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>> My name is Sven Yacht, and I joined the Jutlandia in 1951. No, that's not correct. That was the first trip, when the ship left Copenhagen. I joined the Jutlandia sailing from Copenhagen 19th of September in '52, and I had asked for a job on board the Jutlandia already in 1950, when it was decided from the Danish Foreign Ministry that Denmark would send a hospital ship to Korea. At that time, I was in India, but I sent a telegram back to East Asiatic Company, which owned the ship, that if they could need me, I was ready to volunteer for a job as engineer on board the ship, but as it was normal custom in the EAC at that time, I never heard an answer for it. So it took until September '52 before I all of a sudden was called in with about 3 days' notice. So I had to pack up all my clothes in a hurry and go to the ship, which was laying down at Langelinie, where the memorial, the Danish vigilance memorial, placed only a few meters from the place where the Jutlandia left Copenhagen. Strange enough, we sailed, and strange enough, we sailed 19th of September, and it was my birthday, 28th of September. So at that time, I joined that, call it short period, I met, very, very fast, we learned each other to know on board the ship, and one day, when I was on the deck, looking at what happened on the sea and so on, there were three nurses standing also just there. I guess they were standing there, and I walked there, probably the way we did it, and among them there were a young nurse, which I was going to learn later on, but we talked about it, and I told them it was my birthday the day after, and they said, "Oh, well, we'll come. We'll come." I said, "Oh, that's a very good idea. You can join me tomorrow morning. I'm finished in the engine room at 4 o'clock in the morning." "Oh, well, that's a little bit early," and, no, they couldn't do that. That would not be allowed, and they were very shy at that time. After a year or two, it had left most of them, but that was the first time I met this young ... She was the second youngest nurse which had signed on board the ship. There were very strict rules and very strict ... What do you call it? They should at least be 25 years old, and they should have been nurses for so-and-so long, and they have worked with operations and other things from a hospital. So it was very trained and very clever nurses that were on board, but then we sailed further on, and it was a fantastic experience for the crew, for the young doctors and for the nurses, when we came to the Mediterranean and later on through the Suez Canal, and because it was so close, after all, it was so close from the Second World War and the German occupation of Denmark that they had never been abroad from Denmark, all these, only very few. So it was the great ... Everything was new for all these people. When we came through Suez Canal and went to Sri Lanka or to Ceylon, was its name at that time, and then it happened that I went ashore for a few hours in Ceylon, and I met three nurses up there. That was, of course, the same nurses as I had met first time, and they were a little bewildered. They didn't know what to do. They had never been away. So I said, "Well, wouldn't you care for a drink or something in this heat down here?" "Oh, yes, yes, better." I said, "Well, I know there's a fine hotel here we can go and have a drink. What do you want to drink?" They didn't know because none of them were used to have drinks, but one of them had been ashore in Southampton, where we had called on the way out, and she said, "Oh, oh, I will have a gin and tonic," and so all of a sudden, all three wanted gin and tonics. So we got that, and we sat in this hotel and had a 1/2 an hour or so, and among them were also this nurse that came. We left Ceylon where we called for fresh water and oil and other kind of supports for the ship, and we came to Singapore where we also called in, and Singapore, there were possibilities for the nurses and doctors, for the hospital staff. They were allowed to go ashore as much as they wanted because there were no patients there at that time, and I was so happy I could have a few hours off, and I went ashore to buy a few things, and, of course, I met three nurses carrying parcels, and they were saying it was really an adventure for them to be in Singapore, and Singapore was a wonderful city, at least at that time. Well, it still is, and I said, "Have you been at Raffles Hotel?" "No, no." I said, "Well, you go to Raffles Hotel and have a drink. You can't be in Singapore without having been at Hotel Raffles." That was the most important hotel there, and it was from back to the colonials to the time from when Singapore belonged the Great Britain, but I said, "Well, I'm going on board now. I'm having a taxi. What about all these parcels and all these things? Shouldn't I bring them on board, and so you can go to Raffles and have a nice time?" So I did so, and that was good. That was the third time I met the same nurse, and, well, then we left Singapore and came to Yokosuka in Japan, which was the naval base for United States ships, and we didn't see much to each other then after that because from there, after a few days in Japan, we sailed to Pusan, and a few hours after arrival to Pusan, we got the first patients, first wounded soldiers, and so everybody had their business to do. So there were no shopping or no possibility to meet each other very much, but then New Year's Eve, we were invited, for the 1st of January, we were invited to a reception by the American commanding general in the place which the American soldiers and especially the officers, where they met very often. I don't know. It was called Old Ironsides. Why? I don't know, but that was the name of this place, and everybody who could leave the Jutlandia participated in this reception, and there were speeches and so on, and the day before, I met this young nurse, and I said, "Well, are you going to the reception tomorrow?" "Oh, well, yes, I think so." "Have you company? Are you meeting some of your friends or your colleagues from the cabin or so?" "No, no, I have ... No." "What about ... Shouldn't we join, and would you follow me?" "Oh, yes," she says, "I would like to." So that was, in fact, the first time I had a chance to sit. We came in to a big table, hundreds of people there, and we had a nice, a very nice reception, a very nice day there, and we had much fun because there were a lot of American officers at the same table, and Americans are very polite. So when later, after a few hours, one or two ladies needed to go outside for a few minutes, and every time, all the Americans stood up, and when they came back, they stood up and sat down, and these older chief surgeons from Denmark, they said, "Oh, what the hell? Are we going to stand up every time one of the nurses has to go out?" They were not used to so much politeness. So it ended up with the nurses tried to ... Oh, sorry, my brain and my English is not what it has been, but they stayed at the tables until the last minute. So that was actually the first time we had to speak together and have a nice time, but then, later on, we had our work, but when we were in Korea, in Inchon. We were anchored in Inchon. We started off the first two trips with Jutlandia, the ship were in Pusan, but then the second trip went to ... The first trip we called Jutlandia service in Korea in three different trips. The first trip was we were sent by Allied Command to Europe or actually to Ethiopia, to Turkey, Greece, France, Rotterdam with wounded, and it turned in Rotterdam and immediately back to Korea, but then the second time, Allied Command said, "Now you go to Europe again." We took the same route, but from Rotterdam, we went to Copenhagen because we should have a helicopter deck made on it, and we should have some air condition because the temperature in the operating rooms were up to 40 Celsius during the summertime in Korea, and that was the chance for me to join the Jutlandia. That was when it was finished with helicopter deck and all that. We started back to Korea 19th of September, and strange enough, that was the same date when this nurse, which I later learned to know, she also joined the ship. She had asked for it before, with Red Cross, but she was too young at that time. She was not 25, but now, the third trip, she had passed 25, and she was taken as a nurse on-board. At that time, she had been a military nurse in the Danish Army. So she was very well-equipped for the job on-board the Jutlandia, but it was strange that we had both asked before to join the Jutlandia, but first, the second trip, the third trip, we were allowed to join ship, and that was, I think, some strange coincidence that we both had sought for it and both were at first allowed to join it in September '52, but ... Well, we jumped a little bit in it, but later in Inchon, we didn't have much chance to meet each other or to speak or to, as you saw in the Jutlandia Hall Museum, there were not much possibilities, and in fact, the nurses were not allowed to go to the officers' area. I don't know why, but there must have been some reason that they wouldn't allow nurses to go there. So we had each our job after this 1st of January session in Old Ironsides, but, I can't remember, probably a Saturday or Sunday where we could go ashore, and we went to Kamakura. That was when the ship was in Japan. Every 6 weeks, the Danish and the American ships, one by one, were sent to Japan with a full ship of wounded soldiers which then were sent from Japan. The very much wounded soldiers were flown out either to Hawaii or directly to USA, and when we were in Japan, we had to take care of the engine, all the engines, because we were not allowed. We should be able to leave the road of Inchon with only 1/2 an hour's notice in case something happened or in case the North Koreans still found an airplane which could attack. So we had this chance, and while then I dared to invite this nurse for a trip to Kamakura, which is a huge Buddha figure not very far from Yokosuka in Japan, very impressive. We had a very nice day. That was the first time we had a full day on our own, and that was the 10th of January. Yes, I remember, still remember that because that was the first time that we felt sympathy for each other, and we were trained and bussed from this place down to the airbase in Yokosuka, but it ended at the gangway. There were no possibilities to go further on board the ship. So then we, from that time off, it was ... We didn't see much to each other. We met on the deck sometimes, but that was all, and we came home the 23rd of October when the war ... when the Armistice legislation had ended, not ended the war because the war is still existing, actually, but there is an Armistice, what do you call it, situation, but when we came home, I was still in East Asiatic Company, but we kept writing letters to each other. My wife was in a large Army camp as chief nurse, and we kept contact as well as we could. I was in the East Asiatic Company, and she was in her work, but after a year or there about, we found out that a marriage was the right thing to do, and we asked a former priest from Jutlandia who had served as ... What do you call it, vicar? >> Chaplain. >> On the Jutlandia, whether he would marry us, and he said, "With greatest pleasure," and we were married in [FOREIGN LANGUAGE], which we passed today. We were married, but the ship, at the time, when we found out the date and so on, but when the church was ready to receive us, we were in the second biggest city in Denmark, in Aarhus, in Jutland, and we phoned to the vicar and said, "Well, what about it? It's a Saturday. Can you take us?" "Well, any time," he said. "Yes, but while we are both of us in Aarhus at the moment, we don't know, if something happens or if the weather is bad or so we don't come, well, never mind. We'll find out," and now my wife, I think that was a little bit silly that she was going by train back to Copenhagen, and I was sailing. I said, "Why don't you stay and board? I'll lock you into my cabin so you can sail with me to Copenhagen." Okay, that was fine, as we found out, and we were married only very few because none of the family or anything ... I phoned my brother and said, "Well, just to tell you, I'm going to be married tomorrow and there and there in this church, and so couldn't you arrange some dinner or something for us?" Well, not he, but he and his wife. "Oh, yes, we'll fix everything." So there were only ... My wife had four sisters, and only one of them were able to reach our wedding, and there were ... I think we were six or seven or so to the wedding, but it was enough, and both parties said yes. So it was all right, and I still remember we walked out of the church. Now, I was an old ... My trousers were out because everything was so fast, and she said, "Oh, well, I've saved money for a wedding dress, and now, well, look what I look!" I said, "Well, that's not very important. The important is that we have said yes, both of us," and we walked out. We were still in the 777, walked down into the church and into the [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I don't know, it's in Danish, but there was a small room just before you leave the church, and there was the church woman who take care of everything, and we were both high up, and she said, "Oh, congratulations, oh, wonderful," and then I used to pay some money for the problems I've have had. So I told the vicar after what she said. He said, "Oh, well, that's impossible," but we had to pay her a little bit for the wedding. She had not participated in anything. So that was our marriage, and since then, we were married for more than 50 years, and after ... When was that? Three, 4, 5 years after our marriage, we had our first son, and he wanted to join East Asiatic Company to be educated as a businessman, but normally that was not allowed because in the East Asiatic Company, it was not allowed that [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The crew or the staff. >> The staff of the East Asiatic Company were not allowed any sons or daughters, or there were no women in East Asiatic at that time, but they were not allowed to let their sons into work in the same company, but at that time, our son, we gave him a trip to the United States to the ... >> College. >> To the university, and he asked me, "Would you prevent me to journey?" and so I said, "No, I would be happy, but you will not be allowed," but I was in shipping, and he was in the business department. So that was a meeting with them, from East Asiatic, that he should be in this part of the business, and they told him, "Well, we can tell you next year." "I can't wait for that," he said. They're not used to that way in East Asiatic Company. So he said, "Well, I'm leaving for United States for 1 year, and if I do not know whether I can join East Asiatic, I will have to, when I come home, I will have to seek some other places," but he was very, very well-educated. So he came back, and he joined East Asiatic Company, and he was educated there and finished and was ready to join some of our offices and all over the world, but he, unfortunately, he died when he was 22 years old by something, a brain aneurysm. It was the Latin name for it. So that spoiled a little bit. My wife never came over his loss. When we got 5 years, we had our second son, which I'm fortunate to have today, but unmarried, but heavy engaged in Stockholm, so ... >> Really? >> Yes. So I think we should take a stop, a pause now. Well, kind of impressed of the story, so that was the reason he made the song. The song is free. It's not correct, but that's never mind. He said it was in 1949, and nurses 16 years old. They had to be 25 years at least. >> Yeah. >> So ... but that's a freedom composer. >> The artistic freedom. >> The song was fantastic good at the time when it came, when he first made it and sung it because a lot of young people in Denmark said, all of a sudden, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] "We must know a little bit more about Jutlandia," and my wife was, at that time, at her last job as a nurse. She was a nurse in Magasin Du Nord. That was the biggest warehouse in [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Storehouse. >> Yeah, I don't know. >> Mm-hmm. >> I don't know whether you know, but that's something like Macy's or something like that, and she was the chief nurse there for whole Denmark. It has a lot of smaller places, and she said when this song came, all the young people in [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] at that time, 63,000 people working in this warehouse, this place, and they all came and said [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] "They tell me you have been in Jutlandia," and so she was, all of a sudden, she was top of this warehouse. >> Star! >> So it had a very good mission to it, to tell a new generation exactly the same. The picture is terrible, but it has been shown in television 12 times now. >> Oh. >> Twelve times they have, repeatedly. People phone me every time and say [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] but it also has a mission, this picture, because people that see it today, they don't know how it was in reality, really, in Korea. So it also has a mission, and I think there is no people in Denmark now which doesn't know what Jutlandia means. So both the Kim Larsen and this one is important, but they are not true. They are full of false things, but that doesn't matter because it's very important. Kim Ju Whan is on this film, and, well, I'm also, strange enough, on this picture, but ... Well, when the Korean War broke out, or actually when North Korea attacked South Korea, there was a meeting in the United Nations, and, of course, United Nations, thanks to a mistake from Russia, which had no vote at the security council at that time, the UN asked all countries in the world to work for South Korea, do something for South Korea, and 16 countries gave military support. Denmark had just finished the German occupation, which is not to compare with the Japanese occupation of South Korea, which was terrible and rough. It was hard in Denmark, but not to compare with the Japanese, but we were a rather poor country. We had no forces at all. We couldn't defend ourselves. It was on top of the Cold War at that time. So the foreign ministry took very much care about not to attack Russia in any way. So they said, "Well, we can't help with military forces," and United States were not quite support with that, but we had no soldiers. We couldn't even defend ourself at that time, and we had the Russian forces, they were 20 minutes away from Denmark, in Poland and Eastern Germany. So they could have attacked Denmark in a matter of a few hours. They had landing crafts already on the Polish and East German coasts, and we had to go very, very easy with the helping South Korea, but I called into Korean understanding or what you would ... I don't have the right word. Denmark was one of the first countries to give their support to South Korea, but we started off giving medicine. That was not enough. We started off kind of a support one way or another, but it was not satisfied enough for United Nations and especially understandable very well for USA forces. So finally we ended up with a chief doctor who was chosen by the foreign ministry, a chief doctor to handle the negotiations, and his name was Lehmann, and he grandson is ambassador in Korea today. That's strange, but that was ... Finally, well, foreign ministry and UN and US accepted that we promised to send a hospital ship, and then they had to work to find the ship which was able, in a short time, to be transferred from a normal freighter or so to a hospital. So they choose East Asiatic Company's ship Jutlandia, which was a combined passenger and cargo ship, and it was on its road to New York, and strange enough, they forgot to inform the ship, the captain on the ship, Captain Kondrup, who was later to be the captain on the hospital ship also. So when he came in and board at the keys in New York, there were hundreds of photographers and journalists, and he said, "What the hell is happening?" He didn't know why all these people were there because he didn't know that Jutlandia was chosen, and it was emptied immediately for passengers and cargo, and everything was just ended. It returned as fast as possible to Denmark and went straight down to the shipyard, NASSCO shipyard, which had built Jutlandia in 1934, and they worked day and night, and they knew the ship because they had built it originally. So they had all papers and all the work ready when the ship arrived from New York, and that was what made it possible to leave Denmark again, already the 23rd of January. They had built a new helicopter deck. They had given, as I was told, air condition and some other few repairs and things which they had missed when they were in Korea. So in that way, that we made the whole humanitarian help and Red Cross ship. So Russia couldn't be mad of that. So that was the beginning for it. Many has asked, a lot of people ask us, "Why did you volunteer for the Korean War for Jutlandia?" and I said, "That was not very strange." For instance, for my wife, she was from the southernmost part of Jutland, which for nearly 40 years of occupation, the southern part of Jutland, of German occupation, and she know what it means for a small country to be occupied by a big cog. So she had immediately volunteered for it, and as soon as I heard it, when I saw it in the news we received aboard the ship, where I was then. I was in the underground movement in Denmark, and I was arrested by Gestapo, the German Gestapo, during the war, but by my action during the German occupation, was very, very small because I was in Elsinore, and it was not allowed to make any sabotage or any killing or anything in that area because that was the main area for Jews to go to Sweden. So we were no heroes at all, but I had felt Gestapo enough to know that. We were only saved from the German occupation by the help of Allied forces, especially English and American forces. So it was my impression that we owed at least a little as a thanks for the help they gave us, and without their work and their mighty losses of soldiers, we could not be free. So now we couldn't say no when another small country asked for help. So many of the residents on-board had that impression, that we ought to join the Jutlandia, and we did. We did that, and that was very fine. When the ship was repaired and furnished and was all ready to leave Denmark, the journalists, the press, the media was very, very bad because they said, "Well, the ship will sink before they reach the Mediterranean," because with three chiefs and a lot of chief doctors and professors, they would fight, all of them, before they reached very far away. One captain, one expedition chief, one hospital chief, and all these professors and doctors, that was impossible, but they were clever. They became more clever because when we came home, there were no end to how beautiful it had been. So that was strange with the media, but it was the reason that the Jutlandia, in my impression and in most people's impression, that it ended up as a success was definitely because Imperials, when there were not any severe war between North and South Korea, all the nurses and the doctors, they couldn't go idle without no work, and they sent thousands of people ashore while in Pusan, where the ship was moored up. We want to be allowed to take a civilian's. Of course, Korean soldiers were welcome, but civilians and children were not allowed, but they said, "We will do that whether you like it or not." That was the Allied command which were against it, and Koreans has never forgotten that, never. Well, you have this saying which goes through everywhere, "We will never forget," and they have never forgotten anything. So that was the reason that we, in fact, are a success. I was a fresh lieutenant engineer, as I told, but the praise, the reason that we became such a success, that was, of course, the hospital part. We brought the hospital from here to Korea, and we served in all kinds of ways the hospital, but it was the doctors and the nurses who did the job, both for the soldiers, but also for the civilians as much. They had to sign that in case of heavy fighting, we had to send all civilians ashore, and children, of course, but we were not in that situation. We had very, very short, before the [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Armistice. >> Armistice, yeah. