>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> We were invited in 2010 to go to Korea with my wife. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> When I was injured back in the war, I took an ambulance that went past the Han River. >> One bridge [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> There was only one bridge that was about to be collapsed. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> But when I went back in 2010, I saw there were 29 bridges on the river, and I was really impressed. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> He's saying all the Korean people are really polite and hardworking. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> One day, they took us to a village. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> It was 75 kilometers away from Seoul. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> It represented Korea 100 years ago. They made a village to present that old time. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> It was sort of a museum where they created a scenario of Korea 100 years ago where kids would go to learn about Korean history. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> When I went there, I saw kids sit down in the [INAUDIBLE] and the teachers would explain them about the history of Korea. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> And after the teacher told the kids about the stories, the kids started running towards us, and they started hugging us and kissing our hand. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> There was one really handsome kid. I think he was around 13 years old. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> He hugged me and kissed my hand. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> And he looked up to me and said, "Atatürk." >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> And when I looked, the teacher was waving. She was waving her hand. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> The teacher basically told them about the Turkish soldiers, how they lived thousands of miles away, but they came to our country and fought for us, and their leader was Atatürk, and she told this, and he cried. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> I went to his mausoleum in Ankara, yes.

>> My name is Victor Smith. I'm part of the committee of the British Korean War Veterans Association. My position is National Treasurer who looks after the finances. We have approximately about 250 members. This was after the collapse of the original British Korean War Veterans Association, and we formed out of the members that wanted to carry. It's very successful. We're growing year-by-year. The old organization closed in 2013. That's when we started, and over ... We've made great steps in the 5 years that we were ... 4 years that we've been in operation. What else would you like me to say? >> Just how many served from Britain. >> Oh, the servicemen from Britain that were killed in action was 1,078. I think there was over 1,000 that were captured, and altogether, there was about 30,000 went to Korea from Britain. The reason that we only did one winter because of the cold winter, extreme cold, whenever you got there, you could only go 12 months that included one winter. The conditions were pretty basic. Spares ... I was involved with maintenance of vehicles and tanks. To get spares and equipment was very, very hard. We cannibalized one vehicle to keep another vehicle going. Any that we couldn't deal with, they were taken to Inchon and shipped to Kure in Japan where the Japanese had workshops that repaired all the vehicles. That was under the REME. I was actually a member of the REME, which is the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. They're mainly workshops, but within each unit, there's always a REME craftsman attached to the unit. I was attached to the Tower [INAUDIBLE] Infantry, and then I was passed onto the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. On my end of service in Korea, I then moved around to the Suez Canal and spent 6 months on the Suez Canal, and then I ... My 3 years was up. Anything else? >> Have you been back to Korea? >> I have been back the once. I hoped to go back this year. It was a wonderful experience to return there, and I'm looking forward to going back again. >> And I'm sure when you went to Korea, many Koreans expressed their gratitude, right? >> Oh, yes. They treated us like gods. They're absolutely wonderful to us. They're so kind, the Korean people. >> When you see that, that the South Koreans and Koreans all over the world are experiencing, enjoying freedom, and North Koreans are not, what do you hope for the people of the Korean Peninsula. >> Well, I hope they'll unify. I believe there are still people that work from the South work in the North and from the North work in the South. I think they travel there daily. I'm not sure, but it wants complete unification and peace, and absolutely, it's a wonderful country to visit, wonderful people. I thoroughly enjoyed my time out there.

