>> My name is Paul Olson. I'll tell about how it was when I went to Korea in 1953, I think, in February, something like that. I went there together with my wife Astrid, and she was a nurse. I was intern medicine, but later on there, I was head of the X-ray department. Can I show you ... >> Sure. >> ... what meant to show for you or ... This is entrance of the hospital. It's called Swedish Red Cross Hospital. Actually, it was Swedish Red Cross organizing this, and I'll show you. Right around there is some of the buildings. This is [INAUDIBLE] building, and we have another building there [INAUDIBLE] building. They are both royal persons, the [INAUDIBLE]. They were both children, the names, because they were the heads in the Swedish Red Cross Hospital. >> How Department of Defense you learn about the Korean War? You volunteered, right? >> Yeah, well, actually, I knew very little about there. I didn't know anything about the Korea before the war I started, and I read in the paper and so on. I think in our Swedish paper it was asking people to help, and I don't know exactly why I thought this may be something for us for my wife and me, but I had been working before right after the war in Belgium [INAUDIBLE]. I've been working in Germany, helping in their X-ray department. I've been working in Finland, the Second War in Finland, so I had some interest in going out and seeing the world on work. >> And your wife? >> Yeah. >> She said yes too? >> Well, she hadn't ever been abroad nearly, and when we went there, we took farewell from relatives and so on. That was the very first time she entered an airplane, and at that time, we went strolling down Europe and stayed for quite a long time in Cairo, and that's the very first time that we [INAUDIBLE] far east. It was something very, very new. >> What did you both think about Korea when you first landed, you and your wife both? >> We knew very little about Korea. >> Hmm. >> We knew there had been hard war, the front line going forth and back, but very little we knew. When we came first to Japan, I remember, oh, this is a poor country, and later on, coming to Korea, still more poor, so we thought, how harsh it should be to live here, but we were very well taken care of there at the hospital. >> What do you remember from the hospital? Do you remember ... >> The first day, I remember we were invited for dinner the first day we came there, and the head of the hospital, he said, "Now we are waiting for the hostile soldiers and airplane trying to make something." There was talk about getting peace negotiations because everybody wants the best position for that. For the first time, I think nearly in our lives, we were given somehow a drink so forgot dinner, so we were a little up and down right after a long trip too, so we were a little ... I don't know. But we were very well taken care of. >> At the hospital, did you meet a lot of soldiers from different countries? >> Yeah. They came from very many countries, and the kind of patients that came to this hospital should be those who could go back to the front line within a few weeks or those who should stay for days, a few weeks, before going to Japan where they made your long-term care. >> What kind of hospital MASH units were in Japan? Americans? >> In ... >> Japan, uh-huh. >> ... Japan, well, sure that was American hospital. The other Nordic countries, they had more like MASH Norwegian MASH-like hospitals in tents. I was actually there for a few days visiting them, and Denmark, they had a hospital ... >> Jutlandia. >> Yeah, Jutlandia, and they would always take patients direct from the front on the plane and could land right on the ship, so they were very effective, and I think they become specialized in head injuries needing rapid care. >> Urgent care, wow, so Swedish treated kind of minor injuries, not critical, deadly, fatal injuries, no operation. >> In ... >> Swedish hospital. >> ... Swedish hospital, oh, sure, they had lots of operations but no very big operation, but I never served in the surgical department. I know my wife was for part of the time worker there, and she told me they had patients coming from very many countries, and they had sometimes [INAUDIBLE] nighttime and telling terrible histories about how they were injured and how Chinese people coming in hundreds during the night and so on. >> What do you remember about Koreans? Did you see Koreans there? >> About the Korean ... >> Mm-hmm, Korean children, Korean people, did you see ... >> Well, we were there before the armistice, and then there were a strong many injured before, but after the armistice, July 27, '53, we taken more and more Korean patients, civilian Koreans, and I know I was working the X-ray department. I saw many places with terrible [INAUDIBLE] in the lungs with the holes in the lungs, and we were just discussing, how should we [INAUDIBLE]. Few drugs possible. Sometimes they got the treatment, but if they were to be out, well, we send them further on. We couldn't treat them there, and lots of civil Koreans, they were coming there to the hospital, lying in the street. See? >> Can you ... Mm-hmm. >> Lots of people waiting to come inside the gate, and here they are giving them DDT spray. >> A lot of children. >> Yeah. >> Well, did you ever go back to Korea? >> Yes, I've been back there twice. >> Wow, twice. >> Yes, one time I was invited to Korea together with a few other friends there privately, and we stayed only in Seoul, but that's 15 years ago [INAUDIBLE]. Now a few months in November, we were invited by the Veteran Administration in Korea to visit there for 1 week, and we were very well taken care of. We were many people coming from many countries. We were three bus loaded with people, and one thing I think was a little curious that we always had an ambulance following us and several nurses to ... Well, of course, many of us were very old, so it was maybe necessary. I don't know if anybody had to use the ambulance, but it was always a few meters there from where we were. >> That must have been very interesting for you because you're the ones that treated Koreans during the war and after, and now they're looking after you. >> Now ... >> They were looking after you. >> Yes, that's the riddle. >> Yeah, yes, that must have been very emotional, yes, and were you surprised to see Korea, the modern Korea? >> Yes. Of course, I was surprised. It was quite new, Korea. As I understand, Seoul was twice the size, maybe more, than when we were there before, and it was most modern city we think about, and maybe the change was still more in Pusan. That was a small city when we went. Now there were most modern, lots of sky buildings. I couldn't remember. It was nothing what I saw there before. It was quite new, but the mountains, I could see far away. I'm happy to say they were the same. >> Yes. Korea has many mountains. I heard that during the Korean War, it was very cold. Everybody talks about how cold it was during the Korean War. >> Mostly, we were there springtime, summer and autumn, so we had very good weather when we were there. >> You were very unfortunate. >> In our free time, we were longing for the Korean [INAUDIBLE] where you could taking baths and swim and so on, very nice places. >> So looking back, what do you think about the Swedish contribution in the war? So you have your personal, you and your wife's personal experience in Korea, but in a larger context, what do you think about the Swedish contribution? >> I think it has been a very good importance for the long time, I mean, because it was important that we could help them with taking care of the patients. We had about 150, 200 beds in each two buildings, so I don't know. Maybe several thousands of patients had been taken care of, but I think it's more important what has happened in the long run, that the context with South Korea and Sweden been very good importance for the development of Korea and development here in Sweden. You helped us, as I understand, with the context for Korea and maybe also for Japan. >> I saw where the Swedish hospital was turned into a national hospital for Korea. Have you visited there? >> No, I haven't visited that, but I know about that. >> And there's a monument for Swedish, huh? >> Yes, yes, I didn't see it, but I heard about it, but the Sweden, Norway and Denmark, they decided that they wanted to start a university hospital in Seoul, and the latter time in the Swedish hospital there in Pusan, they worked, I think, for a short time together with the Dens and Norwegian. One of my best friends worked in that hospital that moved then to Seoul, but my friend was ... We know talking about together [INAUDIBLE]. >> Oh, yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> He worked there several years. >> Your best friend from the Korean War >> My friend from medical studies, he was working several years in ... >> Korea. >> ... this hospital in Seoul. >> To help build it. >> Yes. >> To help train. >> Train. >> Mm-hmm, to train. I saw in the documentary that the nurses and even after the war, they were trained by the Swedish doctors and nurses. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yeah. That's remarkable. >> I think that was important for the future education of nurses and doctors there in Seoul. >> So one thing that breaks my heart a little bit is that the Korean War never ended. >> Yeah. >> As you know, Swedish still are at the [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] the DMZ along the border to protect the border. >> Yeah. I was up there. >> Oh, you were? >> Yeah, and I was visiting the Norwegian hospital NORMASH up near the front, and there was like MASH. All the hospitals were just in tents. >> Did you watch the American TV show "M*A*S*H"? >> Yes, sure, sure. >> Oh, you did? >> Yeah, and this Norwegian hospital was quite like "M*A*S*H." >> Really? >> Yeah. >> Really? Oh, okay, so it was ... >> Well, seeing it, all the tents and what happened there, but I think have more fun in the American version in the movies. >> Well, I think the greatest honor for the veterans is when the war ends and there is peace. You know? Then I truly hope that in your lifetime, you will see a unified Korea because in this picture here, we have a very malnourished baby, and I look at a toddler, and I look at him, and he reminds me of babies or toddlers in North Korea, but as you know, South Koreans are now prosperous, and we are very grateful to the sacrifices of you and your comrades and the veterans all over the world whom I call my grandpas and grandmas. So I hope that, number one, we will never forget but two that there's really peace so that you know that you not only defended freedom for South Korea but all of the Korean peninsula. >> I will really hope. >> Right, to see that, and maybe next time, you could even go to North Korea, right? >> Maybe. >> Yeah. I hope there is peace. Well, thank you so much.

