By Nick Buglione
But when the fighting stopped and the boys came home, there was no parade or celebration for the war heroes. In fact, the bloody three-year confrontation that pit the United States and South Korea against communist North Korea and China was not even considered a war by the U.S. government.
Over the last half century Korean War veterans have slowly started to receive the thanks they rightfully deserve, and last Saturday scores of county residents gathered at Eisenhower Park's Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater in a gesture of appreciation to those servicemen and women.
The county's 16th annual Salute to Veterans on Aug. 2 was held in honor of all those who fought in the so-called "forgotten war."
South Korea is a free and democratic and prosperous nation because so many young Americans and young Koreans fought to keep it free, said Joseph Suozzi, the event's keynote speaker and father of the absent Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who was out of state.
Suozzi, whose brother Michael fought in Korea, called the war horrific and said he hoped that current shaky relations between North Korea and the United States would be resolved to avoid a future conflict.
During the ceremony five county residents received Distinguished Service to Veterans awards. Among the five was Henry Nowicki, a Salisbury resident and Korean War veteran.
It felt good, said Nowicki, of the appreciation he and his comrades received at the ceremony. It's been a long time coming, he said, pointing out that Congress has only recently authorized classifying the Korean conflict as a war.
After the war you came home, you went back to work and nobody noticed, he said. We just wanted to go there and help a country that was attacked. I didn't know where Korea was until the war.
A charter member of the Korean War Veterans Association, Nowicki is active in veterans' affairs. He helped raise money for the Korean War monument in Eisenhower Park and actively recruits new members to the association.
If you ever knew a PR guy, it's Hank, said Edward Aulman, director of the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency, which selects the winners of the distinguished service awards. He's always talking positively of Korean War veterans and he's brought many new members [in].
Honored along with Nowicki were Andy Wolos, a Lakeville Estates resident and advocate for prisoners of war and missing in action; Paul Masi, of Bethpage, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 82; Vincent DeMartino, of Floral Park, who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam; and Thomas Gruber, of Baldwin, a Korean War veteran who logged some 1,250 hours driving fellow vets to the Northport VA Medical Center. Gruber died this past June and his wife Phyllis accepted the award on his behalf.
Though the ceremony focused on Korea, special homage was paid to the men and women currently serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Aulman got choked up when he announced to the throng seated on the theater's sloped grass that some 300 Marines from the base in Garden City were headed home from Iraq.
Lt. Col. Pat Coffey, of the 2nd Battalion 25th Marines, spoke on the soldiers' behalf. I know I speak for the rest of them when I say it's an honor to be part of the brotherhood of veterans, he said.