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Just before the armistice, a few weeks before the armistice was signed, the Chinese, they attacked a part of the border, but unfortunately for the Chinese, they had just changed the Americans. All the American soldiers had been drawn back. They had been fighting very, very much in that area, and the Turks had taken over, and when they smell blood, they really fight. So they ran right into the Turk forces, and the Turks, they lost 700, if I remember clearly, and more than, I think, 8,000 Chinese were killed in that fight, and then all fighting stopped at that moment, but at that time, it was just before the hospital had broken down. They had helicopters as fast as they could bring wounded people in, and it was discussed whether they should send out doctors from Denmark, but the doctors on-board, although they knew that there was a risk, they worked up to more than 24 hours just operating and operating and operating. Then they had few hours sleep and then down again. Same with the nurses, they worked all the day and night, but they managed it until the fighting stopped, but there were many things which we have to thank the hospital department for because they performed miracles sometimes, and the old doctors or professors say, "Well, you can't operate anymore." "Well, then who's going to die? Which one are we not to operate on?" They said, "Well, yes, go on as long as you can." So they performed miracles, the doctors and nurses. So ... >> How many total doctors and nurses went? >> Well, strange enough, there were a ship's crew of between 96 and 100, and there were hospital staff between, I think it was 98 and 104, and so because it changed very much how many there was, especially the hospital staff had to change. Professors could only join the Jutlandia for maybe 3 months. So they were about 3 months, and some were 1/2 a year, and some were the whole trip, but there were many of them were practiced on-board all the time, and Jutlandia were on the UN flag for 999 days before the UN flag were taken down in Copenhagen. >> Did anyone die? Did any Danes die? >> Yeah, how many? >> Mm-hmm. >> I think we had, for all that time, I think we had 16 deaths, and that was a fantastic record. >> Sixteen Danish died. >> We had a visit. I was by phone one day ... >> No, no, no, how many Danish? >> No one died. >> No one died, okay. >> No, no, we fought a war on first class because no one died. >> That's good. >> We had nothing to do on the frontline. In fact, they were not allowed to it because they had Red Cross. So they were not to, but we were on-board a ship. So there were no reasons. We had nothing to do, and no one was killed on the way. As I told you, the trip, my wife and I were invited from Inchon to Seoul It took at that time ... I can't remember, but I know today, with six lanes, it takes just the same time to come from Seoul to Inchon that it took at that time on a very small road. So we had no casualties, in fact. Well, we had a doctor who fell down the stairs, and he was operated, and the commander was also operated on-board the ship, Captain Hammerich. I don't know what it's called. So I have to tell it in Danish. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh, hemorrhoids. >> Yeah, at that time ... but I have to continue in Danish. At that time, his wife was a guest on board the ship. She was traveling at the time, and she came up in the official big room for all the doctors [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Where she ... >> So that was ... >> ... said thank you to everybody for helping her husband. >> But one of our patients in the dentist clinic was Syngman Rhee. He came very often, partly because he loved to come and board the ship, and then next tour, he had some trouble with his teeth. So he came there, but that was on the first trip. So I've never met him, but he was one of the first patients in the dentist's clinic. >> Speaking of him, how many times did you go back to Korea, and what do you think of Korea and the Korean people, feature of Korea? >> Yes, well, exactly as I said, "We shall never forget," the Koreans tell us, and they never do because they have arranged, although it's now more than 60 years, they still invite, every year, invite veterans to visit Korea or, as they say, revisit Korea, and I have been five times. I think I've been five times on revisit Korea, and that means that we ... The veteran himself pays for the transport forth and back, but everything during 1 week in Korea, hotels and all things are paid for us, and it's a very, very [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Sensitive. >> One feelings ... >> Sentimental. >> Sentimental, yeah, sentimental. >> Sentimental every time we have visited Korea. A few times, we have been through to visit Korean Veterans Association, but otherwise, we have been in pen with John, and they don't know how they do so much for the veterans which come. Americans and Ethiopians has been there. One from Columbia has been there as an honorary visit to Korea, and it's very, very impressive. I was there first time after the war in 1984. We were about 40 veterans at that time which joined the trip to Korea, and we were astonished when we came with the plane because there was a real airfield, when during the war, they had these iron plates they could land on, but now there was a real airport to receive us, and when we came around in Seoul, there were more than one bridge you could pass the river, and it was fantastic. There were already the first skyscrapers were built at that time, and then next time we came, we couldn't recognize it from the first time because now the adventure and everything, especially we must say under Dictator Park, President Park, during his reign. He promoted business and shipyards and everything. Many things happened during his ... He was a tough guy, but that was necessary because South Korea was full of Communist groups fighting, especially in the southwest part of South Korea. There were some terrible groups fighting. So, well, I guess he had to be pretty tough, but that was impressive to see, the diligence and the fantastic work the Koreans had made in this. Not to talk about now, when we were there, well, I was there last time in 2003. We couldn't recognize anything in Seoul. The time I told you before, when my wife and I was on the trip to Seoul, we should have something to eat. We could have eaten in the military camp, but we asked, and they said, "Well, that's probably the only civil house with two floors. There is a restaurant," and we went to that, and we had our first Korean dinner, and the rest of Seoul was flat. Nothing except some official buildings taken over by military or administration and always that were more, but that was a few houses only. So it was fantastic to see the way Korea recovered, and last time, in the last period of the war, when we were in Korea, they recorded it would take about 100 years for Korea to recover. They did it in, well, let's say 25 years and later. That was fantastic. I think all of our veterans has been in Korea one time after the war. They were extremely impressed, not to talk about the new airport in Inchon now. When we came there the first time after it was built, it was one of the biggest airports in the Far East. So you have really worked, but it's terrible that South Korea necessarily must use so extremely much money on defense, with a big army and with everything just because of this mad reign in North Korea. In North Korea, they don't take it very serious to use so much money for their army because people, they just die of hunger, but in South Korea, just imagine what they could make for the money they use for arms and the army, and when South Korea donates thousands of tons of rice to North Korea in bags or something of South Korea, they are not allowed to show that it comes from South Korea, but they have given very, very much help to North Korea, and all they get instead are missiles and atom bombs and spies or tunnels under Panmunjom area where they, I can't remember how many. I think it's eight tunnels they have found. So I think it's a completely mad situation in Korea. In fact, Denmark still has military in Korea because they have, what they call it, observation for the borderline, and I was in Korea in 2010, and I brought my son with me, and all his 50 years, he has heard about Jutlandia, lived with Jutlandia with both mother and father, and he was very, very impressed, and while we were there, while visit Korea, they celebrated the recovery of Seoul from North Korea, and we were at the Olympic Stadium, fantastic show they turned up there, and what was it, what was my ... Oh, well, yes, I was invited for lunch with the president. So I felt that was very until I ... We were 150 guests, but still it was an honor to be invited together with all the other people, and the day after, I and my son, we were invited to a dinner in the Danish Embassy, and there were, among other people, there were a Korean rear admiral. He was guest, and we were only 16 people invited for this dinner, and I had a very nice talk with, "I was in the Danish Navy, too," and he told me, "Well, but you don't think I've been in Denmark." I said, "That's impossible. What? Was your ship out of course, or what happened since you ended up?" No, he was inspecting. He was checking on a submarine which was built in Germany, but the water was too low to test the submarine. So they had to go out north of Denmark to test the submarine, and on that occasion, they had to go into a Danish city for something, a Danish city in Denmark to get some fuel or some other for the catering department, and I said, "Well, that's funny," I said, "because I was in England. I was in the submarines myself in England. I was in 6 months in the British submarine port." "Oh, you have been in the submarine, too!" and he took off, he had that I don't know [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] but, yes, for the ship. It was a submarine. So he take, and he gave it to me. It was nearly as big a medal as that one, and we had a wonderful evening, and another Korean, I can't remember what his job, but he was a seaman in my agency out here, that there is a small picture with ... What's it called, calligraphy? >> Calligraphy. That's the same word. >> Signed, and you can see something like ... It stands on the back of the picture, "One who strives for life in a situation will probably die, but one who dies, he will live forever," and that's the typical voice. I think that's about what I can tell you about. >> One last comment about future of Korea's peace and unification? >> I did not quite ... >> Korea's reunification, do you think it could happen? >> I will say I do not hope it will happen very fast. The best thing, in my poor occasion, I think if it could go very slow that they have a North Korea, but without all the Kim Il-sung dynasty. So by and by, they could open up for business communication as they started, but responded with this industrial area they had for a period, with South Koreans starting business in some area, but I think it would be a catastrophe if it happened like it did between East and Western Germany because the 20 million or how many they are in North Korea, at that time, if they would flow into South Korea and eat and steal or whatever they could find, I'm sure. I certainly do not hope it comes in a sudden way. It should be maybe 10 or 15 or even 20 years ahead that they get tired of it, and they kind of a democratic reign in North Korea, but still exist as a country itself, as North Korea and South Korea, but on friendly terms or moralist friendly terms, I would say, but I think that could be a way to start a new area in North and South Korea. >> I think it would be possible with the new generation. I hope so too. >> We have to hope for it. There's not much showing that way today, with his atomic and missiles and all this, but I don't know how it should happen. Hopefully, he dies within a few years, but then there will be some other one probably, one general or something like that who will take over. I think it's wonderful to be a dictator. >> No! >> So it's very, very difficult. >> Okay.
러시아 모스크바 (1)
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My name is Vladimir Polage Arsenio. I was born in 1938, and I was born in a big, huge family. There were 11 children in our family. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My high gradation of high education, I came to Moscow to complete ... to continue my education. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When I entered college, I studied for 3 years. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I had ... After graduation of college, I had to go to army to serve for the army. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I had a duty to go to army without any exceptions, and I was a 4th-year student at that time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In '50s, 25th of July, there was a broke up in war at that time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the Soviet Union, the government of Soviet Union ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... didn't support, didn't want to support so much, so as we didn't have enough resources to support that situation. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> After the army, I was ... I went to veterans service, special college for special technique, space kind of aircrafts, special. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We started equipment, military equipment, which would were not used yet because that was brand-new technologies. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> After mutual agreement between North Korea and Soviet Union, there was no agreement for support, mutual support, but Kim Il-sung, he insisted Soviet Union to support in that war, in Korean War. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Stalin was the request of Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... by request made a decision to support North Korea ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... through a nation and special rated technical equipment with a lot of special military equipment. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In the beginning, Stalin thought that we will just give an equipment and not people, just give equipment, but people were not supposed to be involved in the war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But when Koreans got that equipment, weapons, they couldn't work because that equipment was special on the radioactive airplanes, special. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The speed was really high speed. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the [INAUDIBLE] radioactive technical equipment, it was not ... they were ... They couldn't have a ... They couldn't be involved in the war due to lack of knowledge, how to use that equipment. They couldn't fight with ... in the war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So the Soviet Union made a decision ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... to give people and the technology and the equipment ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... the airplanes, pilots and [INAUDIBLE] all specialists who were involved who were high specialist to use who knew how to use those equipment and those high technology weapons. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There was a special ... They were created a special conference, which involved a lot of high ... a lot of group of ... Different group of, so to say, military, military as a group and a lot of high generals and, so to say, highly specialists, highly qualified specialists. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I can say begin ... to begin to shoot first, but ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... Americans helped South Korea a lot. They supported. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The purpose was to take over North Korea. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Then in the beginning, the North Korean army crossed ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... the border, and there were no any agreements. There were no any mutual discussions at that time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [INAUDIBLE] in South Korea, and they were planning to use military methods to solve this issue. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Due to military political situation, happened that way. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We didn't want that North Korean could be under South Korea, could be taken over by South Korea, we didn't want, so this kind of actions already they were taken by the commander of chiefs ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... of all unified army by Douglas MacArthur. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He wanted to use the [INAUDIBLE] to ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... until they used the atomic weapon. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The government [INAUDIBLE] stopped him ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... and thought it will be a third World War, World War III, so Truman liberated the US MacArthur to ask him not to be a Commander of Chief over the American Army. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the 38th parallel ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... the border between South and North Korea ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... in the end of war in 1951 ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... due to people came to realization that North and South, neither North nor South Korea won't be able to be winners in this. Nobody will be a winner. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So they decided to go into negotiation, and this negotiations were in effect until ... And prolonged until 27th of July of '51, 1951. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Everyone understood that from the ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... Soviet Union was behind the North Korea, and South Korea was supported by the United States of America, and understood that two super countries were involved in this war, and everyone understood that. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [INAUDIBLE] result, so ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... my involvement into the war, I was the main specialist on the radioactive weapons ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... stations. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That's radioactive stations were used for the first time in history in Korean War. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I was a specialist to provide on those radioactive stations, and they were included special batteries inside those stations. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There were three batteries, and in the division there are three groups of soldiers so in every [INAUDIBLE] ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... there were three stations. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So there were eight guns, special guns, but they have are very powerful. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My task was to provide security for the area which we're protecting, so the North Korea. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There were special [INAUDIBLE] for far vision to recognize the enemy from the far aside. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And those stations, when they recognize the enemies coming from the south [INAUDIBLE] and American weapons and ammunitions were very strong. B-29 probably you might know, and the special airplanes, using the airplanes the [INAUDIBLE] F-86 if you have known. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So that kind of military special aviation is ... And that special station recognizes from far away distance, and you saw the information through the radiation station, weapon station. When they get these information details, call the ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They provide special indicators, special, so to say, indicators, and their location. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When they arrived to get the purpose to go there to realize their purpose. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The station ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... radiation station that recognizes them, it has already their coordinates, their, so to say, [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So we had a special also another equipment that could really calculate special, so to say, calculate their speed and whatever that they can make the ... meet in the air to, so to say, fight. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But this kind of lesson is not the only one. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The special task of that military group is prevent and protect, not let this enemy's aviation to bomb, to be able to bomb ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... prevent from the bombing. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So there was a second method to ... of the protection. That is fire. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> All weapons were constructed in a space ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... and all the weapons shoot that special space, and the pilots see that hurting, and he make decision to break, and then the enemy's airplane would be destroyed absolutely ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... no way to survive. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So when they saw that special kind of equipment, they just turned around and went back. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They bombed different area, not the area that they wanted ... that they had in their original purpose to do. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So this kind of war we had of that special group of high technology weapon ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... my task was to provide that all these mechanisms, all these weapons could really work absolutely, 100 percent perfectly. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Next, as for aviation ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... when the enemy's aviation came out, then our pilots also flew on the sky. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They just go to meet them. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And there is a air war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> This is the masses of pilots shooting really highly and Russian airplanes were in Korea, MiG-15. Yeah, the ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> On American side ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... F-86, the system Sabre. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Air war, you can imagine that what it is like. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> As a matter of fact, the one who is leading or who is follower, leader and the follower, they are like one pair. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It used to be ... That kind of tactic is used to be not just in Soviet military system, but also Americans used that method too. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The task is ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... of the follower, the task of the follower is to be involved with the fight, but the leader shoot, protect ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... his tail, so to say, that Americans wouldn't be able to shoot and to hit, to shoot the air. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So what do the special [INAUDIBLE] ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... weapons [INAUDIBLE] was Americans decided that they lost the war, and half of them leave. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Our pilots come back to their airports. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When they were landed, American airplanes came suddenly, unexpectedly came out from somewhere. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And when the pilot already lost his everything, lost his control because it's unexpected situations, so, of course, in this case, usually American pilots, they hit, and they shoot, and the Soviets, Russians, they drive off course. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And for this, there were special guns. