Charlie Quinn stood at the Livingston Public Library on Sunday and asked his neighbors not to forget.

"These guys are very important and we're losing them," said Quinn, post chaplain of VFW Post 2856, who hosted the post's annual Korean War Armistice Day ceremony, according to the West Essex Tribune. "A lot of them have passed on but we've got to keep the memory of what they did for this country alive."

What the ceremony marked.

The event honored the 73rd anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement, signed July 27, 1953, by military commanders from the United States, North Korea and China at Panmunjom — an agreement that ended three years of combat but never produced a permanent peace treaty, leaving the conflict technically unresolved to this day.

Quinn calls the Korean War "the forgotten war," a name it earned by falling between World War II and Vietnam in the country's collective memory. He refuses to accept that label quietly. The human cost makes clear why it matters: the VFW's national organization reported 36,576 American service members died and more than 92,000 were wounded in the war. Fewer than 730,000 Korean War veterans remain alive nationwide — a number that shrinks every year.

A younger generation already listening.

Post 2856's ceremony is one piece of a broader effort by the Livingston VFW to keep veterans' stories in front of the community — and it's working. Livingston High School student Shona Kumar, who received the national Billy Michael Student Leadership Award, specifically thanked Quinn and VFW Post 2856 members for their mentorship, according to TAPinto Livingston. Kumar has spoken at the post's Korean War Recognition Ceremonies and credits her work with the VFW for inspiring her own advocacy on behalf of veterans.

A message shared nationwide, felt locally.

The VFW's national office issued a statement Monday vowing that Korean War veterans' sacrifice "will never grow dim," as posts across the country held similar commemorations for the anniversary. In Livingston, Quinn's message was direct and personal: the window to hear from Korean War veterans firsthand is closing fast, and it's on the community now to preserve what they sacrificed.