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Waters near Wolmi Island off Incheon will see a re-enactment of the Incheon Landing during the Korean War on the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Korea and its armed forces. The city of Incheon on Wednesday said it will hold a reenactment by the Korean Marine Corps of the historic landing operation at the first landing site of the UN forces during the war. Until last year, Incheon held the annual ceremony at a memorial hall in Songdo.
This year¡¯s event, the 58th, has been organized jointly by the city of Incheon and the Marines. The highlight of the annual event had been laying wreaths at the memorial hall, but the city decided to hold this year's event on a larger scale.
The actual D-Day was Sept. 15, 1950. But the organizers decided to move up the date to next Tuesday (Sept. 9), given that Sept. 15 falls on one of the Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving holidays this year.
Mobilized for the mock landing scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. will be the Dokdo LPH, the Korean Navy's 14,000 ton-class large transport ship, 24 Korean-style landing vehicles tracked, two hovercraft and six helicopters. In the mock operation, about 100 marines will perform for about 30 minutes, navigating the sea off Wolmi Island in LVTs and approaching about 150 m from the shore after plowing through a smoke screen.
Earlier, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held aboard the Dokdo to placate the souls of those killed during the landing operation in 1950. Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo, the chief of naval operations, the commandant of the Korean Marine Corps, and the deputy commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps in Korea are to take part.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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