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When they see our airplane come to land, and those [INAUDIBLE] special weapon shoot that American airplane, and it just ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They shoot, so in this ... From this perspective, that landing weapon specialist, they were very successful and very helpful from that perspective. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So this manner of war happened every day, so I've been involved with this work for 6 months, 6 months, no rest, only war, 6 months. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> What was the danger time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When that landing special equipment working to prevent from the enemy's airplanes ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... it was a danger. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We shoot our own soldiers due to the small pieces of weapons they coming back, so there is a danger like that. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So this way ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... there was ... had happened the war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> First time in the history, air war ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... was used. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Air war was used in Korean War ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... for the first time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The main military weapons highly technology ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... were used. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> From night to night, they began to use them, which there were pilots fighting whenever support special landing military highly equipment supported a lot that pilot to protect them. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So after all the fighting, the battles, in 1953, on July 27th, the Armistice Agreement was signed. Can you explain a little bit about what he remembers about the armistice? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When made a decision to stop, they fired ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... part of a mission. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We were on the Chinese territory and the other part of the Korean territory. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We were on the Korean territory. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And our main task was to protect and object of the state of military manner. That was the breach from the [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That was [INAUDIBLE] from ... when from China came weapons and products. All this came from China to the Soviet Union. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So Americans knew about the value of this breach, and they tried to do everything to destroy it. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The second object that was protected by the North that the stations, that the [INAUDIBLE] was on the Yauza River, provided a northeast part of China, part of Manchuria that was stationed very valuable ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... important, and American military offices, generals, they really understood the importance of that object as well. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The third task for the aviation to provide ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... transportation inside the territory, so the soldiers couldn't wear, couldn't carry the weapons in their pockets, so there should be ... They're supposed to fly it and protect ... fly the weapons, special weapon soldiers ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... through the river and through the land. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It was also another task for their aviation and sent special land soldiers group. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And when they came to agreement on 27th of July in Panmunjom ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... you've heard about it. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> From the North Korea and South Korea and from the American ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... nobody ... Not everyone signed this agreement, not everyone. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But still, the kind of stopping ... to stop war to make some peace. Actually, it began to act. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It was considered, this period of time political powers as well as the leaders of other states would ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... would begin more deep work on agreement for a long, long time to make peace. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But it didn't happen. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So as a matter of fact, we have 64 years now, 64 years we live no war, no peace. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And there is [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There is no [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But the next leaders who came after these leaders, they still did not came to agreement. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So my personal opinion is in my opinion from the political point of view the coalition in South Korea or in the North Korea, but according to the territory, the [INAUDIBLE] is the same so this is nonreason ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... another one that life in South Korea ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... is more high in terms of welfare and the prosperity. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And everyone wants to unite, but everyone has [INAUDIBLE] ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The South ... No one wants to unite based upon the socialism, but South wants to unite based upon ... democracy, exactly, right. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And [INAUDIBLE] that we don't have this agreement still now, and the result of this war are [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Over 9 million people died in this war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And two third part of them is local people. >> The Koreans. >> Inhabitants, the civil people. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I can say that Americans and South Korea, they lost over 500,000 people. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Chinese, China were 1 million people. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> UN, 500,000 people. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Soviet Union also lost approximately 300,000, 220 pilots and others, the special soldiers who were controlling that equipment from the land. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> A lot of airplanes were shot for all kind of different kind of airplane, the 86, the 89 [INAUDIBLE], 86, all different type of airplane. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> One thousand two hundred airplanes were shot in that war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And that special land support soldiers, they shot 200 airplanes. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So we had 305 people, yeah? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And from the landing, approximately 70 people, those who were providing with the special equipment from the land soldiers, the specialists, greater technical specialists. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So this is the result of the war, and nothing about the economical loss from the economical perspective. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We can say that in the beginning that this is a civil war between South and North, but actually it became the political powers also were involved. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Now I can answer all your questions. >> What ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> If I didn't say something, so you're welcome to ask them. >> So the war hasn't ended. Do you think ... Do you have hope that it could end in the future and there will be peace be two Koreas? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It's hard to say at the moment. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I have a hope that it can be, but so I thought in many international conferences and congresses. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But I can make [INAUDIBLE] for the nearest future to come to agreement for the South and for the North Koreans it's quite difficult unfortunately. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Have you visited either North or South Korea? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I've been to Seoul in South Korea at the International Conference. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It was dedicated to world peace, and one issue was about the unification of North and South Korea, and I spoke in my report on this special conference. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I tried ... I insisted to state, the leaders of the states of the South and North Korea listen to their people and make a decision to unite. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> After my speech in that conference ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I got ... I received an international diploma as an ambassador for peace, very big, very beautiful one. >> Thank you because I ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... because the more people like him advocate for peace, maybe the leaders will listen. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I don't give up on the theme about Korea still. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I have a lot of articles that are devoted to problem of Korea, Korean War, so I give you as a gift the copy of my articles. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Maybe I couldn't [INAUDIBLE] ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So you can find in my articles full answers. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> One more important moment I want to say, once ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> From one Korean professor from Korean university, I was ... came to my home. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So we were talking just like [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He took pictures. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He took all materials, everything I had at home about Korea, and he said, he promised that they will write article with ... use my opinion and so on and so forth, so where are they? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They didn't give any contact to me, and I don't know who did I talk to. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They give me some business cards. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I have their contact, but nothing happened after that. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> No ... There is no contact with them, no connections unfortunately. >> I will keep in touch with him. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Why does he care ... Ask him, why do you care so much about Korea? Does his friends and comrades care about Korea too? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Because Korean War was the worst bloodless, bloody war, a lot of blood. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I saw a lot of blood, a lot of tears, a lot of fire. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And all these disasters, I experienced all these things, and I'm against any war, and I don't ... I can't agree with kind of disagreement that's going on, the kind of fake agreements that exist between these two countries. I can't agree with that. I want to finish that, want to make it peace. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And now I am as an ambassador of peace, I really provide that peace policy among youngsters at the moment. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I am very mad about this Korea that's going on now and a lot of people dying, and we can't do nothing. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> All the time that no man would have conflicts, so war is going on. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Usually, all wars, they end with a certain agreement, certain document. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And all issues were discussed at the table during the negotiation between two or few countries. Usually this is the way supposed to be after the end of the war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Here is pictures where the conference were dedicated the unification for the Korea, unification between Korea, South and North Korea. That's conferences were dedicated to Korea issue, especially unification, so ... >> Can he explain a little bit about his medals. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> This is professor [INAUDIBLE]. He's a professor. He gave me this business card. He is a professor in Seoul. He took a lot of materials from me. >> When? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> This is Dr. Bohim Pak. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> This is Dr. Bohim Pak. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Two years ago. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Two years ago. >> Explain to me a little bit about your medals. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> These two medals the Chinese, that's from China. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We had an agreement with China, an agreement about mutual support, but Korea, though we had an agreement, they didn't give us any medals. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I don't have any medals from Korea. That's why. >> From the North. >> From North Korea, yeah. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But I really fought really earnestly with all of my heart for the freedom of Korea and Korean people. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> As for the other medals, are from the World War II, and after the war, I finished. I graduated the Moscow Engineering Institute. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I work in the naval, military naval. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I was a main specialist to provide assistance ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... for ... to protect humans' in enclosed space. >> I have another question. Do other veterans of the Korean War in Russia share his views and his hope for unified Korea? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Have a section of veterans of Korean War. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The head of this section is the general Karovich. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He's a Hero of the Soviet Union. Did you hear his name? >> The Heroes Club. >> The Hero, the club, yes. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I was a member of that club. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I tried to get any memories from other scholars, with other veterans [INAUDIBLE] successful as people lost their memories, and now over 90 years old, and most of them can't walk. They are lying in bed. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And when I was working in the interest of Navy interest, military, naval ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [INAUDIBLE] I got PhD on technical sciences on that issue. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I successfully worked on that kind of system, on using that system, developing that system? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So atomic submarine is able to be 24 hours underground safe instead of 1 or 2 hours. >> One more question. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Today, we went to the memorial. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I saw World War ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I saw World War I memorial, two World War II memorial ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So here he said that after he has finished his work, some of his comrades, but they are from naval comrades, they gave him that kind of a letter of gratitude, and he would like to give it to you too because they have written here some information about him and about his work and about everything. >> Yes, going back to the memorial, I visited World War I memorial, World War II memorial, the UN memorial and the International Soldier Memorial. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I was ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I go very often there to that memorial all the time. >> Me too, in Washington, DC, I go to the memorial all the time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He wants to continue about medals. >> Oh, oh. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He has five medals from military naval. >> Oh. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And very universals medals, which were dedicated to generals, Admiral Gorshkov and specialty top leaders, top commanders in chief from the military. They're from World War II, so ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In general, he has 22 medals from the government and from the different state medals ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... and more than over 10. He has special appreciations signs like medals, some kind of medals and as a type of medal. They're high enough level of appreciation medal, special medals, and there are ordinary medals. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I'm an honored inhabitant of Moscow City. >> I'm honored to meet you. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So going back to the memorial ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... in the United Nations memorial, I saw four statutes, one Soviet soldier, Russian soldier, American soldier, British soldier and French soldier against Hitler. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So I was very sad ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... because 5 years later in the Korean War, the people that fought together in World War II had to fight against one another. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That is war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I hope that ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... this war will end, Korean War will end, and there will be peace, and there will be reconciliation and that ... I call all the veterans my grandpas. I call all the veterans of the Korean War my grandpas. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I hope ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... that my American grandpas and he be friends. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We are good friends. Please, look. >> Because he was a general, right? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> General. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yes. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Please, look at his hands. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Look at his hands. >> So I would like to call him my grandpa too ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yes, you are welcome, please. >> ... because we are fighting for peace together in Korea. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That's right, very good. Yes. >> I'm going to go and hug him. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I want to say a few words. >> Oh, okay. >> May I say a few more words, please? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We old generation, we made a lot of things. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We fought against a system. We won, and I hope that giving our, sharing our traditions, Russian and American friendship, people, youngsters, please, take charge in your hands and do everything to stop war, to finish all wars all over the world. This is what I teach, youngsters. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Thank you. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Thank you.
러시아 모스크바 (2)
>> My name is Constansion, Jerinof Constansion. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Okay. So it's a great honor for me to see our guest, Ms. Hannah, and I'm very glad that she came here to Moscow because she's doing the same work that I'm doing here in Russia. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So I started my project in 2009. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That was the 60-years anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In the USA, the Korean War is called the forgotten war. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And in Russia just as well. Nobody knows anything about it. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So even children and grandchildren of the people who participated in the Korean War do not know that their dad or their granddad participated in this war, or maybe they know something, but they do not know any details. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the reason was that every veteran of the Korean War signed a document where he promised not to disclose state secret. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Not many people participated in that war if we compare the number of participants with the number of those who participated in future wars of the Soviet Union, and that's why the public didn't get really interested in that war. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And another reason is that our ally that is North Korea also didn't like to speak about the role of the Soviet Union in that war. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That's why in 2009, I decided to make a project that would make this information more public. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So it happens so that at that time, the veterans of the Korean War decided to establish their own museum, and I offered them my help as a designer. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So that is the way I started the public project, and also I established a special Internet site where I was thinking about different events of the Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That became known, and in February 2010, I was offered to prepare special edition of this magazine that was almost completely devoted to the Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So in this magazine, you can find my program statements, so my ideas, my actions, and also have I've put in different specialist, paleontologists and historians. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And after that, I started doing other things, things devoted to different memorials for this war and also in the territory of North Korea. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And now I want a monument to be made in the territory of North Korea, and if the authorities allow me to do it, then I'm going to collect funds for this monument. This monument will be established at the place of death of our soldiers. [ Chatter ] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. This photograph, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> It's not me. It's Kim Ursan with the veterans. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I think that in this photo, there are only two veterans of the Korean War: this one and this one. This is General Komerenka. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And this is Yevgeny Pepelyaev, one of the best pilots of the Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And this magazine was prepared to the anniversary of the finish of the Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Here, there is an interview of the veteran who is going to come tomorrow. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So I invited him to come to South Korea, and after that, he was called a traitor, and no one wanted to talk to him. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So he's a pioneer for the united Korea. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He doesn't share many of radical views to the Korean War, and that's why he's such an interesting person. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He also think that a united Korea is inevitable.
룩셈부르크 룩셈부르크 (1)