>> ... the two mounds, which the shrine is in the middle of ... >> Okay. >> ... are in the shape of the ying and yang. >> Oh. Who designed it? >> An architect in [INAUDIBLE]. The original one was done by a student here at Heriot-Watt University. >> Mm-hmm. >> But the new memorial was done by an architect [INAUDIBLE]. >> Hmm, yep, and we brought the ... >> The fir. >> We brought the tiler from ... >> Korea. >> ... Korea and 10 tons of tiles. >> All these tiles came from Korea. >> They're all genuine old tiles from Korea. >> And the fir, the tree, the tree ... >> The trees came over [INAUDIBLE]. >> And were grown ... They were grown for us at the Botanical Gardens ... >> Botanic Gardens. >> ... in Edinburgh. And then ... >> Wow. >> Then the second place [INAUDIBLE]. >> Shotts Prison. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Once they got too big for the ... >> Botanic Gardens. >> ... Botanic Gardens to hold them ... >> We look for some place to grow them on because they were still in pots, and they went to one of the biggest prisons in Scotland. >> Prison? >> Prison, prison, and they grew them on for us. >> Yes. Yeah. The architect originally wanted the green oak that the shrine is built of to be kept yellow with oil, but I actually wanted it to go gray like this so it would actually match with the tiles on the roof, and so that's why it's all now gray although ... >> [INAUDIBLE] in the navy. >> All thousand ... How many? Sixty-eight thousand seventy? >> One thousand [INAUDIBLE]. >> These trees have been planned in memory of veterans of a branch who have since passed away, and we have a lot of plaques and each one a remembrance. That's our latest one we've [INAUDIBLE].

-Yo me llamo Hely Agamez Villarraga. Me fui voluntario para la Guerra de Corea porque el batallón que yo pertenecía aquí en Colombia nos solicitaron: que quién quería ir a Corea, y yo me ofrecí que iba voluntariamente para Corea. Entonces nos transfirieron a Bogotá, nos entrenaron en Bogotá, nos trasladaron a Cartagena, de Cartagena a Yokohama. De Yokohama en tren a Sasebo, y Sasebo-Corea del sur. Entonces, allá nos entrenaron, pasaron, nos llevaron al cementerio de los, de los compañeros caídos, nos dieron todas las instrucciones del caso, y pertenecía allá al batallón Colombia en la compañía A, primera fila, era el relevante de la escuadra. Cuando nos tocó a ir al combate, no… la cuadrilla mía, la patrulla mía, se llamaba la patrulla Tigre. Y entonces cuando estábamos delante, delante del pelotón dos que era el puesto de avanzada del batallón Colombia, nos tocó hacer un patrullaje de escucha. Allá se presentaron el enemigo, entonces el cabo, mi cabo, no recuerdo el nombre bien, le comunicó a mi teniente Galindo, que era el comandante de la compañía, y le dijo, nos dijo: ustedes lo que son son unos cobardes. ¿No querían venir para acá? Combátanlos. Entonces nosotros combatimos al personal que eran como 40, los eliminamos. Entonces yo como era el reemplazante del cabo, digo: mi cabo, ¿por qué no llama a mi capitán, a mi teniente, y le dice que nos metamos por el, la patrulla, puesto avanzado, y nos evitamos…? Y dice: no. Entonces: ¡Costeño cobarde! Me dijo, a mí me dio rabia y salí, salí caminando, me fui caminando como unos 15 o 20 metros, y ahí empezaron a caernos las granadas. A mí me cayó aquí entre las piernas y me elevó, me elevó más, y de ahí para atrás, como venía de una bajada, ahí casi nos eliminaron. Entonces cuando ya yo vi que ya se, se acabó, se terminó, me regresé, y entonces conocí al comandante de la patrulla, lo voy a levantar, lo conocí por el reloj, lo voy a levantar, y cuando le metí la mano hacia atrás, le metí la mano por detrás, pero le pegó el pecho por dentro, la cabeza ya no la tenía. Entonces ya ahí ya entonces empezaron… Como ya se dio cuenta el comandante, entonces estaba pura luz de bengala para que el enemigo nos ayudara. Hasta ahí fue mi historia ya, fui herido y… Fui herido en la pierna y estoy ya aquí esperando lo que Dios quiera. No tengo más que hablar. ¡Ah! Otra cosa: también fui, también fui el 2001 a Corea, también invitado por el… Y lo que dicen mis compañeros es que era un país sumamente pobre, inclusive hediondo, olía mucho, era muy hediondo. Y nosotros como soldados, nos volábamos para estar con las chinitas, con las coreanas, y dormían como en..., y tenían la, la calefacción era como un horno que le metían, le metían como, digamos, leña para el calor de, de, de la persona que estaba durmiendo ahí, y nosotros como no estábamos acostumbrado a dormir con ese horno, amanecíamos con la piel arronchada porque... del calor porque como no estábamos acostumbrado, entonces hasta nosotros nos conocían porque nos volábamos del batallón por las, por la piel. Y total que fue muy muy bonito Corea, y lo atendieron a uno de mil maravillas, y no puedo… yme están ayudando a mí porque me están dando un auxilio a un nieto.

>> All right. My name is [INAUDIBLE]. This is my sister, Hannah. She’s the youngest of our siblings.

>> The youngest of 11.

>> My niece, Sa, named after my grandmother and my niece, which is her daughter, named Elena. We are from … We are all relatives of our uncle that was killed in the Korean War, and his name is [INAUDIBLE] …

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> [INAUDIBLE]. He’s from … He has many villages from [INAUDIBLE] and [INAUDIBLE]. Yeah.

