For many veterans, the Forgotten War remains unforgettable.

For Don Chadwick, it was a horrific experience played out on a remote, rugged peninsula in Asia 60 years ago.

Chadwick was among the first Marine divisions to land in Korea in 1950, rifle and orders in hand. He and his infantrymen quickly engaged an irrepressible enemy in brutal combat on unforgiving terrain.

“We were prepared to take on this tank, and all of a sudden, the Chinese made a run at us. Here they come … 7-foot tall, 250-pound Mongolian Chinese,” Chadwick vividly recalled. “One came after us, so I emptied an M1 Garand (.30-caliber semiautomatic rifle) right into the guy. But he still kept coming after me.

“My Samoan friend, Tasi (Alo), stuck a knife into him, and he still came up the hill,” Chadwick said. “That only made Tasi angrier.”

In the ensuing savage struggle, Chadwick’s assistant gunner eventually subdued the foe.

“I said right there, ‘I’m sure glad you’re on my side,'” Chadwick told his friend.

For Chadwick, 79, of SeaTac, and other veterans, the Korean War was much more than a hard-fought, three-year conflict. It was a barbaric battle, a struggle for survival in extreme conditions as Americans confronted a relentless enemy with superior numbers.

The war, which led to a bitter military stalemate in 1953, never officially ended. Sovereign South Korea and Communist North Korea remain divided in many ways as tensions persist today.

Waged between World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War is often referred to as The Forgotten War because it garners much less attention than its historical bookends.

For Chadwick and local Korean War veterans, the war will never be forgotten. Stories need to be told, the war’s fallen soldiers remembered.

Members of the local veterans group often gather to relive their experiences, however difficult they might be, and reflect on a significant chapter in their lives. Though dwindling in numbers, the local chapter of veterans has met regularly for 25 years. The group includes a special band of Marines, the “Chosin Few”, named for those who fought and survived the war’s bloodiest engagement, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

The fight involved a 30,000-man unit from the U.S. 7th Infantry Division and Marine Corps. Unprepared for Chinese tactics, the American units were soon surrounded. They eventually managed to escape the encirclement but sustained more than 15,000 casualties after inflicting heavy losses on six Chinese divisions.

Chadwick scrambled out alive. He is one of about 2,000 Chosin Few survivors alive today. The diminishing alumni hold regular reunions.

“It’s an organization of attrition,” Chadwick said.

“It’s a great bunch of guys,” said Max Diamond, 84, a Chosin Few Marine who grew up and worked in Auburn and lives today in Federal Way. “They are our brothers … and I’m just a lucky son of a gun to be here.”

Local veterans will join the South Korean community to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean Conflict on Saturday. The service is at 11 a.m. at the Korean War Memorial in Olympia.

Local veterans plan to meet there again in late July to commemorate the war’s armistice and honor those local soldiers lost in the conflict. Of the estimated 122,000 Washington state soldiers and Marines who served in Korea, 532 were killed.

The veterans have made the trip to Olympia each year since the memorial was dedicated on the capital grounds in 1993. The monument was built from funds raised by the Chosin Few veteran’s group.

Auburn’s Bob Newman, a member of VFW Post 1741, has made many trips to memorials. He is honored to be a part of the group and to be someone who played a small but important role in the war.

Newman helped transport troops ashore and spent his tour of Korea handling munitions aboard the USS Valley Forge aircraft carrier. He went on to a rewarding military career, having sailed around the world in his time with the Navy.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Newman, who enlisted in the service as a 17-year-old kid out of high school. “I wanted to do it. It was a good thing to do. … It was an honor to serve.”

As for what makes his fellow Korean War veterans special, Newman concluded, “because they are all heroes.”

And they are survivors, men and women who did their part.

“We turned back communism by our participation in the Korean War,” said Jack Coleman, a Chosin Few Marine. “China, Russia and North Korea were looking to grab this little peninsula, and they would have controlled that section of Asia. By us being there, we short-stopped it.”