>> My name is Joseph Wagner. I was during [INAUDIBLE] tough years in the Luxembourg Army, and one part of this occupation from back in the Korean War. I engaged in 1950, and I was sent to Korea with the Luxembourg detachment. All the people, they were volunteers. They had all volunteered, and we were attached to a Belgian battalion. We couldn’t afford to have a big force, to have all the logistical facilities, unit command, but we were all the time with Belgians attached to a Belgian company. And so we went, before the war, sent to a Belgian training camp. We did all the training which was useful for fight, for a soldier to be engaged in a war, and after that, we were sent to Korea on a Belgian boat. It was called the Kamina. We went on a Belgian boat, the Kamina, which was not very comfortable. We had very hard time during 6 weeks, being from one sea to the other, and we arrived. We started on the 13th of December, and we arrived in Korea on the 31st of January. It was a long way, yeah? So then we were received in a reception center. We went on training again, what we found out by contact foreign units who had already fought in the Korean War because we came in. Then the Chinese were already in the war. They started in November, and we arrived on the 31st January, and what I feel, we never saw a North Korean soldier. We were all the time engaged with Chinese because during the landing in Incheon, all the Korean units, they were cut off from their bases, and they had no contact from their bases anymore. And, well, our first mission was to fight them, and we had our first mission, was to control the communications of South Korea, and we were stationed in week one. Week one, that was our first mission. We were all the time patrolling the region to be sure that those people would not go making trouble in this area. And after that, we joined the third American division, and we were taken in offensive action that was south of Seoul. As I said, we had to … First crossing was the Han River, and then we went up with American units, with the third division, up to the 38th parallel. And from there, we trenched, our attachment. Then we were attached, the Belgian battalion was attached to the 29th British brigade, commanded by General Brodie. General Brodie, he was a jungle fighter, and when they sent him to Korea, there were only mountains and stones, no jungle at all. And, well, we were attached to this unit, to the 29th brigade, and then came the backlogged [INAUDIBLE] on the 23rd of April, and I was sent out on a patrol from the 12th to the 13th of April, and the Chinese, they were nowhere. Nobody knew where they were, because we had so many patrols during the night. Every unit had to send out patrols, and when I was sent out, I had … My mission was to see if a certain position was occupied, and when I came to this position, the position was occupied. We have a firefight with the Chinese occupation, and then we pulled out. We pulled out. We had one wounded, not by a bullet, but he was … He fell down on a certain position where he hit barbed wire or some kind of defense object. So we came back to our base, and I was called to the brigade’s operation officer, to the [INAUDIBLE] of the brigade, and then I told my story, that we were having contact with this position where we were both sent, and, well, that was very valuable information because 10 days after that, the war started. They started. The Luxembourg detachment was … North of the Imjin River was the other unit, the Luxembourg company, the Luxembourg … The Belgian battalion was north of the Imjin River, and all the other units from the brigade, the [INAUDIBLE], the oilers, the rifles, the [INAUDIBLE], they were south of Imjin River. And then when they attack, well, we had to, first of all, to hurt the position, 23 hours before we could move back, and we were already surrounded by the Chinese, and we were liberated, the help by air strike and by tank patrols. They cut the way from the Chinese, and so we had the chance to pull out, and then we went back. We went back, and during our retreat, we had, from time to time, what I call retreating operations. You had to occupy a position. You had to pull out. You had to occupy another position to make the aggressor that came from time to time on the resistance. And then we kind of came back to, well, south of Seoul. I don’t know the town anymore, and then we were on reserve of the brigade because the brigade was not operative anymore because they had already lost so many. They had lost one battalion. They lost the battalion, was wiped out on their position on the Imjin, and so the brigade was what we call in reserve. And after that, we were patrolling, all the time, the Imjin River, and that is where we had two wounded, two wounded on the night patrol, and we … Because the Chinese had all the time infiltrators across the Imjin River, and they were patrolling the whole region every night, every night. So we had two wounded, and they were evacuated to Japan, and when they had been, the treatment was up, they came back to our position. They came back to our position again. And, well, from there, we came also on a very comfortable situation because we were also reserve of the brigade. And from there, we stayed on the position making patrols on the level of the battalion, what they called a sweep, a coup de ballet, a sweep, to find out where the Chinese were because the Chinese, after our offensive action, they had been thrown out. They had been thrown out. And then of the first of July, we had very big operation, the Luxembourgers with Belgian battalion, Belgian company, and that was, we had to occupy the bridge head across the Imjin River. The bridge head, we had to make our position and when we moved up, we crossed by boat. The Imjin River was very swollen. It was very high, and we crossed by boat, and the British engineer troops, they took us along. And when we came on the other side, there were some people left on the village. They said, “Well, they are 800 men who have just left the position we occupied,” where we should occupy our bridge head. And after that, after we were occupied, we were attacked by enemy fire, by Chinese fire. They were occupied about 800 to 1000 meters in front of us, and we were taken in by fire. They attacked us by fire, and, well, as I was on the side, I had all the time, the possibility, the facility to call for artillery fire, and I knew exactly where they were, and I called artillery fire on their positions, but they were very clever soldiers. They were very, very successful and very skillful. And then a Belgian company was moved up to find out where the Chinese were located, and when they came up to the position, they were attacked by the Chinese, and they had to pull out. And we were on the favorable position to have to help them by protective fire, and all our men, all our, well, platoons started to give supporting fire to the Belgian company, and the company commander, he used to say all the time, “If I would not have had Luxembourg platoon on the 1st of July, my company was wiped out,” and that was a very good compliment to me and to my people. So we had to pull out again. We were the last one section after the other, and I was with the last section, and I was in the last boat being taken over in the Imjin River on the other side. And then the whole battalion, and some supporting elements of the brigade, they all were shooting to protect our reply. So when we were on the other side, well, we were safe again. We were safe because the Chinese, they were not … They had no means to follow, they had no means to go further than what they have done already because the Belgians, they had three or four wounded and so many hurt, so many hit and so many wounded. And then we went up to our position again from where we were located, and then on the … When did we came back? On the beginning of September, we were relieved from our position, and because the idea was to take the first battalion, we were sent in Korea, the Belgian battalion, to be sent home again, and we arrived in Rotterdam on the 2nd of October, 1951, and then we were sent back home again. But there was one more very important incident. Before we were liberated from the position, we had to take part in an offensive action that was what we call a diverging, and we were attacking., We were attacking a certain position, on a certain position, the Chinese. But on another sector, in the middle sector of the whole line, there was a very big attack moving on, pushing the Chinese further to the north. And during the night of … I forget. It was in August, the 7th or the 9th August, we were attacked again during the night by the Chinese, and we were … They were so close to our position that I was afraid that we would not have enough ammunition to fight them for a certain time, but that didn’t happen. The Chinese, they moved back again. We drew them back, and then we came back [INAUDIBLE] Imjin River and then we were called to what we call, to a position where we can have a rest, a resting position, and then we moved up. We handed up all our equipment, and then we were taken to Incheon on the boat, the General McRae, and, I guess, that must be in September. Yes, because we were 1 month on the way up to Rotterdam, and that was the end of the first detachment. We were sent back to Luxembourg, and then the people, they were sent on leave, and I went home to my parents, and that was as far as I had done as a Luxembourg commander and as a Luxembourg soldier during this war.