– Mi nombre es Carlos Guillermo la Torre Franco, pertenezco a la Asociación Colombiana de Veteranos en la Guerra de Corea. Me fui en el año 52, salimos de Colombia y llegamos a Corea en el año 53 en el mes de enero. Estuvimos en entrenamiento hasta el mes de marzo y luego entramos al primer batalla de, de ese contingente en el marzo del 53. El 10 de marzo de 1953, asaltamos el cerro 180 ocasionándole a los chinos y a los coreanos del norte grandes bajas. Salimos de ahí y entramos al Old Baldyel 13 de marzo de 1953 hasta el 23 de marzo, que fue cuando hubo la batalla más grande que ha tenido el batallón Colombia hasta la fecha. Y de ahí salimos a reserva, yo fui herido el 23 en las horas de la noche y salí al otro día el 24, caminé hasta la 1:00 de la tarde, hasta que me recogió un tanque y me echó para el batallón, donde me enviaron en ambulancia hasta Seúl al… hospital, allá en Seúl. Allá duré, aproximadamente, un mes, y me iban a devolver para Colombia, pero me devolvieron para la primera línea, porque, como fue tan delicada la batalla, el batallón quedó diezmado, y hubo necesidad de reforzar con los heridos que ya estaban alentados. Estuvimos hasta el mes de noviembre del 53, cuando regresamos a Colombia, llegando aquí el 24 de diciembre de 1953. Yo continué en el ejército y estuve en tratamiento ambulatorio hasta el año, hasta el mes de septiembre del 54, aproximadamente, donde me trasladaron para el departamento Tolima, donde estaba la violencia, o sea, el problema de las FARC, en esa época muy delicado en esa zona del país. Permanecí hasta el año de 1955, donde solicité mi… baja, y me dieron de baja el primero de enero, primero de febrero de 1955. Y ahí me retiré, estuve trabajando en la contraloría de la república, después entré a trabajar a Cervecería Andina, una de las empresas cerveceras que había aquí en esa época, fuera de lo que es Bavaria. De ahí salí y trabajé durante 18 años en, en la Cervecería Andina, y luego, pasé a la fábrica de muebles Artecto, que era una de las fábricas más grandes que había en Suramérica. De ahí me retiré y entré a trabajar al Hipódromos de Colombia. Ese es un hipódromo que queda en el norte de Bogotá. De ahí salí y me contrataron para Costa Rica, la república de Costa Rica. Estuve de, de jefe de seguridad industrial allá en Costa Rica. Después de ahí entré a trabajar con el COE, Cuerpo de Ingenieros de los Estados Unidos en la elaboración del aeropuerto antinarcóticos en el departamento del Tolima, en la ciudad de Mariquita, Tolima. Trabaje ahí 6 años, hasta que terminamos el aeropuerto. De ahí salí, de ahí la empresa me mandó para el… a la hechura de unos puentes que se hicieron allá, y después ya estuve en una petrolera en Agua Azul. ¿Deseas algo más?
– ¿Qué recuerdas de Corea?
– Yo… nosotros éramos muy jóvenes… yo cumplí los 19 años allá. Nosotros, la mayoría, yo fui trasladado porque yo era suboficial. Nosotros, la mayoría fue voluntario. Después de que estuvimos acá, sí nos preguntaron quiénes queríamos ir y quiénes no. Ya estando en la escuela de infantería todos fuimos voluntarios. Cuando nosotros, el batallón Colombia, estaba fundado, nosotros pertenecíamos a la compañía de reemplazos del batallón Colombia. Cuando nosotros salimos de Bogotá, ya estábamos directamente a órdenes de las Naciones Unidas. El batallón Colombia era una de las unidades de los 20 países que fuimos a Corea que pertenecíamos a las Naciones Unidas. El batallón Colombia trabajaba independiente, únicamente recibían las órdenes del comando batallón y la transmitía a, pero directamente, los oficiales comandantes de nosotros colombianos. Nosotros somos… cuando estábamos en reserva teníamos el acompañamiento de intérpretes coreanos. Me acuerdo que le decíamos Oscar al nombre de él le decíamos Oscar.
