Inje County Plans to Build Memorial Recognizing Marilyn Monroe’s 1954 Visit

This is actually a pretty small investment for Inje in order to draw a few extra visitors to the area:

A small county in South Korea is betting on a legendary blonde’s visit with American troops 61 years ago to bolster its profile.

Inje County, located in the picturesque but sparsely populated northeast, is building a 10 million won ($9,150) dedication to Marilyn Monroe’s 1954 USO show.

The stone dedication at Inje Catholic Church’s square will recall an era when some of America’s biggest stars came to Korea to visit servicemembers during and soon after the end of Korean War combat.

In February 1954, Marilyn Monroe and her new husband, Yankee great Joe DiMaggio, arrived in Japan to massive fanfare. DiMaggio was well-known for his baseball clinics in the country, but it was Monroe who captured more of the country’s attention.

After a few visits with servicemembers at the Tokyo Army Hospital and elsewhere in Japan, Monroe was asked to visit troops in South Korea, a country still very much recovering from the scars of war.

Monroe performed 10 shows in four days for about 100,000 servicemembers, according to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which houses several color pictures of the visit taken by Navy corpsman David Geary. http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/marilyn/page1.htm

“[The trip] was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Monroe said, according to the Smithsonian. “I never felt like a star before in my heart. It was so wonderful to look down and see a fellow smiling at me.”  [Stars & Stripe]

You can read more at the link.