Korean and U.S. marines rehearse for a re-enactment of the Incheon Landing in 1950 on Wolmi Island in Incheon, Sunday, two days ahead of the 65th anniversary of the operation. Led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the landing turned the tide for forces in the Korean War. [Korea Times]
It is good to see that the US military continues to work to identify remains of the Missing In Action from prior conflicts like the Korean War:
The remains of Army Sergeant Christopher Y Vars, brother of long-time Reading resident Robert Vars, returned home on Wednesday, 65 years after being listed as Missing in Action while fighting in North Korea on Nov. 29, 1950.
Sgt. Vars was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
He served during World War II in Burma, Central Burma and China, leaving the service at the end of the war.
He reenlisted to serve during the Korean War.
Sgt. Vars was taken as prisoner of war while in Korea. His remains were found in POW Camp No. 5, in North Korea, along the banks of the Yulu River, but a DNA match was unable to be made until recently.
Sgt. Vars was the recipient of many awards, including the Purple Heart, the POW and MIA Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and several others.
He was escorted by State Police and the Patriot Guard to a funeral home in Reading.
A burial with full military honors will be held on Oct. 6. A service will be held at the Congregational Church in Reading on that day. [WHDH.com]
It is interesting that someone has decided to look up and see what happened to the 76 North Korean POWs after the Korean War Armistice was signed, decided to be resettled in a third country instead of remaining in South Korea or going back to North Korea:
Back in the country where they were detained as prisoners of war in the 1950s, two former North Korean soldiers now find little apparent objection or hostility, at least superficially — they were even welcomed by veterans who had fought for the South. But it’s also a trip that brings back bitter memories of war and puts them on the defensive again.
They are among the 76 North Korean POWs held in South Korea who opted to resettle abroad at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Labeled traitors, opportunists or fence-sitters amid fierce Cold War rivalry between the Koreas, they’ve died abroad one by one and now less than a dozen are still believed to be alive.
Kim Myeong Bok and Kang Hi-dong came back to South Korea on July 23 with a South Korean movie director who’s making a documentary on ex-POWs.
The film, titled “Return Home,” is intended to trace back their turbulent lives, but the men may not be able to make one important stop. Pyongyang has not given them permission to enter North Korea.
Kim, who is 79 and lives in Brazil, is desperate to return because he thinks this is his last chance.
“I left my home when I was young and I don’t know whether my family is still alive or not. What I’ve been wishing is visiting my hometown before I die,” Kim told reporters in a tearful news conference in Seoul late last month. “My father and mother must have passed away … I still want to see even their ashes.” [Associated Press]
You can read the rest at the link, but the main reason for the POWs going to a third country was fear of discrimination in South Korea for being a former Communist and the fear of being punished for being captured by North Korea. Pictures of the former POW camp they were held at in South Korea can be viewed at the below link:
This is going to probably be very difficult to do considering how many Korean War veterans have now passed away and the ones still alive are quite elderly. I wish all the adoptees good luck with this project:
Estelle Cooke-Sampson, a radiologist at Howard University Hospital, was a Korean War orphan and is now seeking her birth parents.(Photo: Erin Raftery, USA TODAY)
Cooke-Sampson said that her next step is to do a DNA test to help find the identity of her biological father, who she assumes is either an Ethiopian or American soldier based on her skin color, but she is concerned about the age of Korean War veterans.
“I would love to, but considering that person probably would be perhaps in their late 80s or even 90s, they might not even remember me,” Cooke-Sampson said.
In their effort to now help Korean adoptees find their birth fathers, Hiatt said the organization is asking Korean War veterans who fathered a child in Korea to submit their DNA to a biological tracking ancestry service called 23andMe. Hiatt said that there are 672 members in a Facebook group for Korean adoptees who submitted their DNA to 23andMe, but she believes more adoptees have submitted their DNA.
Thomas Park Clement, president/CEO/Founder of Mectra Labs Inc., and a Korean adoptee, is providing $1 million for free DNA test kits that American Korean adoptees and war veterans can submit to 23andMe.