– Sí.
– …no solamente hacían las veces de intérpretes, si no también controlaban al personal de trabajadores coreanos y nos ayudaban en el, en el aseo en el campamento, y otras, otras, otras cosas que hacían. De ahí para acá, cuando regresamos hasta la presente, pues, yo veo muy agradecido con Corea, porque la única, el único país que nos ha ayudado a nosotros, porque creo que Colombia es el único país que no ha ayudado a sus veteranos. Puedes preguntar a Etiopía que hay más pobres que en Colombia y ellos tienen muy bien las ventajas. Nosotros no teníamos, ni siquiera, el servicio médico del hospital militar. Colombia no nos ha reconocido completamente nada. Hemos pasado varios proyectos al congreso y nos los han echado para atrás. Entonces, nosotros queremos a Corea, porque Corea nos está ayudando en la educación de nuestros nietos. Cuando lo mismo que Samsung, Samsung, la república de Corea y otras empresas coreanas… nos colabora. La asociación vive de lo que nosotros mismos aportamos mensualmente. Porque, si no fuera así, ella habría desaparecido. En este momento tenemos muchos compañeros, porque todos estamos viejos y enfermos, y aquí no ha habido un gobierno que nos haya colaborado en lo más mínimo. Nosotros tenemos muchas ilusiones, y yo estuve hace cuatro en Corea, estaba visitándola. Está transformada totalmente, de lo que conocimos a lo que es hoy en día, es unas ciudades extraordinarias, muy bonitas. La gente coreana es muy agradecida con nosotros, en la calle, donde nos encuentran nos abrazan, nos dan las gracias siempre en todas partes. Ahora, nosotros nos sentimos hermanos de, de ustedes los coreanos, y siempre decimos el hermano coreano, porque eso, eso, eso es lo que sentimos nosotros. El cariño que les tenemos al pueblo coreano, y creo que el pueblo coreano también nos tiene mucho cariño a nosotros.
– ¿Y qué quiere del futuro de Corea? Porque la guerra no termina.
– Yo sé, el problema que hay todavía con Corea del Norte no se ha terminado, porque la firma del Armisticio, que no fue la paz, entonces, yo estaba en la época que se firmó el Armisticio, y el día que se firmó el Armisticio, nos saludábamos con los chinos, “Hey, China”, “Hey, Colombia”. Por fuera de las, de las casamatas y todos encima de ellos nos saludábamos, los teníamos cerca. Y de las 2 veces, el primer intento que hubo de cese al fuego, también me cogió a mí allá, y el segundo también, que fue la firma del Armisticio, que fue en Panmunjom. Allá entregaron a los prisioneros colombianos y Colombia entregó, las Naciones Unidas entregaron a los prisioneros coreanos del norte. Son unas ciudades extraordinarias, el comercio es muy grande, Corea tiene un futuro extraordinario, hay muchas empresas, mucho empuje, la gente es muy educada, porque el papá de la presidenta que fue un presidente un poco duro, impulsó mucho el, el, el comercio y la industria allá en Corea. Para nosotros es muy interesante y me siento muy orgulloso de ver que Corea ha progresado demasiado, porque nosotros nos dimos cuenta cuando nosotros llegamos, que Corea era muy pobre, demasiado pobre, entonces, el pueblo fue el que pagó las consecuencias de la pobreza que tenía, hasta hoy en día que es la tercera, la décima potencia industrial del mundo. ¿Qué más se puede pedir de ustedes?
– Gracias por muchísimo. Perfecto, perfecto.

