Korea: 1950–1953
Vietnam: 1959–1975
More than 35 million people served in the US Armed Forces during the Cold War between September 2, 1945, and December 26, 1991. During the Korean War, Walter Schirra Jr. flew missions with the 154th Fighter Bomber Squadron and later became an astronaut with NASA. Perry Watkins served in the US Army for fifteen years and demanded changes to Cold War–era military policies that discriminated against gay Service Members. Grace Murray Hopper was a naval computer scientist who helped develop military technology still used today.
Image Source: James K. F. Dung, Photograph of helicopters airlifting soldiers to a new staging area in South Vietnam, 1966, National Archives and Records Administration
