Articles

November 2008

The Director - Features

Words Matter: Don’t Use “Korean Conflict” in Obits

“They gave their today for our tomorrow.”

In late August 2008, Korean War veteran Ralph Ashton contacted me via email with a simple, heartfelt request: Please inform funeral directors around the world that they should use the phrase “Korean War” rather than “Korean Conflict” in obituaries.

As editor of The Director and a shameless language geek who appreciates the power of words and the importance of their correct usage, as well as someone grateful to every man and woman willing to place themselves in harm’s way in defense of our homes and freedoms regardless of cause, Ashton’s simple request proved anything but. While I knew historically that the government officially referred to hostilities in Korea as a “conflict” initially, I also knew that it escalated into a terrible war, during which anywhere from 34,000 to 37,000 Americans sacrificed their lives and roughly 8,000 Americans remain missing in action to this day. Moreover, several of the 1,789,000 men and women who served during this time and are now serving as funeral professionals contacted me firsthand during my tenure on this magazine, expressing their irritation at how use of this semantic distinction within obits diminished the full meaning of their service and sacrifice.

Unfortunately, committed to providing readers each month with accurate information, I couldn’t locate an authoritative source justifying this claim whenever a vet raised the issue. But Ashton’s simple, heartfelt email somehow challenged me to settle this nagging question once and for all.

Thus, checking my usual editorial sources once again, including the Associated Press, I drew another blank, so I kicked this question up to a higher authority: John Fitch Jr., NFDA’s advocacy guru who works full time on your behalf at the association’s D.C. office. A vet himself (Vietnam) and connected within the “Beltway” like no other funeral service lobbyist, I figured that if he couldn’t secure a definitive answer, no one could.

The Slow Grind

Fitch immediately contacted several people he knew within the federal government, including a friend at the Pentagon. Weeks passed, an occasional email update on the lack of definitive progress hitting my inbox, reminding me of Friedrich von Logau’s oft-repurposed quote, one version reading: “The wheels of government grind slowly.”

Finally, more than a month later, Fitch’s Pentagon contact forwarded an email from Larry Greer, director of public affairs for the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in D.C., citing the “National Defense Authorization Act of 1999.” Part of this act officially states:

(d) CROSS REFERENCES. – Any reference to the Department of Defense Korean Conflict Commemoration or the Department of Defense Korean Conflict Commemoration Account in any law, regulation, document, record or other paper of the United States shall be considered to be a reference to the Department of Defense Korean War Commemoration or the Department of Defense Korean War Commemoration Account, respectively.

Greer added in his email that he suspects the use of “conflict” in government documents results from “…an oversight by the [congressional] interns who actually write out the words for the draft legislation,” before concluding: “For my money, the law I’ve cited above is all the authority I’ll ever need to call it the Korean War.”

You Can Help

In the early part of the 20th century, NFDA successfully worked to replace usage of the term “undertaker” with “funeral director” in the popular vernacular of the day.

Words matter.

Funeral service professionals:

• Always use the phrase “Korean War” in obituaries (unless the family you’re serving insists otherwise for some reason).
• If you run across “Korean Conflict” in an obit as you’re keeping track of a competitor (c’mon, you know you do), give them a call and let them know about the “National Defense Authorization Act of 1999.”
• Place this article on your firm’s Website so that anyone entering the virtual doors of your firm 24/7 will get the message, too. You can download the text of this article within the Publications section at www.nfda.org.
• Please feel free to inform anyone/everyone, when appropriate.

State/national funeral service associations:

• Please help spread the word by reprinting this article in your publication and posting it on your Website.
• Please feel free to inform anyone/everyone, when appropriate.

In these post-9/11, uncertain times, as young men and women willingly place their lives on the line half a world away even as I write this, you and I can do much to ensure that we fully express our gratitude for not only their service but for those who answered the call before them.

They risked their today for our tomorrow, and we owe them nothing less.

Chris Raymond is editor of The Director magazine.