>> My name is Chester Brennan. I joined the [INAUDIBLE] went to Korea in 1951.

>> What do you most remember about it?

>> Lots of things about it, really. I remember riding the train from Busan up to near the 38th parallel. I remember it being hit by bullets, windows blowing out of it, and my first year was on Hill 355, and then, from what I understood, that my unit was at the point with the line going across Korea, and it was a very important position. If they got behind us, they got behind everybody, so we really worked hard to hold that position, and I was in a few real tough battles up there. We had an old post call back from [INAUDIBLE] that was it pretty hard during the day by the North Koreans, and I went over there at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and rescued three live guys, went back out and found three buried guys, and rescued them as well, all in the same afternoon, in broad daylight.

>> You have so many medals.

>> Yeah, it seems like every time I turn around, somebody is giving me another one, and I went from 31255, Hill 355, and I was moved from there over to a place called the Hook. I was on the Hook for 2 or 3 months, and I was in a couple major battles there, and then I moved to 187, and we had a terrible couple of battles there. We lost 40 of our boys in one night on 187.

>> And there’s a Korean War memorial, Wall of Remembrance, and I know there are names of those who were killed in Korea engraved.

>> I have them all listed on my briefcase, every one of them.

>> I saw that. I saw that, and you must recognize a lot of the names there.

>> I served behind the lines, where I knew all those guys. I was on 355. About 10 o’clock in the morning, we had a guy on the stretcher by the name of Bradshaw. We had a [INAUDIBLE] on the front, and the corporal, he was on the front, a lance corporal on the back and me on the back, and a shell hit the [INAUDIBLE] and killed three of them. I got blackened but didn’t get hurt, so somebody was looking after me, I guess. I don’t know.

>> Well, I’m sure God was looking out for you, and you see the names on the walls, and they all died, but you see South Korea, the prosperous nation that she is, and Koreans all over the world know, whether Korean Canadians, Korean Americans, like me, we’re so grateful. What do you feel when you see that?

>> See?

>> Korea, Koreans, what do you feel?

>> Well, I was there, and it brings back memories, brings back memories of what I did, what I went through. I’ve been decorated several times by the presidents of Korea. I did that big [INAUDIBLE] the big stone downtown [INAUDIBLE], and I went to … They called me to a big special meeting in Toronto with Korean people. They decorated me with that, and it really … It’s something else, really.

>> What do you hope for the future of the Korean people, or …

>> I hope they don’t go through it again. When I was there, there was nothing for them. Seoul is not the Seoul that I went through there, and there was kids with no clothes. People come along and beg you for something, to give them a pair of socks or something, and they were … They had nothing that they needed. They needed clothes, and it was a very sad situation. The only highlight I got at all, there was a little boy, we called him Willy, RCR Willy, and I was with him when he was just smaller than him, and he came to Canada with me, and he’s in Canada now. RCR Willy is what his name is. He’s in Canada, and he was just a little guy, and we rescued him. He was all by himself and nobody to take care of him, so we took him with us, and he’s in, I think, he’s in Ottawa here, a little Ottawan [INAUDIBLE] RCR Willy.

>> How did you guys meet again?

>> We just happened to run into each other, and I just got talking. When I heard his name, I said, “Kid, are you RCR Willy?” “Yeah.” He said, “I know you.” “Yeah, I know you, too.” We rescued him. We named RCR Willy because I was RCR, Royal Canadian Regiment, we named him RCR Willy. He’s in Canada somewhere now, in Ottawa somewhere.

>> And he kept his name?

>> What?

>> He kept his name Willy?

>> RCR Willy.

>> Wow.

>> Yeah, he’s in Ottawa somewhere.

>> That must have been very emotional.

>> What?

>> That must have been very emotional.

>> Oh, yeah, yeah, he was quite a little guy.

>> Well, I can guarantee you there are many, many Koreans all over the world enjoying the freedoms and success that we are thanks to your sacrifices.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Thank you.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> My name is Krylov Ailey.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> In Korea, I was called Lee.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So I am born the 23rd of July, 1931, in [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So I went into the Army the 8th of June, 1949.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So 1950 was the first call for volunteers to go into Korea.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> He only went with the second detachment.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So this was going on through May [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] 1950?

>> Fifty-two.

>> 1952 until June ’52 where you were in Luxembourg and in Belgium.

>> Oui, mm-hmm.

>> Okay.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And then they went to Belgium.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So they finished their instructions there.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Meersburg.

>> To Meersburg.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So in March in ’52, they went by airplane from the airport, Meersburg.

>> Meersburg.

>> Meersburg, where?

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And then first to the Azoren Islands.

>> And then Newfoundland.

>> Then Newfoundland.

>> Springfield.

>> Springfield, yeah.

>> Oklahoma.

>> Oklahoma.

>> San Francisco.

>> San Francisco.

>> Hawaii.

>> Hawaii.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] yeah.

>> And then Tokyo.

>> And then Tokyo.

