Boy Scouts Help Clean Up Korean War Memorial On North Shore

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Korean War took the lives of 33,000 American soldiers from 1950 to 1953. The struggle dividing North and South Korea has been called "The Forgotten War."

But that's not the case on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, where Boy Scouts help veterans clean up a memorial site in time for a Wednesday ceremony - marking 63 years since the Armistice was signed.

"We emphasize among our boys a lot of service projects, and service for our communities and surrounding areas," says Laura Goven, assistant scoutmaster of a troop in Beaver County.

The average age of a Korean War vet is 83. But the Boy Scouts are just the right age for a cleanup project like this.

"It feels like a privilege, and it has to be done," says the Scout Marshall.

"We get to appreciate what they did for our country, and who they are," says Nate Given.

There is a wall of names - veterans who supported the memorial.

"Nobody knew that we had been gone, outside of our family," veteran Chuck Marwood recalls. "There'd be questions raised, 'Oh, where were you at?' 'Oh, I was over serving my country in Korea.' 'Where is Korea at?'"

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Larry Bickar is impressed with the young helpers.

"I personally was not a Scout," he says. "But maybe I should have been."