This monument (reminiscent in a way of one we saw in Bayside) is a little factually challenged. For one thing, the Korean War ended in 1953, not 1955. As for the most recently added conflict: 1990 was the start of the seven-month-long Gulf War against the state of Iraq, while the War on Terror(ism) commenced in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks.
Day 1039
Middle Village Veterans Triangle
November 3rd, 2014
Matt, I joined the U S Navy in September of 1955. I was not considered a Korean War Veteran due to the cut-off date for Korean War Service being January 31, 1955. Officially the war was considered over in 1955 so this would technically be correct I believe.
Thanks for the info. It seems that January 31, 1955 was a date set by Congress for determining who is eligible for a VA pension. However, the war itself ended on July 27, 1953, when the armistice was signed. If you look up images of Korean War memorials, you’ll see they all use 1953 as the year the war ended.
If the people who created this memorial did for some reason decide to use the bureaucratic pension dates to determine the timeline of the wars, then they also should have listed 1946 as the end of World War II and 1961 as the start of the Vietnam War.