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> So we weren’t there when he was alive because he died in 1950 in the Korean War, and I was born in 1956. My daughter … My sister is 1965.

>> 1965.

>> So we didn’t see him, but we know from our dad’s stories about his brother. My dad is … He’s the one … The uncle, my uncle died in Korea, and he’s older than my dad. My dad is the youngest of the siblings, so based on his story, he joined the military and the armed forces, and then he went off island because of that, and he … When he left, he didn’t marry, but he has a girlfriend that he was suppose to marry before he left, but that didn’t happen, and based on our dad’s story, word arrived from off island that he was killed. He was killed, and they waited for 7 to 9 months, I think 7 months, before his body was found and …

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> … transferred down here to the islands, so he was brought in with the word that they’re not supposed to open up the coffin, so they haven’t seen if he was really in there, and he was buried in Pago Pago, his mother’s land in Pago Pago, so that’s all we know about him, but when he died late in 1950, my mother gave birth to one of my brothers and because of uncle was passed away, he was named after my uncle. Yeah. That’s how we remember him because we did not see him in-person. He passed away before we were born.

>> Do you know which battle he passed …

>> The Korean War.

>> I know, which battle?

>> During the war, which battle? Like, where did he die?

>> I don’t know.

>> I don’t remember.

>> We don’t remember, and I …

>> What … Do you know what date …

>> Date?

>> … he died, what date?

>> Yes, it’s in the sheet of … and on the tombstone. It’s August 23, 1950.

>> August 23rd, 1950.

>> Yes.

>> Oh, that’s during the beginning of the war. That was the most difficult time of the war.

>> And we were told … My dad told us that he’s … where he was doing on the … Through he war was he the operator of a tank, the machine, and he was killed right there.

>> Oh.

>> He was operating the tank.

>> Oh.

>> The big gun, yeah.

>> How old was he?

>> I think he was … Because he was born in July 12th, 1933.

>> He was baby. He was 18.

>> Yeah.

>> Eighteen.

>> He just turned 18, so he joined the army right when he turned 18?

>> Yeah. Who?

>> Your uncle.

>> I think so.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> When did he join the army?

>> I’m not sure.

>> Yeah.

>> We don’t have that.

>> Seventeen, 18.

>> Yes.

>> Yeah. He was a baby, so what does it mean for you to honor him here today?

>> Very much important to us because ever since he passed away in the war doing what … I think it was discussed during my dad’s time, but during our time, we never speak of him because we know very little about him. Yeah. We haven’t seen him. If only we can find a picture of him, but we don’t have it.

>> No picture?

>> No.

>> No picture.

>> I think those times …

>> Not even his baby picture?

>> I think those times, there were no camera on the island.

>> Oh.

>> Yeah, so …

>> But I knew he was planned to get married when he comes back.

>> Yeah, but that didn’t happening.

>> Oh, but no picture, so nobody knows how he looks like.

>> Maybe my dad is the one who only knows how he looks like because …

>> They made a song. They made a song about him.

>> Yeah. There’s a song about him.

>> Really?

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> It’s on the Internet.

>> Yeah.

>> Do you sing it?

>> I forgot the words to that song.

>> I used to sing it with my grandmother, and that’s long ago.

[Lyrics]

[INAUDIBLE]

>> Come on. Sing it. Sing it. Sing it.

>> I forgot it.

>> Yes. It’s … I forgot because …

>> Sing it. Sing it. Try. Try.

>> … it’s been 40 years.

>> Okay.

[Lyrics]

[INAUDIBLE]

>> It’s going to make me make tears.

>> What does it mean?

>> But that’s how the song goes.

>> What does the song mean?

[Lyrics]

[INAUDIBLE]

>> [INAUDIBLE]. Oh.

>> Oh.

>> Asking about where he is.

>> Oh.

>> It’s …

[Lyrics]

[INAUDIBLE]

>> Who made the song?

[Lyrics]

[INAUDIBLE]

>> That’s the name of the song. That’s how we would remember him.

>> Sorry, very emotional.

>> Well, I’m here to honor him and his memory.

>> I mean, it’s a happy feeling to … for today to remember him again.

>> Yes.

>> But it totally forgot the whole song, the whole lyrics, but that’s how …

>> I used to sing it.

>> But that’s how I could remember.

>> I used to sing the song with my grandma, but it’s 40 years ago now, 40 years.

>> But it’s amazing that you’re … All of you are here to honor him. I mean, I don’t know know him, but I know where he is. He’s with the Lord.

>> Yeah.

>> And he’s watching over all of your family. Yes, and I think …

>> And he’s at peace.

>> … he appreciates it very much that you remember him.

>> Yeah.

>> Thank you. Thank you.

>> Thank you. If only we could see a picture of him, it’s …

>> Maybe [INAUDIBLE] because our dad and his brother [INAUDIBLE]. They only have one sister. Maybe she has some photos, but she pass away too.

>> Oh. I think that’s why it’s so important that we remember and we record the history.

>> I don’t know if she were … Of his record when he join the offices if there’s any picture.

>> There has to be.

>> I know.

>> Oh, I hope we can find it.

>> Let’s try to find it.

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> Yes, let’s try to find it.

>> Pictures of him, we didn’t even see his face.

>> Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay, everybody say …

>> Thank you so much for your time.

>> … bye.

>> Thank you.

>> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Okay. Well, you can go. Okay. Ready? Go. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Hello, everybody, from Mayo County in Ireland. I am here at the Mayo Park Garden of Remembrance with many people, but particularly I'm here with the council members of the Mayo County, Mr. ... >> Gavin. >> ... Gavin and ... >> Ger Deere. >> ... Ger Deere. So thank you so much. Please say a few words about this beautiful town and the significance of having this Peace Park here right in the middle, the heart. >> First of all [INAUDIBLE] deputy mayor [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE]. We both do. >> A thousand, 100,000 [INAUDIBLE]. Myself and councillor here were delighted to present you with [INAUDIBLE] very, very proud of this Peace Park here [INAUDIBLE] many, many years ago [INAUDIBLE]. We have people coming here from all over the world. [ Chatter ] So we're delighted to be involved. [INAUDIBLE] our municipal district are delighted to be involved, and we've been involved with this Peace Park right from the start. You can see all the names on the wall. >> Yes, I love this inscription in particular, that, "Dedicated in memory of all who served and died in the cause of world peace," because everybody, at the end of the day, we remember the fallen to hope for peace and unity. So ... >> [INAUDIBLE] by our president [INAUDIBLE]. >> By the president [INAUDIBLE]. I want to introduce Mr. Feeney, who is a chairman of the committee, right? So please come and ... So, Mr. Feeney, as you may have seen yesterday, he not only came to Dublin, took me everywhere yesterday, to all the visits, but he also escorted me to Mayo, which is almost 4 hours away from Dublin. But he is the one who thought of building this memorial, and this entire town supported it, got behind and actually made it into a reality. So please, what inspired you?? >> What inspired me was forgotten generation [INAUDIBLE] Korean War [INAUDIBLE] so many other wars. It was something that needed to be done at that time, and with the support of [INAUDIBLE] Council, our own committee, there was a lot of people involved [INAUDIBLE]. And we are proud [INAUDIBLE]. And so many people, such as yourself, come here who are proud of it, too. It's a tourist attraction. It's a memorial, heritage site, but it remembers the fallen and gives respect to all who served and died and gives respect most of all to the families who were left behind. >> Yes. >> [INAUDIBLE] ... >> That is ... >> ... people here had to go to Belgium and France [INAUDIBLE], but the graves are still out there. >> Yes. >> But at least we can remember them here [INAUDIBLE]. >> That is ... Thank you for pointing that out. This is not only to honor the fallen, but it's also for those left behind, right? The families and the town, the friends to come and remember. Of course, you don't need a wall or a memorial to remember them, but it is something where the community can come together and ... >> Ma'am? >> Yes? >> I would like to add Mr. Jim Casey, the National Executive Chairman of the Irish United Nations Veterans to give a small presentation to you. >> Oh, presentation. [ Chatter ] Oh, wow! So thank you. Wow! Thank you. What an honor, the Irish United Veterans Association, United Nation ... So as you know, the Korean War was a United Nations effort, and so Mr. Casey has come on behalf of the United Nations Irish Veterans Association. Thank you so much. If I'm correct, I'm going to ... [ Chatter ] Yes. Oh. >> On behalf of [Indistinct], another badge. >> Wow! [ Chatter ] I'm having a lot of badges, everybody! This is a Mayo Peace Park Garden of Remembrance badge. >> Yeah. >> The doves. >> Aw. >> The doves were made in Germany. >> Oh, wow, the doves were made in Germany. How symbolic is that? >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes, yes, thank you. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes. So I just wanted to point out, remember the hearts that I've been pinning to all the grandpas? Well, I laid them at the marker where it actually lists from this town alone four who died, so I'm going to just take you over there. In fact, I'm going to bring the Columban Fathers, so remember yesterday I visited the Columban Fathers in [INAUDIBLE] Park? It's a little loud there. They're having construction, but, the fathers, would you like to join me when [INAUDIBLE] Korean War [INAUDIBLE]? [ Chatter ] >> So ... [ Chatter ] ... they lived in Korea for 40 ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> ... years. Can you believe that? And they speak Korean fluent, and they came today, and I want to point this out, so these are Irish who fought with the Americans and died, so in the Korean War, Sergeant Mark Brennan .. >> Fitzpatrick. >> ... Mr. Michael Fitzpatrick, Michael ... >> Gannon. >> ... Gannon and Michael ... >> Hardiman. >> ... Hardiman, so I laid these four in their honor, and we laid these wreaths, so, everybody, I just want to show ... Oh, you said you wanted to present something. >> [INAUDIBLE] yes. >> Yes. >> We'll go over there because it's so loud here but ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE] seven Columbans that died in the Korean War. >> Oh. >> And I produced this. [INAUDIBLE] Smith is my name. >> Wow. >> We have a little piece of poetry here in English and in Korean remembering the seven Columbans that died. >> Wow! >> Seven who died and left the life [INAUDIBLE] with no word of farewell, seven great [INAUDIBLE] busy green truly fell [INAUDIBLE] to the green return, and when it came, have already [INAUDIBLE] rigid in the ground. >> Wow, and you can read it in Korean, too? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Let's go over there. It is raining, so we're going to go inside, but ... >> But anyway ... >> ... these are the seven Columban Fathers who died in Korea during the Korean War. They could've fled, but they chose to stay, so I'm going to just show you guys quickly this place, and then we're going to go in, so it's okay. [INAUDIBLE]. So look at this. It's of course a cemetery in the back, and this is the garden with all the different conflicts that ... and alliances, right? >> Yeah. >> The Irish alliances. I'm okay. And I'm okay. I'm okay. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes, I'm okay. And this is where it lists more than 1,000 Irishmen who died in World War I, but of course over there that includes the Korean War and Vietnam War. Everybody, I cannot thank God enough for ... Just continue to bless me, bless everybody that joined me on this journey, so thank you very much, and I am going to be making my way back to Dublin later today and will soon be in Belfast where ... in Northern Ireland where I'll also be hoping for peace and unity there as well as meeting Korean War veterans, Irish who fought in the Korean War, so thank you, everybody. Bye.

>> Hello, everybody, from Paramaribo, I am extremely excited to be here again at the Korean War Memorial dedicated to the 102 Surinamese young men who went to Korea and fought for me, and there are only three remaining Surinamese Korean War veterans, and I got to meet two, so I am happy like a girl. So these are my two grandpas, Surinamese grandpas. In fact, Suriname is the only Caribbean country that fought in the Korean War, and he, despite how he looks, is 93 years young. Right?

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Grandpa, what is your full name and so everybody knows.

>> I’m named Edward Derdrick.

>> And when did you fight in Korea?

>> That’s … When was that?

>> 1955, no?

>> ’40?

>> ’52 or ’53.

>> ’52, ’53 and …

>> No, ’52, ’53.

[ Chatter ]

>> Until the last day of the cease-fire.

>> Oh, until July 27th.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay, yes.

>> Yes, July 27th.

>> Yes, and, Grandpa, what is your full name? Tell them.

>> Wilfred Herman von Hom.

>> Von Hom, and he is 87 years young, so he, compared to him, is a young chicken, right? Well, guess what?

>> I was one of the youngest that left Suriname when I volunteered to fight in Korea.

>> Why did you volunteer?

>> Yeah.

>> Why did volunteer?

>> Because when I hear of the problems in Korea, and my father was a German, during the war, because we are Netherlanders here and Dutches, we got problems. We got problems, and with all the problems, when I hear about the problem in Korea, I go fight.

>> Oh.

>> Very good, tenacious.

>> Wow.

>> Yeah.

>> Oh, I, of course, showed them and expressed my love and gratitude [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] which is, I think, a thank-you in, muah, their local English, thanks to Diego right there.

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> You have to show the patch.

>> This one?

>> Yes, so, everybody, you know how I go crazy about the Indianheads, the 2nd Infantry Division? Yes, so …

>> 2nd Division, oh, we’re the 8th Division of the eighth army in Korea.

>> Yes, so, they fought alongside the American 2nd ID. They’re called the Indianheads.

>> Yeah.

>> And this is their patch, their symbol, and so when I went to Netherlands, I saw that as well.

>> Who is that? That’s on the video.

>> See, this is his wife, and she’s wearing Surinamese colors. Surinamese colors are red, green, yellow and white, and red stands for love.

>> Yes, yes, yes.

>> So I wore red specifically for them. Grandpas, come with me to the memorial, and, Tanya, say hello. My local friend, say hello.

>> Hello, everybody, this is Tanya.

>> And, Raphael, come on. Don’t go away. Say hello. Raphael, say hello.

>> Hello, everyone.

>> Hello. I met Raphael and Georgiano yesterday through Chuuri, and I’m going to pull him over, but because he, we found out yesterday, is the grandson of a veteran. He didn’t know his father’s name was on the panel, so we’re going to show them the panel, okay? Georgiano, do you want to join us for a sec?

>> Grandson, granddaughter …

>> Yes.

