I have been super busy the last few weeks with my engineering job, Korean language class, home renovation projects, Leadership Academy for work, volunteering at food banks, taking care of the vegetable farm, etc. All good and productive, but each day I have risen at 3:30 to 4 a.m. and gone to bed at 10 p.m. exhausted starting the cycle over repeatedly.
Under short notice, Korea.net asked for articles to touch on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War. My plan was to interview my father in law (now 91) who does not speak English and write a story from that as the base, but that did not happen. On this dreary Sunday morning, I decided to write something anyhow although a few days late from the start of the war on June 25th (1950).
My father served for the South Korean army after he fled Pyongyang, North Korea in 1950. He was the oldest son from a wealthy family and was told by his parents to leave his siblings and come back in a couple weeks. That never happened, nor did he ever speak or hear from anyone again. I have witnessed that story countless times and seen first hand the black and white photos of separated families when you enter their apartment. It is the first things you see as you take your shoes off and enter, and is touching and tragic to say the least if you have never seen such.
One night five years while we were visiting my in-laws in Seoul, my father-in-law sat at the kitchen table with my wife, her sister and I and just starting talking about the war for the first time ever to even them. It is a hardship that brings tears to me just thinking about it. My mother-in-law also fled Pyongyang with her two sisters to Seoul where she met my father-in law a few years later not knowing each other before. Their first date was going to see a black and white Charlie Chaplin movie. They have been married for over 60 years and raised four kids back when it was not easy. I have much respect for them and any immigrant or refugee, and do not take my life for granted.
I will not share some of the war details he discussed, but will say no war is pleasant and the suffering is incomprehensible. There were also pictures he would not show us and probably memories he chose not to either. Often the hardest part of war is that families are broken apart and kids become orphans with no one looking after their well being. You will see a few pictures below from a museum in Seoul that documents the actual orphan cards and stories. However, history shows how quickly Koreans set up makeshift schools to educate their young ones and I believe it paid off.
My father-in-law was fortunate to not spend that much time on the front line, but did and then played in the military marching band. He was a talented musician who played the clarinet, accordion and piano. There is a photo below of him playing with a jazz band on KBS news after the war ended.
My wife and I met at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York), where she earned a PhD in environmental engineering. She is the smartest and most cultured person I have met and say that without bias. Ironically, her landlord at that time in 1998 was a Korean war veteran as well (Marines). We shared pictures of his time during the Korean War after my first visit in 2001. From what I saw, the country was obliterated with bombs and he was amazed at how fast the country rebounded and advanced. He would be more surprised if he saw South Korea 20 years since then as it is one of the most densely populated yet technologically savvy I have seen in the world, and its people still treat one another and strangers with kindness and respect. The world can learn from them...
Koreans have gone through not only the Korean War, but centuries of invasions by other countries that wanted to seize this tiny, yet strategic peninsula. I have seen some of the old maps when the Korean country occupied a large part of northeastern China and changed hands numerous times over the last 5,000 years.
I hope you enjoy some of the photos, and understand some of this complex history of a wonderful place. It is still my hope that the two countries are reunited one day in peace.
This video by the Korea Society of NY is a short reminder of the Korean War with various perspectives, and worth a listen. You can find it at this link below.