>> So how many Luxembourgers fought in the war?

>> How many Luxembourgers in the Korean war? At the whole, we were the second detachment that was created, and that was … We had 85 people in the Korean War. Eighty-five Luxembourgers were served in the war, and we have two wounded, and about 52 … No, 32 killed, and about 15 to 14 wounded. That was, for me, as a young soldier, a young officer, was a good experience. A good experience not only to fight another aggressor, but it was also very good experience how to handle people, how to handle people in a critical situations because I had to have confidence in my people, and they had to have confidence in me. I was a leader, and we have never had an incident or trouble that somebody was … I was very glad, and very glad. I had confidence in my people, and that was also a very big satisfaction for me when I came back. I had my people. Some had re-engaged. Six people had re-engaged, but where the other people, they went back to Luxembourg with me on the second of October.

>> You came back, and you volunteered. You said the 85 volunteered.

>> Yeah.

>> Including you, why do you think they volunteered?

>> All the other? Well, some people, they didn’t have a job. Other, they had maybe an adventurous spirit in mind because the adventure was all the time in the air, you can say, because people, well, they are excited, but most of those people, I feel they wanted to be soldier, and I don’t know exactly what were their feelings. If they were in to fight an aggressor and to help the Korean nation, I don’t know. My feeling was that I was engaged to help the Korean nation because they were in a very critical situation, and I was just coming back from school, so I said to myself, “Well, this is a very good occasion, first of all, to find out what is going on as a leader in a war.” And my second motivation was to help the Korean people because what we had heard, that the Korean people, the poor farmers, that they had been attacked by a very well-equipped aggressor. Yes, that was … When I started, I was at school. I didn’t know anything about Korea. I didn’t know where this country was, and I didn’t know what was going on, and finally, we found out that there was a separation between South and North which was because the first President, Syngman Rhee, he made elections in ’48, and when the people of the North, they had no rights because they were already under the domination, under the rule of Nam Il-Sung. Nam Il-Sung was the first president.

>> Premier Sung.

>> They did not take part in this elections, and Syngman Rhee had already in mind that he would be the president of the whole Korea. And, well, it came in another way, and, well, they were really surprised, but the American, I mean, information of this at G2, in this area, they should have known that something is coming up because if you start an aggression, you have to assemble so many units and I don’t know. Well, they had no chance. There were not many American units to block them, and so that was the reason why they had a chance to go so far to presume. They … Well, it was not far away that they had thrown the whole United States … not the United States, the United Nation Army in the sea again. And that was … That would have been a very big operation to have ground again in South Korea, and fortunately, in this few place on the Naktong, fortunately they stopped. They blocked the Chinese offensive, Chinese they were, and that was very … the biggest luck which could happen, and then after the Imjin, the Imjin landing, the Imjin landing by MacArthur where he cut out all the bases, all the units who were cut out, and then they broke out. General Walker, he was commander of the 8th Army. He broke out and then to join the forces who had made the landing, the landing that was at the height of Seoul, because from Imjin, they went in direction of Seoul, and Walker, he broke out in the same way because he had not very much resistance because all the North Korea, they were blocked. They were all cut out, cut up. And so they came together, and then from there on, from this part on, it was the United Nation forces. They were, we say, so many nations had engaged themselves, and at the end, we had 21 foreign nations fighting the Chinese in the Korean War, and that was the lucky part, what I have found, and it was very done well. Came the part when MacArthur was relieved from Ridgway …

>> Truman.

>> Huh?

>> President Truman.

>> No. No, MacArthur, he was liberated from his post or sent out or sent back by Truman, and he was replaced by Ridgway, and from there, from that point on, Ridgway was our operative commander, and he was a very good man. He made many punishment operations, what he called, when the Chinese, when we had attacked or found out some posts that they had taken back so many soldiers of the United Nations. Then he made a punitive operation. He said, “Now we will punish them,” and then he attacked on certain points. Well, I could not say much more about …

>> You must be very proud of …

>> I was.

>> … the Luxembourgers’ contributions.

>> Yes, I was. I was really proud, and I was also, not only to myself that I succeeded in my, in the whole field. I was very proud to have done a very human mission, and I was very glad that when the South Korean War was over, and the people could recover, and I was very much surprised what they have done during the last 60 years. I was so much surprised every time when I was in Korea. I was there already eight times, six or eight times, and I was all the time surprised for also about the kindness of your people. They are so kind and so grateful, very. That’s what is also, when I come back, all the time, they say, “Oh, if you would not be our liberators, if you would not come to Korea, what would happen to us?” And so that was what … And in the museums, Luxembourg is very well represented. In the museums in Korea, Luxembourg is very well represented. And then when after that when we followed, when we are back, we followed that very closely, and we were glad to hear that they have had finally come to agreement to cease fire. Not to … at peace because they are still in war. North Korea and South Korea, they are still in war, and I wonder about the motivation of the South Korean units. They are very good soldiers. They are very, very … Oh, I can’t imagine that the North Koreans, they would not come along far if they were there to attack, but there is one thing. I was in one of those tunnels. They had created eight tunnels under the Imjin battle, under the Imjin River. I was in one of those tunnels, and when they would have attacked again, they were not ready, but they could have attacked it with so many divisions across one tunnel. Well, that would be, what we call the most biggest evil which could have happened to the South Koreans because they found only out that there were tunnels. There were tunnels inside. They could not … They found out that the soldier, he was so vigilant, and he said he heard some noise, and went, “What is that?” And then they looked, after that, in making research through the earth, and then they found a [FOREIGN LANGUAGE], we called it. How do you call that?

>> An empty [INAUDIBLE].

>> An empty hole. And they investigated, and they started to look after that, and then they found the tunnels. That was also very lucky. Oh, because that was … No, they had no good things in mind, and luckily, I was very, very happy that Korea had developed in this manner. Good army, very well organized in the industrial field. Oh, I was very lucky to hear that Korea had recovered.

>> Well, like you said, we are all very grateful to you and your fellow Luxembourgers for your service.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

룩셈부르크 룩셈부르크 (2)

