Jul 26, 2026
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On July 27, the Veterans of the Foreign Wars (VFW) will pause to solemnly commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement and pay tribute to the immense sacrifices made by the brave men and women who fought, bled and died on the rugged terrain of the Korean Peninsula while defending a line that remains a vital vanguard of global democracy.
On July 27, 1953, military commanders from the United States, North Korea and China signed the Korean Armistice Agreement at Panmunjom, bringing three years of brutal, unyielding combat to an end.
While the ceasefire halted active hostilities after the longest negotiated armistice in military history, a permanent peace treaty was never realized. The cost of holding that line was staggering: 36,576 American service members laid down their lives, and more than 92,000 others were wounded in action.
Today, fewer than 730,000 Korean War veterans remain with us, and while the Korean War is tragically referred to as the "Forgotten War," to the veterans who served, the Gold Star families who carry on the memory of our lost and the families who still keep the flame of hope alive for the nearly 7,400 POW/MIAs who remain unaccounted for, this war is anything but forgotten.
This anniversary serves as an urgent and poignant reminder of our sacred duty to preserve their legacy. On behalf of the 1.3 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliary, we salute the millions of U.S. military personnel who served in the Korean theater of operations from 1950 to 1953, as well as the millions of guardians who have stood the watch in the decades since. We join a grateful nation in vowing that your sacrifice will never grow dim, and your valor will never be forgotten.