60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee
July 27, 2013 marked the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, one of the bloodiest conflicts fought by American forces in the 20th Century. The armistice was observed with a major ceremony held at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address to several thousand attendees, many of whom were Korean War veterans and their families. Also in attendance were Defense Secretary Charles Hagel and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), himself Korean War veteran.
Walls Communications was retained by the Defense Department’s 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee to help publicize one aspect of the war that is most significant to the African American community; the fact that it was the very first war fought by the United States with armed forces that were officially integrated by Presidential decree. President Harry S. Truman issued the historic proclamation in 1948 and the decree went into effect with the start of the Korean War in 1950. This also made the military the first U.S. Government agency to no longer recognize or accept segregation.
To promote this significant Civil Rights landmark, and in conjunction with the observance of the 60th anniversary of the war’s end, the Walls team actively engaged the nation’s African American media to promote the July 27th observance, utilizing African American newspapers and radio news outlets. The team also garnered thousands of impressions via social media. The team followed up by distributing OpEds on the war’s significance to publications nationwide and coordinating a series of radio interviews with the Committee’s Administrative Director, Lt. Col. Tim Washington.
Finally, the team coordinated a HBCU lecture tour for Lt. Col. Washington in which he presented the pertinent facts about the war and its Civil Rights implications to Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC students at Virginia State, Norfolk State, Hampton and Bowie State Universities during November and December 2013.