[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 …

벨기에 브뤼셀 (1)
>> My name is Roger Verbist. I went to Korea with the first battalion. I joined the first Belgian volunteers on the first or second of October, 1950 and got trained in Belgium until we left on the 18th of December on board of The Camina to go to Korea. It took us 6 weeks to arrive at last in Korea, in Busan, after a not-so-pleasant trip because the ship was not made for so many people. We were overcrowded. Anyway, we arrived at last on the 31st of January '51, in Busan at port. After that, we went to a trainings camp for a week of adaptation equipment change because we were fully equipped with the good old Belgian army coat and everything, which was really not adapted for the Korean thing. Also, to sleep, we had five, six blankets, which was really uncomfortable or impossible to take with you. Anyway, so after 1 week or so change, in 2 weeks maybe, where one nice remembrance is that we went training at night. Our second in command, Major Vivario at that time, he became later lieutenant general in the Belgian army, head of the Belgian army, but at that time, he was a major, second in command. He took the whole battalion out on a night exercise to get adapted to the mountains and everything and the hills, and we left in Indian file, and when we came back, he only had two people behind him. All the rest of the people had been lost. But anyway, we came back a few hours later to the camp. After that, we went for another what they call [INAUDIBLE] and said [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. It was [INAUDIBLE] of course between guerrilla and [INAUDIBLE]. After there, a few things, at last, we could go to the front line at the Han in the winter that time still, quite cold at the Han and everything, stayed there in position. Anyway, we crossed the Han and moved to the north. We had in April the Battle of the Imjin where we got surrounded, and as I said, I had nothing, but I've seen it all what happened there and everything. After that, we had some relative peace when we went to the neighborhood of Gimpo, the other side of the Han. That's where I took my first rest and recreation holiday in Japan and where I got promoted from corporal to sergeant for the Battle of the Imjin. Anyway, after that, we had, with the first battalion, a lot of [INAUDIBLE] which have been explained by General Crahay in is book. [INAUDIBLE] participated on that, and while I was there, on the 23rd of March, we had a fight before the Imjin, even, on the hill where I had some personal experiences and killed an American observer and some Chinese, but okay. I never had any. It was not my fault. He shouldn't have been there in the dark at night. We never knew he was there, but he was a hero, really, this guy. But anyway ... >> Explain what ... Explain a little bit. >> Explain? >> Uh-huh. What happened? >> Well, it's never ... You see, it was what they said, hill 155, 3 kilometer out of [INAUDIBLE]. The C company, which was my company, and the third platoon, we had been progressing, and in the afternoon, we took over hill 155 from an American company. I don't know which were the guys, but they had taken the hill, and they were still everywhere, Chinese around foxholes and everything, some still smoking from phosphor and everything. Anyway, we took over the top, my platoon, the rest of the battalion. It was the top of the whole thing. The rest was down. The battalion was everywhere. We had the top. So the lieutenant, the American, I still remember. When he left, he said, "Oh, guys, I would be careful. You probably will get a visit tonight." He meant from the Chinese. Anyway, we had foxholes, and we threw the bodies off. I don't know if this [INAUDIBLE] threw them off. We took over the foxholes because they were [INAUDIBLE], and we settled down for the night, but we had been working just with a little backpack, so nothing, sleeping bags, nothing, nothing, nothing real. Anyway, at the certain time when it got dark, they said, "Ah, the trucks arrived downstairs at the hill. One-third of the platoon can go down and get the kit bags for your sleeping bags for the night," and everything and everything. So instead of 1/3, about 25 people went down. We were left on top of the hill with maybe 10 people. That was all. So while they were down to pick up, we got attacked by Chinese, and the first thing I heard, I was in a foxhole. It was when a grenade fell in the shoe of the companion who was with me. He had took off his shoes. He was not supposed to, but he had done anyway. A grenade fell in his shoes and rolled away, and his shoe exploded. He had size 46, so at around maybe 3 months later because they didn't serve the size of shoes on his gymslips. Anyway, we got out. They were all over the place between us in the dark, and I got out, and I did something to some Chinese [INAUDIBLE], and as I said, very dark, confused. One guy came getting up on the thing, and I couldn't tell. It was an American first sergeant, I found out later, an American first sergeant major, who was an observer for the motors. I didn't know he was there. Anyway, I shot him, and he died of his wounds later, so I still thinking ... I have never known, knew his name, who he was or everything. That was one thing that, if you say, that after that, that I said we did. After May, everything got more quiet down, a little bit more comfortable, so then after the day, the day after that I shot this guy, General MacArthur came on visit. Oh, yeah, I met him downstairs. They called me down. In effect, he said, "I know what you did. Don't worry. You did what you have to do. It's not your fault," and at that time, too, the chaplain of the battalion came to me said. He said, "Oh, you know, I have some bad news for you." I said, "What?" He said, "Your father died." I said, "Oh, yeah?" I said, "When?" He said, "Well, in the middle of January." I didn't know, so I said ... Well, he said, "Yeah, we apologize that you've been advised so late," and so on and so on. And then he said, "Do you want to go to Belgium?" I said, "What am I going to do in Belgium now? He's gone 2 months already. Now you tell me, so, no, I don't want to go to Belgium. I stay with the battalion." So then, anyway, the first battalion went back home somewhere middle of August. We had to take the General McRae to go back to Amsterdam, and about 400 of us went back to Belgium. In Belgium, I had 1 months of holiday, and after that, we joined the first airborne battalion to get parachute training which I did obtain my parachute training. At the beginning of January, I was qualified and everything, and then I was giving training to some [INAUDIBLE]. That time, they had draftees. We still had draftees, so I was training draftees in [INAUDIBLE]. I didn't like it, so I re-enlisted for Korea, and the 3rd of March, I went back to the training center of Korea in [INAUDIBLE], stayed 1 month, and I rejoined the battalion where I arrived. I left Belgium again on the 7th of April and arrived on the 24th of April, just in time for the celebration of the Battle of the Imjin where there was a ceremony there. And there, at that time, I decided, and I said, "I'll never go back until the last Belgian goes back," and that I did. I stayed until '55 until the last Belgians had to come back. >> [INAUDIBLE] >> No. If you're interested, in '54, but then after the third year or second year, you got 1 month of holiday in Japan, and regular R and R, like they said, famous R and R. I had people I knew in the embassy. In fact, one of my friends, he's married to a Korean. Her name is Kim, by the way. They have this shop in [INAUDIBLE], very famous, really became rich, she did, very aggressive saleswoman and everything. No, they have a very good company. It's still existing, Pagoda, in [INAUDIBLE]. It specialized in Oriental stuff and everything, and that's why I learned my wife, my friends married her. I went to their wedding party in Tokyo. One year later, I also went to the celebration of their first baby which was born in Tokyo, so I've been kept in touch with them very much. I learned my wife there, and I went back to Korea, and then I applied for permission. You had to have permission to get married that time. Oh, yes. There are a lot of regulations. I still have them. In fact, you had to do this and that and that and that and that. I did all that and brought it to the embassy in October '54 to get married, and I came to the embassy. This is another story, and the chancellor said to me, "I'm sorry. I can't marry you because the Belgian government changed the regulations. If you want to marry, you first have to go back to Belgium, stay 1 year there, and you can't come back to Korea. You have to bring her there and everything." He said, "I can't marry you. Everything is okay, but I can't marry you." Said, "but," he said, "Do you want to get married?" I said, "Sure." He said, "Okay. Tell your wife to go to the local administration not outside of Tokyo." I said, "They don't have the instructions yet." I said, "Get married for Japanese law." And he said, "If it's Japanese, and if you're married there," he said, "You bring me the papers. The same day, I make a Belgium passport for it." That doesn't exist anymore. At that time, it was. "And you're legally married because Japanese law is legal in Belgium," so we did. My wife went to ... We lived in Tsurumi between Yokohama and Tokyo. She went there. In fact, I didn't even go. She just brought all the papers. No, I was staying at home. She took two witnesses, and they witnessed, and we were legally married. So I went to the embassy. She got a passport. It's the chancellor who did it. I was not supposed to do it. He was a very nice fellow, so that's it. So then I stayed until '55 in Korea until the last one and came back on the last like everybody else, and wife rejoined me. >> After the armistice in 1953, July 27th, what were some of the things? Because people think the war ended, so everybody goes home, right? But you stayed until 1955. >> Mm-hmm. >> What did you do there after the armistice? >> '55? Well ... >> No, after the armistice, what did you do there? Why did you stay in Korea for another year and a half? >> Well, we had still some obligations to the American thing and to the United Nations. There was not officially, shall I say, a peace. There was a cease-fire, but still, they still have demarcation line, as you know, so at that time, we were still there at the first time. They still expected some attacks even after that from the Chinese, so we were staying there on the line, occupying our position. We had to move back so many kilometers to have the demarcation zone. We had to move back. We occupied and just stood guard like we did before except that we didn't get artillery shells and everything for the rest. Then after 5, 6 week, we went back, rotated, got in reserve, and there, we did like the Belgian army does when they're on the camps, and we're training, exercises with the Americans, tests, to compare our combat readiness, tested by the Americans, which, by the way, we came out first of the whole thing. We had 87 percent, I think. We always used to love the [INAUDIBLE] They wear those big boots. They couldn't move around, so I think we wear just a normal thing. We moved around like that on the hills three times when they moved. That was the thing. We were training just like, as I said to him, hasn't known this. He has just known the period in Korea at the beginning there when there was every day moving up mountain, down mountain, up mountain, here a shot, there a shot, attack, this and that, never ate really. At night, you slept in a little hole and everything. After that, from when I went back in the beginning of '52, '51, things had changed completely. Before, it was a moving war, and every day, as I said, up and down, up and down, up and down. You never had any food, C rations and things. After that, when we get a static war and got on lines, it changed. We had tents where you had certain periods on line where of course, you were in bunkers and had some attacks and patrols, but once you were out of the line, in reserve or so, you had tents, beds, cots, to sleep on. You got a bar. You got food instead of C rations all the time, so conditions changed completely, and I said, I've had worse training in Germany as I had there in Korea at that time. That was the thing, but we stayed there because they wanted, how I shall I say, to have the representation of a Belgian thing. That was 200 people they chose who stayed. >> Mm. Did you go back to Korea? >> Huh? >> Did you go back to Korea after the war? >> Yes. After the war, as I said, after Washington, I quit the army after 6 years at the embassy in Washington. I quit the army. I took to my pension after 20 years, and at that time, I was 38 years old, so I had to make a decision. Am I staying in the army, no promotion until I'm 56 and then retire, or am I going to try to do business, a career in private civilian life? I decided to get out, so in fact, I still have my blue card as a permanent resident of the United States, but my wife and my daughter then, they wanted to move out, and me too, out of Washington, so we went to Hawaii and lived 1 year in Honolulu where, in fact, I got my first job as assistant manager from the Hilton Lagoon apartments. I don't know if you know Hawaii. The Hilton Lagoon, I got there. After 1 year, my wife and daughter, and me too, said "Always this sun, always this beach. Let's go back to Japan," so we moved to Japan. >> I asked whether you went back to Korea to ... >> Yeah, well, that's what I'm coming to, yeah? So was in Japan, I start working in civilians for civilian transportation, German, Japanese thing. I went. I had very good relationship with ... It was in the air cargo business, so I had very good relationship, first of all, with Korean Airlines, and I had to go at least six, seven times to Korea as civilian then for business. >> What year? What year? >> I was in from '76 to '90, I stayed. I was in Japan, but as I said, at that time, I traveled to Australia and New Zealand. I'm doing what you're doing now, I did many times before: the States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Europe. I did that at the time, but I went back at least four or five times to Korea for business with a certain Mr. Lee. There are also many Mr. Lees and Kims. I've been back many times. >> When was the last time you went? >> As civilian? The last time I went was in 2012 for the big Revisit Korea thing. >> Oh, and so it was very different from when you went for ... >> That's what I've told him. He remembers, and I remember, first time where we went in Seoul, I still remember the railroad station. Everything was in ruins, and everything there in '55, when I left, was already quite a different change, but not like this, but I told him. I said, "You're going to be surprised when you're going to [INAUDIBLE]," because it was still in his mind this way. Anyway, but it's the same in Tokyo. When I was first time in Japan in Tokyo, it's nothing. Now, the last time I went to Tokyo was maybe 4 years ago. Every year, and I lived in Tokyo [INAUDIBLE] between Tokyo and Yokohama, 12, 13 years there. I lived there. When I left in '90, came back to France because I lived in France, and I went back 5 years later, I didn't recognize Tokyo already: new highways and everything. And every time I go back with my wife and my daughter now, it changes so quickly. >> Well, so let's go back to Korea. >> Yes. >> So, did you think of ... >> You know what? >> The people, I mean, what you experienced now towards the end of ... You visited again recently in 2012, and, you know, it's very ... You say, it was very different, and, I mean, just the people. Explain a little bit more about what you felt because you were there when ... almost 70 years ago. >> What I saw in 2012 was the normal Revisit Korea program. We went to Busan to the military cemetery, or to the United Nations cemetery, to visit. We visit [INAUDIBLE], a few ceremonies in Seoul and things like that, ceremonies and medal and things like that of the normal program, but I was amazed by the efficiency. This tour was organized, and as I said, how they took care of us, that amazed. There was just another couple who was in a wheelchair. They were waiting at the airport. Took us there. I said, everything was perfectly organized because I have been worried. I said, many times, I worry when Korean veterans, Korean nationals, came to visit Belgium, they didn't get the same reception. Much less, huh? >> Okay. >> I found that regrettable.
