FORGOTTEN WAR: They call Korea “the forgotten war.” Yet 36,407 U.S. soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Coast Guard members were killed there, compared with the not-so-forgotten Vietnam War, where 58,209 Americans were killed, according to the World Almanac.
The draft was on, and college students were being plucked off campuses or working on deferments to avoid the bloody battles in Korea. Once in the Army, some of the best, the brightest, and the luckiest found themselves being recruited for U.S. intelligence work. The Cold War was on, too.
Richard Cheney, who went on to become vice president for George W. Bush (who avoided Vietnam by joining the Texas National Guard) received five Korea-era deferments during his six years in college.