“I think it’s super important because it’s a daunting task for an adoptee, especially for an overseas adoptee to try to locate birth parents or other siblings and this is a surefire, scientific, straightforward way to do it,” Clement said. [USA Today]
Via Adam Cathcart comes this interesting historic US Army footage from the opening months of the Korean War. A lot of interesting footage of old Seoul and the destruction the opening days of the war brought to it and other Korean cities. Also a lot of pictures of the North Korean executions that took place after they retreated from the cities they held. An interesting fact from the film footage is that 1 out of every 20 US soldiers during the opening months of the Korean War were killed as POWs by the North Koreans:
Ethiopia is not a name you hear much of when it comes to the Korean War, but 122 Ethiopian soldiers died in the defense of Korea:
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se says the sacrifices made by Ethiopian war veterans contributed greatly to the democratization and economic advancement of South Korea.
Minister Yun, who is in Addis Ababa to attend the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, made the remark while visiting the Korean War veterans memorial park at the Ethiopian capital.
In front of Korean War veterans on Monday, Yun expressed thanks for the deployment of elite troops to the conflict such as members of the Imperial Guard at the time.
The minister also participated in the burning of incense and a moment of silence for 122 fallen soldiers of the war. [KBS World Radio]
A ROK Drop favorite Andrew Salmon recently had his great book about the British and Australian forces that served in the Korean War translated into Korean:
British Ambassador Charles Hay welcomed the release of the Korean translation of “Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Britain and Australia in the Korean War, 1950” on Friday at the British Embassy in Jung District, central Seoul, expressing optimism that the book will help boost public awareness here and in the United Kingdom of a battle he suggests is being forgotten.
“When we look back over the relationship of the U.K. and Korea since the establishment of diplomatic relations, one of the most important events is the U.K. contribution in the [1950-53] Korean War,” said Hay.
“Unfortunately, as global history developed, the Korean War tends to be largely overlooked in the U.K.,” continued Hay, adding that the phenomenon seems “very strange” to witness from a country where it is deemed such an important part of history.
Hay, who served for five years in the British Army, commended the author of the 735-page book for bringing the war “alive” through personal interviews with British and Australian soldiers who took part in the three-year battle, saying the record of those memories seemed to have “captured the reality.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but if you haven’t already I highly recommend reading Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Britain and Australia in the Korean War, 1950. It is great that Korean readers will now have an opportunity to learn more about the British and Australians that fought in the Korean War like I did.
I always find these interviews of Korean War veterans in the Joong Ang Ilbo to be very interesting:
Gazing at the F-51D Mustang combat plane, the veteran’s eyes were still sharp. And just like the fighter jet he flew during the 1950-53 Korean War, his face had wrinkles carved in from years gone by.
But retired General Kwon Seong-keun looked elated as he stood before the old combat plane on July 1, at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan, central Seoul, as if he had just met his former self.
He closed his eyes as he recalled the many times he risked his life during the conflict.
“There, you transcend the fear of death. It felt like being on a spaceship spiraling past meteors in muted silence,” said the 90-year-old Kwon, credited with contributing to the establishment of the nation’s Air Force.
The general was dispatched dozens of times during the war, though it has been decades since he has taken to the skies.
The JoongAng Ilbo recently sat down for an interview with the former Korean Air Force pilot to hear more about his life during the Korean War and under Japanese colonial rule. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is how Mr. Kwon said they conducted bombing raids on North Korean forces, by throwing hand grenades out of the plane:
On June 26, we brought 15 kilograms (33 pounds) worth of explosives from the U.S. ammunition chamber. I sat in the front seat of the plane, and in the back seat, another pilot got on the plane with his arms full of bombs and grenades. We headed to Dongdu Stream, where North Korean military tanks were moving along the road.
We threw the explosives down at the tanks with our bare hands. The bombs exploded, and there were momentary swirls of dust, but the tanks started moving again as if nothing had happened. We set out again on the second day. This time, we threw the bombs on the road. That was to destroy the road to prevent as many tanks from moving south as possible.
You can read the rest of the interview at the link.