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>> My name is Philips Armand. In English, Armand, the British English. I was in the third battalion volunteered with Korea with Roger, my friend, and the make ... The meeting was in Belgium, three battalion to go to Korea. The UN, United Nations, ask, and one battalion complete, but Belgium has never can come to the number of 650 men like the English. They only had 600, 700 people, but one-fourth of it is administration. Fighters was not enough. It was 500, and all of the English were 800. Belgium wasn't the right force to go. Then we made a prepares to go. We're coming to Korea. Roger says with all the dates and began ... Busan, is it Busan? We stay a little while in Busan, and then we move higher and higher. Along way we helped ... We make a ... with the American Army, but Belgium Army has British weapons and the equipment, all British and a Lee-Enfield rifle, the old one. The US go, "No thanks, to Belgium, Put them over there," because we cannot give them ammunition, and it was just ... Put your gun away and take another one. That was a diplomatic difference over there, and after the Imjin is over, go on, go to America, so Roger was free. I was away in this moment. Then we do this the same way, Busan, higher up to the 38th frontier on the Imjin, and that you know. You know that. And along the way, we have made the [INAUDIBLE] and was looking for the invasion of the Chinese soldiers. When the Belgiums were on the boat, the Chinese, not the North Koreans [INAUDIBLE] were something we never see. I never see the North Korea. It was China. China was behind it. And they [INAUDIBLE] onto Seoul, bombardment of American Seoul. Seoul was a wreck, completely horizontal. No people over there and the Belgium battalion [INAUDIBLE] over the Han River to platoon, with a platoon to look if there was enemies where they is, but the Chinese were away. They were going, and we never known why, and we did a night patrol over the Imjin, and my platoon commander, the lieutenant, was the leader, and I stayed with the others on the other side. They said, "Spend the night over there," and when they come back they ... I was watching on the land mine, and the Chinese have their little dynamite box on the Han River, on the side, for the tanks. There were tanks, and that is with the wire to the big one, 2 kilo and a half dynamite, and the tanks of America has changed before. They cleared a little bump. They can't ... But the big bomb was here and the little one there, 5 meters. When the little bomb sprang, it's with the chains, but the other 2-1/2-kilo dynamite was under the tank. They're smart, this one, and my platoon commander was leader, and he was floating 8, 10 meters in the river and on the ground, and commander of the company was dead and two or three American officers, and the tank was finished too. On that moment was I platoon commander, as Sergeant First Class. It was in the company C. It was platoon A, B and C. [INAUDIBLE] was in platoon B or G ... B or C? There was no platoon. There wasn't one platoon. I was second-in-command, and I make [INAUDIBLE] platoon something to say, but afterwards, platoon commander. I was first sergeant, Sergeant First Class, and all the time from the Imjin and that, I stayed around the Imjin. I got shot. Now I just would finish it, but the Battle of the Imjin. When we come on the Imjin River, in Panmunjom was the peacemaking, right? Come on, it was starting then, but we're still staying on the way, on this side of the Imjin, but the British have let go the Belgium on the other side, and there was a bridge over with ... a military bridge on the Imjin River, and they put the Belgiums on the hill sometime, and there was a platoon. Roger's was on the right. I was in center, and another group was ... platoon, three platoons. We have communication with the radio and telephone, booby traps and all the things, wires [INAUDIBLE] like the Belgium Army with the protection. Then the invasion was coming, and in the night, the battalion commander, the colonel, said, "They will not come now because they have need 2 days to come from higher on the Imjin," right, higher up. [INAUDIBLE] was somewhere. We have time to make the defense here, but the Chinese were very quicker there, and we have not finished anything, and the Chinese ... Well, the Belgium battalion or the platoon, we are maybe 90 persons over there. The Chinese come maybe by thousands along the hill, and we got surrounded by the Chinese, and [INAUDIBLE] then my platoon commander was coming back over there. After the commander was over, I was again shot. I got a bullet in the rear. And then was I platoon commander, and I will see in a moment there's no more ammunition. The day and the night shooting always, grenade [INAUDIBLE] not much ... Let me see. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] ... wounded, wounded, a lot of wounded people, but not too heavy. And I was there in a certain moment. There's one corporal. Combat is ... the machine gun. They say, "Adjunct." I stay adjoint to the platoon. They always call me Adjunct. I was commander of the platoon because of ... And he comes away, and I see in the slit trench was when you go was around and make the connections make a place for the men. When they go up to come to the center, you see he has no main cover, and one of those corporals comes to get the machine gun and say, "Adjunct, it's no more good to sit around [INAUDIBLE]," and I run toward him. I say, "Go back," and then I gave him a [INAUDIBLE] ... And he's as far as I am, and on the look for my left, there was a little horse with an officer, North ... from North Korea or the Chinese, and two men were the problem, the little problem, the covered problem [INAUDIBLE] and one of the men stood because that was the way of coming up, up over the hill. He makes a ... and one of the moment, I gave a shout to the other. He give ... and I got a bullet here and comes out here. I got my mouth open. My tooth was back here, but I got wounded, and then, a little bit before, my platoon commander was wounded. He was around 90 kilo. He's a very heavy Russian big man with four soldiers to take him away into the tent. They gave him a shot, can no more do. No more can aid than that because there was a war on, and I had command to the people, and everybody asked, "Ammunition, ammunition, no more," and the British have a basic load, the double. Leave it there, and we'll take over, but the ammunition stays because we have to sit, but we have double ammunition, and the night, after the night, was no more ammunition, just shooting all the night, all the night. And we take care of the officer in the tent, give him a shot, and I take the platoon over. When I was shot, I asked for the oldest sergeant, oldest. That was Roger. I didn't know very well, but he knows. I came to the commander, and I say to him, "You have joined the company staff" because in the war, if you give over command, you must give him the order if you continue because there's no more ammunition, and the company was on the right side, and I said, "You come back to the company," and there was a mistake. I don't know what's happened. He's going up in panic. They shoot and grenades. He says to the men, "Follow me," which means, "Follow me," but I tell them, "You go to the company. That's the orders." It's the right thing. If you don't do the order, you go to ... You're punished, and we have 2 year in the school. We know what we have to do and not to do, and he was in the same school as me, and he says, "Follow me," and he run to the staff over there, to the Imjin, and the colonel put him away and put the people back, and at that time, we must evacuate with the officer that [INAUDIBLE] and he don't want to go. He stand up, and he's falling on the way somewhere in the corner, and I was not shot at this moment, and a bit later, I gave over the orders, and I go, and the people say, "We go with you [INAUDIBLE] it's under" [INAUDIBLE] no, no, I go. I say, "I'm finished," but with the bullet, I ... And I see my officer in the gate somewhere and the jeep with the doctor and the boss there. I was running to look for them. Was maybe 500, 600 meters after them, and I see him, and I go. I'm trying to look for them since I can't continue. I was wounded too, that bullet here, and I see the jeep for the doctor, and I go, and when I was on the jeep, I heard a commotion, and I say, "Benoit is over there, the officer," and they get, and they haven't found him, and they gave me the paper, confirms latest ... Roger has it. I have saved his life on that moment because I say to the doctor, "[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Benoit is there, my officer," and I approach them, and we were in the same in Daegu, in the hospital, and in the helicopter, he was on the left side and the right [INAUDIBLE] Russian and we go to Daegu, and the hospital in Korea is in South Korea. Well, it's still Korea, and in Korea, I was wounded, could not solve it. Must go to Japan, and he was going to Japan too, but I had no way of knowing. We were not in the same plane, and in Japan, I see him back. He was come to visit to me. The bullet was gone in there and out. There's nothing touched on the inside. There was a second wound for him, and he was with the colonel [INAUDIBLE] too. They come to visit. They said, "Thank you, good job. That's it [INAUDIBLE] you see," and a salute and this in the hand and gave me a paper later, but I stay 4 months in Tokyo because it was very ... And because the bullet hit my tooth and go in and here, it was in my right ear was amber fluid, they call it, here, and there was always ... And there was a Japanese doctor, very old, that was used to seeing things like that. The Japanese always have been in the war, was one of the doctors, and the major, a black man, negro, major. One of the first, highest officers I've seen in my life. He was major, a big one, you see, and the Japanese, the old doctor, said to him, "We must do this one [INAUDIBLE]," and they gave me a shot, go to the room, and it was with a syringe, a pump but with a needle, goes in the ear to the place, and they pulled the amber fluid out three times, going back to the room, and then 4 months in the hospital, and a couple of time after was better and could going out, maybe dancing on the promenade later, but the doctor said to me, "Pay attention. You're wounded, no [INAUDIBLE] for you," so while I watched, and I have do. I do what he said to me. Well, that's my story. That's in Japan, and then ... >> So were you able to fully recover? >> What? >> Were you able to fully recover? >> Yes, they said at most there was a hole here and a hole there, here, under there. >> But they've ... you ... >> Put your ... Put your finger here. Push, push, do you feel it? That's the wound I was given over there, and the bullet just ... >> But now you are okay? >> Lots better, I don't really ever hear, the ear is sort of imperceptible. I always look like this. >> And did you go back to fight? >> No, no, I must stop [INAUDIBLE] and go to Belgium in the first boat, and it was a British boat. We stayed 14 days in Hong Kong, and then we go out there and to Liverpool. In Liverpool, England, in the plane, a DC-3, go to Brussels, and my parents were over there, my friends. It was a homecoming, everybody. >> Yes, did you volunteer? >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Did you volunteer? >> Yes, I was ... >> Why? >> I was in the military school for noncommissioned officers because there was no more for all the old officers after the war. The school, the school of the cadets, as I would call it, was for all young people, has them in the order, the school. That was not exist, but the noncommissioned officers was open, sergeant and the [INAUDIBLE] and I go, and then we see, and when it is over, I go to the para-commando in Belgium, parachute [INAUDIBLE] the commander and was ... And then, I am sectioned by the commanders in Belgium, and the first time that the Korean War are announced and volunteers, I all say, "I am in the army. I know very good the rules, just not the logistics," and that's no good [INAUDIBLE] can do this and that, but the action of the war, they don't know what it was. We have seen it in the film, like the [INAUDIBLE] said, "The Korean War has come." I said, "I go," not because of the Chinese or Korea, but for to learn something. When you have 18 years or 19 years, sort of, I know you hoping for your life, and we are careered to handle that. We know each other in the Leopold [INAUDIBLE] Belgium, and we are in the same company. >> You came ... You went, and you came back wounded. Did you regret that you went? >> No, no, I got the pension. I asked for it. I am an old war elite and a big one, more than 50 percent, but [INAUDIBLE] but that sound like the good, I have the one on that, and I was married at same time, and I had a boy. I lost my wife 7 years now. I am alone in the house. I got a grandson and a son. I have no many contact. Contact is okay, but I'm better alone with my little dog, and I lose him, and I'll make a [INAUDIBLE] four, number four, but I'm still a little bit sad because there was no more there, and I was only a line, only alone, and now I don't see him anymore. He got this [INAUDIBLE] and I ... That's my life. >> Did you go ... >> And then we have ... >> What did ... >> ... we write a book of what we do in Korea, and I was the beginning, and I gave him two books on the other, when the embassy was still on the older side in Brussels. Maybe in the library [INAUDIBLE] you can find. The book has maybe stay over there. There's a book about over the Imjin and the company C, company. I said [INAUDIBLE] there's still two [INAUDIBLE] ... >> And you ... >> But if you want to know more in detail, it's in the book. >> Okay. >> It says the one ... >> And you ... >> ... "One Season in Korea" because we still stayed 3 or 4 months, the wounded, and then the platoon was [INAUDIBLE] we put the people in the other platoons, and the commander was liquid and me too, was finished and the reorganization ... And that's the stopping them on the Imjin [INAUDIBLE]. >> Last question: You revisited Korea. How did you feel? >> I ... We do it with Roger. We go together. That's 3 or 4 years ago, and we are still candidate to go, but the nationalists, I guess ... >> How did you feel? How did you feel when you ... >> I was ... I can't explain this. It was special, really. The special was in the [INAUDIBLE] I went to Busan over there. Then after, we contact them at the Korean [INAUDIBLE] the special forces. They gave a demonstration, something that ... more better than the Belgians. I cannot take out the ... always the taking out [INAUDIBLE] was very fine in the military, and then Roger was the spokesman on the table with the big boss over there. Then we had the medal decoration, like that. Yeah, that was very fine, very good, but the boss, the best over man over there, this was him. He know everything about Korea. It's 4 years over there, yes, but you must [INAUDIBLE] ask. If it's not possible, then the library. Yeah, over there with the books, maybe you find the book over there. It's "One Season in Korea." [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] it's in French. I gave two ... Maybe it's the officer.
