Police were searching Friday for two people accused of stealing part of the Korean War Memorial in downtown Galveston.
Witnesses said they saw a man and woman stealing a decorative medallion from the Korean War Memorial, in the 300 block of 20th Street, next to the American National Insurance Co. tower.
The memorial was unveiled May 27 and was designed with the help of Marine Corps veteran Doug McLeod. The reflective memorial wall is made of polished black granite, and bears the names of 51 men from Galveston County who served and died during the Korean War. Some of them were county natives, others were people who lived here about the time of the war.
A large panel is dedicated to Pfc. Jack Hanson, a Mississippi native who joined the Army while living in Galveston.
Hanson was 20 years old when he was killed near Pachi-dong, Korea, on June 7, 1951. A machine gunner, Hanson voluntarily stayed behind after his company was ambushed in a saddle between two hills.
Hanson covered a lower position on the hill while his comrades organized a counter position. When his body was found, it was next to an empty machine gun, an empty pistol and a bloody machete.
According to a posthumous Medal of Honor awarded to Hanson, 22 enemy soldiers lay dead around him when his company returned.
Another monument features a lone soldier carrying an M1 Garand rifle. That statue is dedicated to soldiers in the wars during which the weapon was used — World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
The Korean War was fought from 1950 to 1953, as the United States and South Korea fought North Korea and China in a conflict framed as a battle between capitalism and communism.
More than 33,000 Americans died in the Korean War. The total death toll, including civilians, was more than 5 million.
News coverage of the Korean War was censored in the United States and it has often been overshadowed by the more well-known conflicts that happened before and after — World War II and the Vietnam War.
Detectives are asking for the public’s help in identifying the people seen in security video.
The man photographed was wearing sunglasses, a black button-up shirt and blue jeans. The woman was wearing a black hoodie over a t-shirt and jean shorts.
Anybody with information on the case is asked to call Galveston Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at (409) 765-3762.