>> Can you tell us about, anything about your grandfather’s service?

>> Okay. Then I have to begin at the beginning. My grandfather, he also fought in the Second World War.

>> Oh, Russia.

>> And I think because he was still in the army, the officer sent him to the Korean War out of Japan. What can I tell about my grandfather?

>> Did he say anything about the Korean War, tell any stories?

>> No, I was too young.

>> Okay.

>> But don’t keep telling me that then because I have a book, and it’s actually a funny story because the war, in 1954, they have … They published a book with all the fun stories about the veterans, and it’s a book by him.

>> Okay.

[ Chatter ]

>> There is a book with some of the veteran’s stories. I forgot to bring it in today.

>> It’s okay. I’m going to ask you for a favor, and that is to ask your father about any stories that he might have heard from your grandfather, pictures, and send it to me on PDF for me, okay?

>> Okay, I will do that.

>> Okay, I need to tell you something awesome about Georgiano. Georgiano is what we would look like if we all … He has white blood, yellow blood, brown blood and black blood, right?

>> Yes.

>> It’s amazing, right? What is it, Chinese?

>> Chinese, Javanese, Indonesian.

>> Javanese.

>> I have African.

>> African.

>> And I have Dutch.

>> And Dutch. Isn’t that wonderful? So he represents unity of all races, so I will now take you to the Korean War Veteran Memorial with Grandpa here. Grandpa Hom, so this memorial was built in 2008, right, that memorial?

>> Yeah.

>> Were you here for the ceremony?

>> Yes.

>> Yes, okay, let’s go, and I think I saw a picture of you in Korea?

>> Yeah.

>> You visited Korea?

>> After the war, I visit Korea two times.

>> Oh, you visited two times.

>> Yeah, visited two times.

>> You went in 2000, huh, 2010, 2010?

>> 2010, I was in Korea and before, in ’82.

>> Mm, what did you think when you went to Korea?

>> When I went in …

>> Over there. What did you think?

>> About Korea?

>> Yes.

>> Oh, it’s a nation that built its country. The time that I … The first time that I visit Korea, I … Yes, the Yellow River was only one bridge.

>> Oh.

>> In ’82, there was 60 bridge across the Yellow River to Seoul, from [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] …

>> Yes.

>> … to Seoul.

>> Wow.

>> Sixty bridge and a double bridge, there was one of a double bridge to get across, that go this way. They pass under, under the second stair, and otherwise, that go this way, they pass on the upstairs.

>> Everybody, all the veterans, are so amazed that Korea was able to become such a international giant and make progress. So that was thanks to your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your brothers in arm, so I will finally show you.

>> Here?

>> The names of all the veterans, and you’re … Where’s your name?

>> My name is there, or …

>> Right here.

>> Let me see. I will have … They have one …

>> Right here, so this is Grandpa … How do you pronounce your … Gohm?

>> It’s von Hom.

>> Von Hom.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, von Hom.

>> Von Hom, thank you so much, everybody. I am going to interview them at length, and we’re going to go for lunch, so I have been happy and excited like a girl, and that’s what they make me feel like. The Grandpas make me feel like a little girl because the last time I saw my own grandfather was when I was 6 years old, and so I miss him every day, and so when I see you, I think of my grandfather. I become 6, and that’s what makes me so happy, and so, everybody, I shall see you guys tomorrow, bye.

