers into separate regiments. In 1948, President Harry Truman ordered the armed forces to be integrated; this order was finally implemented on the front lines in Korea. The Truman Library documents this historic process with materials, including a chronology, photographs, oral histories and lesson plans.