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<DIV><A name=TOP></A>FYI</DIV>
<DIV>Eugene Melvin</DIV>
<DIV>SW Portland, Oregon</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=1></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=1>February 10, 2004<BR><BR></FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size=4><B>Pentagon announces creation of
Korean Defense Service Medal</B></FONT><BR><BR><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><B>By <A
href="mailto:vcrawley@atpco.com?subject=Question from AirForceTimes.com reader">Vince
Crawley</A></B></FONT><BR><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"
size=1><I>Times staff writer</I></FONT><BR></DIV><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2></FONT>
<P></P>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size=2>After more than a year of
behind-the-scenes work, the Pentagon announced Feb. 6 the creation of a medal
honoring the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have served in South Korea
since the Korean War ended. </DIV>
<P>Congress ordered the creation of the Korean Defense Service Medal in the 2003
Defense Authorization Act, which President Bush signed into law Dec. 2, 2002.
<P>Until that legislation was enacted, the Pentagon’s official position had been
that a specific medal was unnecessary for post-armistice service in Korea. Most
campaign medals are awarded for wartime service.
<P>The new medal is intended “to give special recognition for the sacrifices and
contributions made by members of the U.S. armed forces who have served or are
serving in the Republic of Korea,” the Defense Department said in a prepared
statement.
<P>The period of service to qualify for the medal begins July 28, 1954, and
continues “to a future date to be determined by the secretary of defense,” the
statement said.
<P>To be eligible, service members must have been assigned, attached or
mobilized to units operating in the area of eligibility for at least 30
consecutive or 60 nonconsecutive days. The area of eligibility is defined as
“all land area of the Republic of Korea and the contiguous water out to 12
nautical miles, and all air spaces above the land and water areas.”
<P>Those who don’t meet the 30- or 60-day requirement still may be eligible, if
they:
<P>• Were “engaged in actual combat during an armed engagement, regardless of
the time in the area of eligibility.”
<P>• Were “wounded or injured in the line of duty” and required “medical
evacuation from the area of eligibility.”
<P>• Participated “as a regularly assigned air crewmember flying sorties into,
out of, within, or over the area of eligibility in support of military
operations.” Each day that one or more sorties were flown counts toward the 30-
or 60-day requirement.
<P>The medal may be awarded posthumously, but no more than once to any
individual.
<P>The Defense Department said each service will write its own regulations for
processing and awarding the new medal, to include procedures for veterans,
retirees and next-of-kin to apply.
<P>Each year, more than 40,000 Americans serve in South Korea or its nearby
waters. The Korean War cease-fire was agreed to in July 1953, but democratic
South Korea technically remains in a state of war with communist North Korea.
Tensions along the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, flared all through the Cold War
and most recently intensified in 2002 when the North acknowledged it was
developing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 disarmament agreement.
<P>According to congressional language accompanying the law, about 1,200 U.S.
service members “have died as a direct result of service in Korea” since July
1953. </FONT></P></BODY></HTML>