>> And then from Tokyo, I was [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Then they went from Tokyo by boat to the south of Japan, Sasebo.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Okay.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So they went to Korea, and then for 2 months, they were trained.

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. Yeah. Yeah.

>> In training, and then … [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And then the first time they went to the front.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So then they went …

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Then they went second time to the front in September of ’52, 1952.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And they went to the first post, not far away, about 1 kilometer away from the Chinese.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And then they had two periods there …

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> … during the whole period that they were there.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> You could not bring your head high because all the time it was shooted.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And then they went back, and they went again to the front.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> They were the day when there was rain period.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And they were 3 weeks in the front, and they were totally wet from the morning to the evening.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So that’s the period, rain period, for the rice fields.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Excuse me, please.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So they went back from the front.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> When they went back, the activities was mainly to make patrol, patrol.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And he remembers he was a special rotation.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> He received another name. It was [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].

>> Aven, Josh.

>> Josh Aven.

>> Josh Aven. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].

>> So he … They changed the name because his father was officer in the army of the Czar.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And at this time, they were still persecuted.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> They have a name to protect him, and then he would come into where they would test prisoner. He would have been in danger with his name.

>> Yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> He received a citation, may be different from [INAUDIBLE] patrol is what we did, which we did.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So that was, he had the graduation because he was very contentious with a big conscious, and very high … He was very cold-blooded, how you call it. He was very … He not was so emotional. He kept his cold blood.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So he was … He received this, all the contention, because of the patrols, and he says that he was very conscious and did his job very well.

>> I have a question, so I know … I learned that your father … So you’re ethnically Russian?

>> Russian, yeah, yeah, Russian.

>> Ethnically?

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So his father was Russian, but his father married here in Luxembourg, during the Luxembourg warfare.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> When the revolution finished in Russia, some people freed from Russia.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Then the white Russians, they had no more financial means.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So they start to … They found work in Luxembourg in the north of the country in Wiltz. There were still industry for to make leather at this time.

>> So my question is, because in the Korean War, Russia was on the other side of the war, right?

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> North Korea was supported by Russia.

>> How did that feel? How did it affect you if any way?

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So this … He says the Navy received protection, but he said he never faced Russians to fight them.

>> True.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So they changed the name.

>> Aven, George. Aven George.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Aven, George.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> His real name is Krylov, yes.

>> Yeah.

>> To protect himself, he changed it to protect himself.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So he wants to say something more.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So when he was in enrolled with his army in 8th March, the 8th of March, ’49, the 8th of March, ’49, Tuten Werner was his first chief in this part of army.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> And then in the 23rd of January, 1950, they went back to Luxembourg, and then the following stations …

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So from Japan.

>> Tokyo, Okinawa, Bangkok, Karachi, Beirut, Nice, Luxembourg.

>> Nice is the south of France and then Luxembourg.

>> Wow.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So they were not … no isolation, so they had a lot of … In the ears, it was very hard, tough.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So he went back to the army to the stay there at his end, and his last grade was …

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So since 1986, he’s in pension.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> If you want to ask something …

>> You also visited Korea many times, right?

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Four times, I visited.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So the firs time he was there …

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> The first time he was there was 1976, and there he could see still a lot of poverty. He could see what the people suffered.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> That’s the second time he was there in 2010, 2013 and then 2016.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So what you could see …

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So you could see what they really succeeded to do a lot of very hard work. It’s very hardworking people.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Also too good, also too can confirm this.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> I think that’s all.

>> I hope that you’re very proud, also very proud.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> Thank you.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> I am very proud.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> He likes South Korea. He’s very stoked when he goes to Korea. It’s no … How you call this in English. There’s no …

>> Traffic jam.

>> Yes.

>> No, no, no.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> It is very clean, and it’s a discipline he can experience there.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> So and also he can see in Korea the people know what Luxembourg is, and the children learn in the school to know all the different nations who participated to help liberate Korea.

>> Well, again …

>> Thank you.

>> No, thank you.

>> Thank you. Thank you. That was …