>> My name is Denis Earp, Earp as in Wyatt Earp. I'm now 86 years old, but in 1950, when the Korean War broke out, I was still only 20, and I hadn't finished my flying training, but the government of South Africa asked for volunteers because for once, the United Nations was able to function as it should, by a pure accident of the Soviets having become angry at something or other, and so they didn't attend. Now at the time, the government decided that the best thing to do would be to send a fighter squadron. Having made some arrangements with the Americans so that we would pay for everything we used, all armament, fuel, aircraft, equipment, everything because all of us were volunteers, which I think makes it a little different story for many other countries. 1950, I spent in great tension following the progress of the Korean War down from the 38th Parallel down to the Pusan perimeter, the breakout at Imjin, the pursuit northwards because I was worried the war would be over before I could get there. I was a second lieutenant, as I said, still on flying training, and I didn't get my wings until December of 1950. Straight after that, Spitfire conversion and operational conversion, and then as soon as we could, we went to Korea, which I reached the end of May, 1951. Now it's a time long ago. Things are different now, but make no mistake. The Korean War was not a quarrel. It was a very big, very important, very violent war, and it made a point in stopping Soviet aggression because the manipulation of Korea was just a byproduct of the Cold War. China and Russia knew what was coming, and they were hoping to break the West's monopoly of resistance in the West. Strangely enough, I think it happened because an American foreign minister made a statement which the Chinese particularly misinterpreted. In an interview in, I think, the early '50s, he said which areas were vital for America, and he named them all over the West, but he did not mention Korea, so the Chinese and the North Koreans interpreted this as being a disengagement on the part of the United States, which it most definitely was not. But America was totally unprepared. When the Korean War broke out, South Korea was not ready for it. It was almost a miracle that the American logistics could reinforce the Pusan perimeter and mobilize allied forces quickly enough to stop having to retreat to Japan because then I think it would have been a very, very long war. In any case, as a second lieutenant, not a student of politics, just a young man, stupid as all young men are, I ended up in a very hot war. As a second lieutenant, my probability of surviving the first few combat missions were low, but you learn very quickly, or you don't survive, and quite a few of my friends were killed. Older and more experienced pilots were killed, and that's a bit of a shock to the system of a young man because you keep believing, "It cannot happen to me," but it does. And on my 65th combat mission, there was a Communist flat gunner who got lucky, and he shot me down, not immediately there, but I was able to fly for about 20 minutes, trying to get back to the lines, but I had a small fire in the cockpit. My feet were burning, and when I got to the point where I'd lost a lot of height, I knew I had to crash-land or bail out. Now the mountains in Korea are not conducive to safe forced landings, so I bailed, and I injured myself, and I had burned feet. I twisted my knee badly on landing, and 7 hours later, I was taken prisoner by the Chinese and then began a little more than 23 months of an experience which I wouldn't wish on anybody. To be a prisoner of the Communists is not a happy state of affairs, and I came very close to dying on several occasions, but by the grace of God, I didn't, and I was released after the armistice which was in July of 1953. I got out in August of '53 and was able to return home in reasonable shape, perhaps a little puzzled in my mind and a little troubled in my memories. So the war ended for me, but that war has not ended for Korea, and I think there's misery ahead for a long time. I hope it'll end peacefully, but I hope it'll still end in my lifetime, but it may not. >> Can you explain to us a little bit about your day-to-day experience at the POW camps? Because not a lot of people know what it means to be a prisoner of war. What did you eat? Were you able to wash yourself? Were you with other prisoners of war? How were the conditions like? How did you survive? >> Well, first of all, prisoners were not a common ... I beg your pardon. It's just my cell phone beeping. Prisoners were not at the moment very popular. They weren't prepared for them, neither the North Koreans nor the Chinese. Food, inadequate. No medical attention at all unless you were termed a progressive. If you offered any form of resistance or failed to cooperate, you were then classed as a reactionary, and the reactionaries didn't have a great future. So if in interrogation you resisted, remember that we'd been indoctrinated in the West to believe in the Geneva Convention. To the Chinese and the North Koreans, that was like a red flag to a bull, and immediately, if you pressed your point, you would end up in a hole in the ground, as I often did, tied with your elbows behind your back. Very little food. When it came, you ate like a dog, and your bodily functions were not catered for. You can imagine what that does to your morale after a few days but then if you're taken out and interrogation starts again or lessons. "You must study to learn the truth," was the big Communist message, and if you learn the truth, then you will have a happy daily life and we will take care of you. But if you didn't want to learn the truth and if you resisted, life was not pleasant. In the first winter at a place called [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] which was across on the Yalu River, a little way from the camp that I ended up in, about 1,500 men died, a lack of medicine, a lack of medication, a lack of food and extremely low temperatures, and the horror of that camp was that the ground was too hard to bury those who died, so they had to be laid on top of the ground and stacked until the spring came, and then they could be buried. Now that kind of environment doesn't do good for your ego. It's oppressive, and men sometimes cracked. They just couldn't take it anymore, and then they faced to the wall. Three days, they would die. We lightheartedly called it give-up-itis, but it was a serious problem. The mind definitely controls your body. If your mind says, "You've had enough. Die," you will die. If your mind says, "No. Let's stay with it. You've got a good chance of survival," and there was a lot of luck as an element. In the beginning as a prisoner, I was regularly interrogated, and we had to sit and listen to lectures every day. But later, I think particularly the Chinese realized that they were not getting anywhere, and they left us on our own. The North Koreans were particularly brutal captors. I spent a few weeks at an interrogation center outside of [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] which we called Park's Palace. Now Major Park was a very sadistic man, and he enjoyed torturing people, and torture might have been pleasant from his point of view, but it was not pleasant from the prisoner's point of view. But with a bit of luck, I survived Park's Palace. I survived a march from Pyongyang up to the Yalu River on foot and with prisoners who were not in good physical shape, and on that March, numerous prisoners died, again, bad physical condition, cold weather. The first snows came in. I was in a summer flying suit, and I got very cold, and I learned to my own horror that if I never saw snow again, pleasant as it may be to many people, I would not be sad at all. In brief, it was not a pleasant experience. I survived on the march when I got dysentery, and a friend of mine supported because if you got left behind, you knew that as soon as the group had moved along, there'd be a shot, and that would be the end. And my friend, Mikheli, physically helped me to survive the last few days until we got to [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. Unfortunately, he did at the cost of his own health because he was then diagnosed with a very, very poor heart, and after we got back to South Africa, a few months later, he died. So I owe him a life, but he gave his willingly. So that's, in brief, the story of a long time. >> You said General Park tortured. We don't understand what kind of torture you're talking. Can you explain what kind of torture? >> Well, if, for example, he wanted immediate information, such as if a prisoner had attempted to escape, then automatically, that meant it was a capitalist plot, and now you had to tell everything. Now one of the forms which was very unpleasant, they would tie you to a chair, kick the chair over backwards, put a cloth over your face and pour water on the cloth, which then sticks to your face, and you can't get breath. And after you've struggled a while, you lose consciousness, and when you come to, you're now sitting upright, coughing out water, and you get your breath back, and now we can do it all over again until you decide that you're going to give the information which they want. That was one form. Other forms were just direct beating. Some people were hung by their thumbs from a bin, and of course, they dislocated thumbs, dislocated shoulders, so physical torture is something that is not pleasant, and prisoners required a great deal of strength of character to endure and continue to resist. It didn't always help to lie because lies, as often do [INAUDIBLE]. So let's say that being put in a hole without food and water and tied up for a few days is also torture. Then that's not pleasant either. >> Were you able to wash yourselves? >> Not when you're in the hole. You had nothing. You mess yourself, and that does bad things to your morale. When you're not being interrogated or being punished, then you're with a group of prisoners who are all classed as reactionaries. In there, you had a reasonable chance of acting normally, bearing in mind that in a Communist system, there are always informers, and you don't know who they are, and the system works in this way that they ask the one informer what happened in that room on that morning, who said what, and he gives a report. Then they've got another informer who informer one doesn't know, and they ask him the same questions so the two informers can cross inform and get the truth. So you were never free to speak, even to your friends. If you wanted to speak, you would walk onto the open ground in front of the schoolhouse, which was prison, and there you could talk, but you had to be very careful because you could be turned in easily. >> Did they speak English? How did they interrogate you? >> Well ... >> Chinese or Korean ... >> Chinese ... >> They spoke English? >> Yeah. Some of them very good English. Some had been educated in universities in England and America. >> Okay. >> The Koreans also spoke very good English, and of course, there were always Russians that you knew were there because Russians smoked a cigarette which had a cardboard for the mouthpiece, so if you saw a couple of those lying on the ground, you knew Russians were giving the Chinese or the Koreans the questions to ask. >> And what kind of questions did they ask? >> Luckily, most of them were very stupid questions. Initially, they wanted to know, what squadron were you? Who was the squadron commander? Who was the second-in-command? How many men in your flight? How many airplanes? What kind of airplanes? How fast? How high? How many guns? How many bombs? How many rockets? Which are of no value except tactically, and after a few days, that interrogation has no further value except it builds up a pattern that the person being interrogated is going to answer, and I didn't realize that until right in the beginning. I had never been briefed [INAUDIBLE]. "What is your father's name?" I said, "That's got nothing to do with you." "Oh, you are not cooperating." "No, I'm not cooperating." "I'm sticking to the Geneva Convention." Then we get a long lecture on the lenient policy in which you not be killed, you will not be maltreated, provided you cooperate. Now on the question of my father's name, the guy was very polite about it. He said, "All right. If you won't answer, we will give you a little time to think about it," and they put me in a hole in the ground, and they tied me up, and they let me stay there for 2 days, and when I came out, the interrogator said, "Have you thought?" I said, "Yes, I've thought." He said, "And what is the answer? What is your father's name?" And I said, "I'm not going to tell you. It's got nothing to do with you." He said, "Come." He marched me up a hill with a squad of soldiers, stood me up against a tree. He didn't have the soldiers point a gun at me. He took out his pistol, and he cocked it, and he said, "Would you like a blindfold?" And I said, "No, thank you," and he aimed the pistol between my eyes, and he pulled the trigger, and it went click. I'll tell you, that's an incredible psychological letdown when you think you're going to die and you don't. So along that pattern, I realized, if there's a question, you've got to have an answer. Whether it's a lie or not is immaterial, but you will answer, and that's how interrogation builds up. Always the small questions first and then later the political questions, and that's what they were interested in, but we were not politicians. We were professional soldiers, second lieutenants who knew very little about a lot of things, but we survived. >> So did you eventually give your father's name? >> I gave my father's name. >> I think I heard that some of your worst torturers were women. Tell me about that. >> No, I never had women torturers. There were women nurses that we saw in the hospitals, but we never got to a hospital because we were reactionaries. >> And about lice. >> Lice? >> Dealing with lice because you weren't showering. >> Well, lice is something I'd never had in my life, but after being along on a march and stop at a village, they put you in a room. The next morning, you itch, and the itch gets worse, and then somebody says, "The reason you're itching is you've got lice," so if you've got a spare minute, get into your clothes, find the lice and kill them. It makes you feel better, and you can imagine if you're tied up, the torture of having lice all over you. For somebody who's not used to it, maybe for the locals it didn't matter, but for me, it meant a lot. >> And some prisoners had to eat lice to survive, I heard. >> Well, you ate whatever you could. If you could take something clean off the side of the road in the summer, eat it because your food was essentially two bowls, small bowls, of rice per day, but on that you actually suffering from avitaminosis, beriberi, eye night blindness, illness for which you could be given medicine if you were not a reactionary. >> And in the camp, were you mixed with other nationalities? >> Yes, mainly Americans, but in the camp I was in, there were some Turks. There were Filipinos, the South Africans, and I'm trying to think who else. My memory is not as good as it should be, possibly because I don't think back to those days with any great pleasure. >> Were you mixed? >> Yes. >> Or were you segregated? >> Mixed. >> Mixed. >> Interrogation, solitary, only by yourself. >> I hope many survived like you did. >> South Africans, eight. >> Out of how many prisoners of war? >> Eight. >> There were eight prisoners of war, but they all survived? >> South Africans, yes. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> The last man was shot down 3 days before armistice, and he was perhaps the luckiest guy ever because he lost 40 pounds in weight in 40 days, and he was never seriously interrogated. >> On armistice, which was July 27th, 1953, you were released? >> Not then. We got released much later. I had made a mistake early on when I was a prisoner. They said, "You are an officer." I said, "Yeah, second lieutenant, very senior." They said, "You must know many things about what bombs do." I said, "I suppose so." They said, "Well, we are subject to unwarranted attacks by the Americans and the Wall Street warmongers, so you will now show us how to build a bombproof bomb shelter." I said, "Okay." So I explained to them how I thought a bomb shelter should be built quite incorrectly, but I then was the foreman, and the Chinese built according to my directions, and we'd almost finished when we were attacked by fighters from my wing, and the bomb shelters collapsed, as I knew they would, but when I was in the bomb shelter, I stuck close to the wall. The guard went in deep and when the shelter collapsed broke his back and killed him. So then I spent a very unpleasant few days being beaten up, and after that, I built the bomb shelters, and our whole platoon of Chinese, they were the supervisors. And because of that, I was tried by a Chinese court. I was given a defense lawyer who pleaded for the death penalty, and he got it. They sentenced me to death for sabotage, but then they said they would not execute the sentence yet, but every time I went for interrogation after that, they'd remind me, and that's why I didn't get released too quickly after armistice, and I didn't know if they would release me until the very end. So I got released in the end of August. >> One month later. >> Mm-hmm. >> But did you know that there was an armistice signed? >> I knew there was an armistice. >> How were you informed about it? >> Well, first of all, we notice stoppage of air flights, the first thing. Then we noticed the Chinese were not quite so hostile. Within 2 days, they formed us up on the playground, and we knew they were going to announce armistice, and we as prisoners said, "Don't show any emotion." So the Chinese commander got up and spoke in Chinese, and then it gets translated into English, and nobody moved. The Chinese commander got very angry and yelled at the interpreter and said, "Did you tell them?" And he said, "Yes," and he told us again, and nobody moved, and this puzzled the Chinese no end. They couldn't understand it, and it gave us a great deal of satisfaction. >> So you all planned this. >> We planned it. >> Wow. All different nationalities, you all just remained calm. >> And that included the people we knew were informers and traitors because they knew we'd tear them to pieces if they didn't. >> Did they come back? Did they return? >> I believe quite a few of them faced court marshals in the States, at any rate. Sad, but that's how people are. You look after yourself. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> When you're starving, you can bribe a man very easily with a bowl of very inferior food or maybe some medicine for serious illnesses. >> Oh, show your hands. It breaks my heart. >> We're not sure what caused that, but it damaged the skin, and I think that was because at one stage in the winter when it was very, very cold, they would stand me outside and tie me to a pole with no cover for my hands, and they'd wait just until the frostbite started, and then they would take me into a warm room. Now I don't know if you've ever had frostbite, but when it thaws, it is extremely painful, and this was a very easy way that didn't threaten my life but softened me. You tend to become less resistant when you're treated that way. In any case, I survived those days, and I came back, and I managed to survive another war which lasted 20 years, and in the end, I ended up as the chief of the Air Force, so I couldn't really complain about my career. >> A general. >> From second lieutenant to a general. >> But most of all, that's just so fascinating because most people ... You didn't just go fight and return, but you suffered for almost 2 years as a prisoner, like you said, with your morale, usurping the dignity out of the human being. Most people would want nothing to do with any war, period, so why did you decide to stay in the military in the force? >> Well, I found that I'd enjoyed my part of the war. I didn't like the part being a prisoner, but by accident of circumstances, I had several flight commanders shut down, and there were no replacements, so they made me as a second lieutenant an acting flight commander, and I found I had an aptitude for leading a flight in combat and achieving great success in attacks on ground targets. So when I came back, I had a choice. I could leave, or I could stay, but at that stage, things were reasonably peaceful, and my option would have been to go to airways and fly as an airline pilot, but my nature was not of that ilk. It wouldn't have worked for me, so I stayed, and it wasn't long in this troubled country that we were in conflict again. So I found I had a natural aptitude for military operations, and that's why I stayed. >> And you said you went back to Korea. Could you just briefly explain your first impression? >> 1986, I in fact went on an official visit to Taiwan, and while we were there, we contacted Mr. [INAUDIBLE] who was the then Korean minister of, I think, prisoner affairs, and he said, "Well, why don't you come and visit? Officially, we cannot admit you." They had just at that time refused entry to our minister of defense and our minister of foreign affairs, but in my case, they decided I should go. They treated me like a king. We'd be riding in an elevator up to that very tall building in Seoul 65 floors high, and Mr. [INAUDIBLE] would say to the people, "This man here is a veteran of the Korean War," and they would all smile and come and want to shake my hand, and then he said, "And he was shot down and was a prisoner for 2 years," and then they all wanted to hug me. That's how they were. They were just grateful to see a veteran of the Korean War. They treated me like royalty. The Air Force invited me to a dinner. I was able to lay a wreath at a memorial for the Cluster Regiment on the Imjin River, and as I said, it was a wonderful experience to see the Korea which was devastated rebuilt. And it's interesting. People ask me, "You go to a Korean War, and you didn't even win. What did you achieve?" I say, "Well, let's look at this way. North Korea is the most repressive Stalinist country in the world where there is no freedom, great human rights violations and terrible abuses of people. South Korea is the most progressive open society that you can imagine, and you say we didn't win? I think we did." >> I think so too. >> Good. >> Actually, I know so because I'm here. >> All right. But remember, I was talking then in 1986. I know things have changed a bit now, but South Korea is still prospering. I think your economy is about third or fourth in the world, and I'm glad. >> Well, I hope you're very proud. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.

>> That, of course, is when I was boy. When I was 14, I was boy. I went in the Navy, so that's me ... That's GMS Ganges, nothing to do with Korea, me hat. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Wow, it is. >> Yeah, well, [INAUDIBLE]. >> Their badges is the royal signate. >> No, it's not. >> Oh, sorry. >> Wrong signal, wash your mouth out. It's the REME. That's the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. >> Hello. >> And that's the badge there. Right. Now he's Royal Signals. >> Royal Signals, and what does that mean? >> Communications. >> Oh, so your badges all indicate what you ... >> Yeah. Mine was repairs ... >> Hello? >> ... maintenance of old vehicles and equipment, that's REME, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. >> How about his? >> He was Royal Engineer, slightly different. >> What is that? >> Pardon? >> What your regiment badge is? >> Your badge. >> He's Royal Engineers, Eamus. >> Yeah. >> What does that signify? >> Paratrooper. >> Oh. >> RAF Memorial. >> I was in the 27th Brigade. That's all of them. That's the Canadians, Australians. That's the New Zealanders, Canadians, and that's two badges there, and that's a one-eyed ... That's a good-luck charm, that is. >> Oh. >> That's what Mr. Shoveling give me when you got to see him. >> You've got here too. >> Oh, that's ... >> Turn his badge around. >> Oh, got around the other way. >> Beautiful.

>> Hi, everybody. I am here at the Veterans Affairs Department with, ta-da, my American-Samoan and Korean-War grandpas and their families, so I’m going to introduce you to them. So you met yesterday the Veterans VFW state commander, Inafo Maria.

>> Hello.

>> Aloha, right? And then the post commander, Mr. Apu.

>> Hi.

>> Okay. So here is my veteran grandpa. You can come a little closer. Your name is …

>> Suaka Shushba.

>> Yes. Grandpa Sua was in the Air Force, which is very rare, in 1950 …

>> Two.

>> 1952, so he flew to Korea carrying a …

>> Atomic bomb.

>> He carried an atomic bomb, but thank God, yeah, thank God he didn’t have to drop it, right? Yeah. If I remember correctly, General MacArthur kind of wanted to drop it, huh?

>> Wanted to drop it.

>> Yeah, but thank God that didn’t happen because Korea then would not exist today, maybe. Yes, and maybe I wouldn’t exist, so thank you for not dropping it.

>> [INAUDIBLE] protect Korea.

>> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Look how young he looks. How old are you, Grandpa?

>> I’m 87 years old.

>> Eighty-seven, he’s looking young though.

>> He’s too young.

>> Yes. Now this is my second Korean-War-veteran grandpa with his lovely girlfriend and son, handsome son, right? Grandpa, your full name?

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> Yes. It’s a little bit long, but for short, I will call you my Grandpa … first name …

>> Beneva.

>> Beneva, Grandpa Beneva. He has an impeccable memory, and he was a combat veteran, right?

>> Yeah.

>> He served in some of the major battles of …

>> Outpost Harry.

>> Outpost Harry with the Greeks.

>> Pork Chop Hill.

>> Pork Chop Hill. Oh, by the way, everybody, do you have the … Well, he doesn’t have it, but he’s part of the Indianhead, the second ID. There’s a lot of Indianhead people watching this. So, “second to none,” right?

>> Second to none.

>> Second to none. Yes, yes. That’s it, so thank you, and what’s your name?

>> Gilbert Fiere.

>> Okay. What does it mean for you to have a father who served in the Korean War?

>> I’m very proud of my dad. He inspired me to join the service as well, and so I’m very proud of him.

>> Where did you serve?

>> First Persian Gulf War.

>> Oh, thank you for your service too. Thank you. Okay. Well, he’s not a Koren War veteran.

>> Nope.

>> As you can see, he’s not that old, but his father …

>> Yes.

>> His father was a Korean War veteran, and your father’s name is …

>> Edwin Robert Hollister.

>> Yes. Mr. Grandpa Edwin, he too also served in Desert Storm, so we have many families. Many of the members of the family served in the military and American Samoa. Per capita, right, number one, per capita, number one, and they have the spirit of serving the country, duty freedom, right, family, protecting family.

>> Yes.

>> And so your father served what year, you said?

>> 1950 …

>> 19 …

>> … until 1953, somewhere that time.

>> Yeah, yes, and he served in the Army.

>> Army, yes.

>> Yes. Do you know what division or what …

>> No. I don’t know.

>> Yes. He doesn’t know, but he did say that his father was very proud, right?

>> Yes.

>> He died 7 years ago?

>> No, back in …

>> Oh, it was ’75, 1975.

>> ’76. He passed away in 1976.

>> Oh, 1976, but he was born in 1925.

>> Yes.

>> Oh, and he was a medic. Now it’s coming back to me.

>> He was a medic, yes.

>> Yes, he was a medic. He was a medic, so we have airmen. We have a combat veteran, and we have a medic in American Samoa in the Korean War. And this is a very special story, so I’m going to save you last.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Ladies, best for last, but his father …

>> Uncle.

>> Uncle, I’m sorry. His uncle also served in the Korean War, and so did he, right?

>> Yes.

>> And your uncle inspired you to be tough, right? You said so.

>> Yes.

>> Yeah. Everybody was scared of his uncle and his family, he said, right?

>> Yes.

>> And what is your uncle’s name?

>> Name is Titae Fieme.

>> Yes, and we honor him and his memory. Now her uncle and her brave uncle also fought. So they’re all family here. Let’s show … What’s your name? What’s your name? She’s shy, but she’s very cute and pretty. Okay, so your uncle’s name is …

>> Masanisa Soripo Fanlan.

>> Yes, and her uncle, however, passed away, died, was killed in the Korean War.

>> Action.

>> Killed in action in August …

>> August 12th, 1950.

>> Yes, so as you remember, that was less than 2 months after the Korean War broke, and this was before the [INAUDIBLE] of MacArthur, so when your uncle fought was when the North Korean army, after invading the 38th Parallel, kept pushing down and down and down and down. So your uncle was part of the first major casualties that were suffered, and it was so touching because her family still remembers her uncle’s memory, but she never saw his picture. They don’t have a picture of their uncle, so they don’t know how he looks like, so they only remember him through the heart, and so I’m really hoping that I can find them …

>> A picture.

>> Yeah, get a picture so that they can see how handsome their uncle was, and I know your other sister is not here, but there was a song about his uncle. Can you sing that a little bit one more time?

>> I don’t know. I forgot the words.

>> Yes.

>> My sister remembers.

>> Just a little bit.

>> The word of the song, it was done by my grandmother, his mom, and the word of the song goes like this in English: “Masani, where are you? Are you sleeping, or are you awake? Please come home.” That’s it.

>> And his mom was always waiting for him to come.

>> I think because he left when he was a young man, not an old man.

>> I call her my auntie, and I’m so, so honored you’re here, and I’m here to say thank you to your family and that your uncle’s service and sacrifice is not forgotten, okay?

>> Amen.

>> Forever, and there are so many people out there who are grateful to you. I represent them. I’m here to represent everybody who’s grateful, not just by myself, okay?

>> All right. Thank you very much.

>> So thank you, everybody, and I’m just so happy to be here on this beautiful island. We still have [INAUDIBLE] to do and cemeteries to visit. We’re going to go visit her uncle’s grave later. So remember727.org. Thank you. Bye.