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>> My name is Declane Louis born 12th June, 1931. I'm Belgian. I served in the Korean Battalion from the 7th October, '50. Joined a ship the 18th December, '50, to go to Korea. We need ... Our ship was a very, very quick ship, and it's only 41 days, normally 35, okay? You see, first ship, okay. We start with landed at Pusan the 31st of January, '51, and there, we're leaving to a little camp on river. I think it was Nakdonggang. I'm not sure, and we stayed there, and we saved some equipment? Why? Our equipment was very nice. We need everything. It's easy. After 8 days, we went Nakdong River, Nakdonggang, supposed to be fighting against guerrilla. I never saw a guerrilla, but we went several times in the mountains. After 1 month, we won. We were leaving to the frontline. It was in March '51 in a train, a wagon, not Volkswagen, an old wagon, and came at ... I think I mixed up the names ... At the village near the Han River, Hantangang, and my platoon was immediately on the line at the OP. I was an OP-4. They had OP-1, 2, 3 and 4. I make the OP-4, and I was surprised to see for the first time in my life a rifle that's shooting at night. I never saw it. [INAUDIBLE] green thing. The morning at the Han River, there was some fog. You know what I mean? Incidentally, wind comes up, and all of a sudden, [INAUDIBLE] that was a village and an ocean officer, and this ocean officer was talking with a Korean, okay? I remember this officer. Why? He have a big [INAUDIBLE] his boots, golden things, the North Koreans don't have this in this time, the Chinese certainly not, and I know that's in '47, okay? When I saw ocean soldiers, '47, okay? After 3 weeks, I think, we were leaving and making offensive to the north. The north was [INAUDIBLE]. There was no bridge at Seoul. There was only a ship bridge into [INAUDIBLE] and the field battle that we have was at Uijeongbu. There we lost our first man [INAUDIBLE] company, and he was in Charlie Company, the first soldier to die. Okay, meanwhile, I forgot to say at [INAUDIBLE] we make the first combat battle my platoon, the combat patrol on the other side from the Han River, and the Chinese [INAUDIBLE] move, which was maybe, maybe not. And I know that after [INAUDIBLE] this of the Han River was full with mine, all that I know. That was before after [INAUDIBLE]. Then after we go farther to north, and we will leave the 187 air bomb, jumping behind the lines. I don't know if you know that, 187 air bomb jumping behind the lines, and we are the first to leave quickly against all the people to move forward to the north. And we leave the 187 air bomb, and from there on, we went on to the Imjin, Imjin. We changed from American to the British. Why? Our rifle was 707, 703, anyway, something [INAUDIBLE]. It was too long a time ago, and the British went in the 29th British Brigade. A big thing that I'd like to say, our battalion was only 699 men and not 1,000. Mostly people say one battalion, would say 3,000. No. We are still of 700, complete battalion, until 1953 with the relief to get [INAUDIBLE] 3,000. Don't forget it. It's easy to say 3,000, but we're only 700 men [INAUDIBLE]. American, 1,000. Korean, 1,000, and we never go back, never. We hold whole time our position. That's all that I can say about Imjin after the Chinese attacked on the second day of April, I think. I remember [INAUDIBLE]. Why we're surrounded? British take us north of the Imjin. and all the people British on the south of Imjin. We are surrounded. We had broken the surroundings and tried to deliver the [INAUDIBLE] battalion that surrounded too and completely down. The Chinese [INAUDIBLE] prisoner camp. Then after we retreat until Kimpo. From Kimpo, again, attack on the Imjin. Imjin was finished, a second Imjin. From there, this was the beginning of the position, means trench, bunkers. That was the beginning, June, July of '51, and the whole [INAUDIBLE] the Belgian fight and the antinaval just the same. We're on the front. Why with the [INAUDIBLE] and not with the other? Yeah, that's it, tactical. Okay, and I make all the rest [INAUDIBLE] in placement to stay 30 days on the front line. I stayed 55 days, and after several attacks from the Chinese in a still hold position. The Chinese never gained in our position, never. That's all that I can say. What about after? I came back in '53 the 4th December and the 4th November, '53. They came back in Belgium the 4th December, '53 [INAUDIBLE] holiday, and I joined the Army, first the light infantry and then after Belgian airborne special forces. That's all. Something further? >> Have you been back to Korea after? >> Sure, and I like Korea. I was surprised, really surprised. The first time I went is after the Olympiada. >> Olympics. >> No, no, just after, and I was surprised. I know Korea from before at landing, Pusan. It was terrific to see it, all these people leaving from the street. Impossible to believe it [INAUDIBLE] left and right and dogs and cats, and then I came in Korea, and I saw a beautiful nice, little country, all these highways, buildings, buildings, building, bridges on the Han River. That's impossible, and then I went in the tunnel that not Koran did. You know that they make it to inside? And I was proud that the Korean soldier hear it and said it to his officer. That's all. That's enough. >> Well, thank you so much for your service. >> Okay. >> And I hope that you will visit Korea again and again because ... >> I hope so. >> ... it's very, very advanced, right? Very advanced. >> It is. The last time I went, a few years ago. I went to [INAUDIBLE]. >> You're young. You're young. >> Hey, old papasan, don't forget it. >> No, no, no, no, you're young. >> And my wife is a mamasan. >> Yeah, mamasan, yes. >> Okay like that? >> Yes.
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>> Good afternoon. My name is Raymond Bier. I am the national president of the Korean Veterans of Belgium, the Belgium United Nation Command, BUNC. I was born in Limburg, one of the nine provinces in Belgium, in October 1933. As I went to the military school, I had to wait until January 1953 to go to Korea. When I arrived in Korea, I saw a country where the children were standing in the mud. On the way, I saw the papasans and the mamasans carrying all kind of things to build sheds to live in. Children were asking for some food, and I thought, "What did you do? Where are you came? You came to a country where we had the same problems as we had between the War '40, '45 with the German." When I came to my company and the Chinese attacked Shadko, the old papasan, and we lost many people, and soldiers were crying for their mother. I was sitting. I was moderating one. I was sitting in a hole, and my friend who lived 32 meters from my hometown, and he would go home next month. He was killed in front of me of 1 yard, and I was thinking about friends. Okay. War is no good. Afterwards, I came back to Korea, and I was invited by the Korean people [INAUDIBLE] a restaurant in Korea. It's so good, and they asked me if I could give them an interview and the lady who watched me, and she said to me, "Mr. President, are you certain that your friends who were killed in action in Korea are worth it?" And I didn't have to think it over. I said this. When I left Korea in 1953, I had to cross the Han River on a bundle bridge. Today, I came to Korea, and I saw 32 bridges with six roads, and it's not enough. They're still building them, and when I saw in the museum the little children who were all in dresses from their schools in yellow and blue, and they were waving with the flags, and they were happy, and they're laughing, and they say, "hello," to us. And I saw the old people driving [INAUDIBLE] with a bicycle and having such high products on their bicycle, and they were happy, and they were laughing. Then I saw that the Korean people are happy. I saw that we did something for the Korean people, and yes, lady, it was worth that we lost more than 100 soldiers in Korea. That is Korea today. Today, it is the fifth biggest economy country in the world, and we are proud that we have given them a hand. I was not a general. It was 18 years, and I'm proud to have a second home in Korea. Thank you. [INAUDIBLE] of the the Belgian Korean Veterans is mostly the same as in all the other countries. We have nine provinces in Belgium. It is a little country, but we are very proud of history, and we have nine monuments, Korean monuments, and we are gathering, every province, are getting once a year to maintain our friendship, but we are also very close, and I tell you, very close with the Korean people. I send every year four students to Korea for the young camp, and I tried to send all those people who were injured in action [INAUDIBLE] disabled person. I tried to send them to Korea on the base of visiting Korea, and once again, those people, when they came back, they are telling me, "How is it possible that the Korean people treated us like [INAUDIBLE]." But we are getting old and getting no [INAUDIBLE], and there was a time to come, and there was a time to go. The time to come is gone, and the time to go is in front of us, and it won't last too many years, and we will be history. I wish you very luck [INAUDIBLE]. Okay.
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>> Go. >> [INAUDIBLE]. My name is Gorfed Gormumen. I'm 88. When the Korean War started, I was 21. I was a Korean War ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> And now I am a veteran as a Korean War volunteer. >> Volunteer. >> Volunteer. From September '50 ... 18 of September '50 to the end of the war was armistice. The war is still going on at the moment. It was armistice on the 27th of July '53. Then I stay in Korea a little bit longer, more than 1 month. In September, I was back in Belgium, September '53. Then I stay in the army. When I leave Belgium, I was a sergeant, and I was the leader of a squad. Then I stay longer in Korea, 1, 2, 3 years, and become sergeant first class, sergeant major, and then I was the leader of the weapon platoon then the third year. Then after we come back to Belgium, I stay in the army, and then I leave the army on pension as a [INAUDIBLE] officer. >> What? >> [INAUDIBLE] officer. >> More for the moment. >> And [INAUDIBLE] museum now? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh, yeah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] So you are now in charge of a museum? >> No. Yes. The commander of the Para, it ask us to [INAUDIBLE] museum, and that we did. >> And when was it ... >> I must do it because [INAUDIBLE] Koreans. And I did my best to help that commander in [INAUDIBLE]. The 3rd Para Battalion take over [INAUDIBLE], and because of that, they build a museum. Okay. I did. I ask around to have some items for the museum. There were a lot of items, and I asked to send them to 3rd Para. Then after any time, I [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] ... >> I was sorting out ... ... after ... >> ... all objects that were sent in. >> We started there with the museum in the late '80s, '87, '88, but the innovation, no ... >> The inauguration. >> ... inauguration in 1990 [INAUDIBLE] it is 25, 27 years that I do it in the museum. >> What do you think is most important for people when they come visit the museum to know about the Korean War? >> About? >> What is it [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] museum [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yes, the interest because the Korean War is known as forgotten war, and now when they visit the museum, no more forgotten. See? When you come in, there is a title, "Forgotten War," and when you come out, "Forgotten No More." See? >> What are some of the more interesting things in the museum? >> Interesting? Our battles. We don't have so much place. I must [INAUDIBLE] to our situations [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] See? And there's a theme. Around the theme, we have our museum. I can't show everything in museum. Our battles are the most important rings on our colors [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] on our colors of the battalion. The 3rd Battalion, they take over our traditions but not our history because the 3rd Battalion is ... >> Forms. >> ... founded. >> Or founded. >> ... during the Korean War, you see, and it's at that moment you take over colors, our tradition, but the history start later, and because our history in '50, September '50 [INAUDIBLE] and the 18th of September '50, see? I can tell much more, but do you like it? >> When young people, okay, go to the museum ... >> Oh, yeah. >> ... how do they feel? >> How they feel? >> Mm-hmm. What do they think about it? >> Yeah. Yeah, they don't know nothing. There's nothing saving Korea. What do the younger people know of the Korean War? >> Very little. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Very little. >> Same here. The Second World War, First World War, Second World War, no, they know nothing about Korea. >> What is the significance of Korea in Belgium's war history? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yes, it was a terrible time. That was a terrible time. >> Can you explain the historical context? >> Maybe it was the Cold War and with all the trouble in the east, east of Europe. Then the 25th June, Korea War broke out. I was one of the first to enlist as a [INAUDIBLE] for Korean War in Amsterdam. I was 21. It was a long time ago now. >> Okay. >> For the moment, I still stay with our veterans always, always. I was back in Korea. Six times I went back, and once with the inauguration in Washington, D.C. I was there. A lot of rememberings from Korea. Three [INAUDIBLE] [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Sometimes, I was in front of the first line. I spend 29 months in the first line in Korea, and sometimes I'm asked to do some listing calls before the front line many times. I'm leaving, and we are there. I notice that light here, light there, lantern. We are making our Chinese New Year in that, so we had the fireflies. You know? You know that? And I was there with a couple of men with the radio and two, three men more in front of the [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] because of that then and because of the red. It's characteristic for Korea, the poncho. Because of that, in Washington, D.C., you have with the poncho. >> Poncho. >> Yeah. Ask me what. >> I hope you're very proud of your contribution. I hope you're very proud. I hope you and Belgians are proud ... >> Yes. >> ... of Korea. >> Yes. That time, I think it was neat. It was naughty. >> It was necessary, we thought, at that time. > It was necessary. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I [INAUDIBLE] it was necessary to go over there to stop that the congress ... >> Power. >>... system there took over, overthrowing ... > Expanding, overthrowing other countries. >> Yes, yes, yes, and now I hope it don't start again. It go sometimes, right? You never know, huh? >> I hope so too, and I hope there will be peace and two Koreas unite and one Korea. >> Mm. >> Mm. Okay.
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>> I am Robert Decoling. I am born in Bruges, in Belgium, on 21st of December, 1922. I joined the Army in 1949, and I went to Korea in 1953, our squadron leader in Korea, section leader. I went to Korea in Korea Battalion in May 7th, 1953, and we departed to Korea in 19 July, 1953, just before the end of the war. We were held in Camp Drake in Tokyo when the armistice negotiations were closed. So I entered Korea after the war, so I was not in the war, so I left to Korea in the 16th of July. The armistice was on 27th of July, so we entered in Korea a few days later. We stayed first in Camp Drake, later on in Sasebo in Japan and then in Korea. So I served 11 months in Korea after the armistice, after the ceasefire. Nevertheless, we had a lot to do. We have to patrol. We have to look out. We have exercises. We are on the way every day, so we had a hard and rough time over there but not the danger of the war. That's all I can tell about Korea. >> Why you volunteered? >> I volunteered because it was a sort of adventure for us. Korea was a country far away from us. We never thought we'd have the chance to go there, so there was a sort of adventure for the most of us. I was a young sergeant, a young military, so to see the world, also perhaps to help the Koreans, but it was not our first goal to help the Koreans. Only we look at as an adventure, the most of us. I have to tell the truth. That's the reasons. So that was the reason of why I went to the Korea. >> Hundred died. >> Mm-hmm. Yes. Correct. >> Three thousand one hundred seventy-two ... >> I know. >> ... served. >> Mm-hmm. >> That must have changed when you came back. >> Of course. Of course, we saw a lot of misery. Oh, those were totally different when we left to Korea. When we left to Korea, we knew nothing about Korea, nothing. It's a country far away from us, not knowing the people over there, but when we came back, we know the people of Korea. I'm very, very thankful to be for some help to the Korean people because I'm sure the Belgian troops over there helped the people there. There are a lot of [INAUDIBLE] and the people [INAUDIBLE] all the way, even though when we come back to Korea, we are always very welcome in Korea, all the veterans are going there. I have been four times in Korea since the war, so I know what I'm talking about. >> I was told about the Belgians never lost a position. Explain that a little bit. >> I wasn't there at that moment. >> Oh, yeah, but you heard about it. >> Oh, of course. I heard the stories, of course. >> Mm-hmm. >> Yeah. I know the history too. >> Mm-hmm, so what does that mean? >> Well, it means [INAUDIBLE]. >> Mm-hmm, especially about artillery and parachutes, right, historically? >> Yeah, but we didn't have parachutes in Korea, you know, but the story of Belgian army is another side about the good artillery. There were good parachute jumpers, yeah, of course. We were world champions many times for world champion parachutes. [INAUDIBLE] so he is one of them. Yeah. >> Do you remember the saying, "Belgians can do too"? >> "Can do too," yeah, of course. >> What does that mean? >> That does mean that we can do anything that another army did, but we are a small batallion. There are very few over there in our battalion. We needed the help of the Koreans even to make our battalion complete. We needed Koreans to serve with us because there were not Belgians enough to have a full battalion over there. >> How many is a battalion? >> There about 800, I think. I think we had the support of 40, 50 Koreans in the battalion serving, I think. I'm not sure of the amount, but I think that it must be that, during the war in one area, yeah. >> Oh, Korean soldiers, KATUSA, KATUSA. >> Korean soldiers, yeah, they served with us, yes. >> Oh. >> Yeah. Also, there are many. Six deaths among the Koreans who served with us, six casualties, yes. >> Do you remember about the Korean civilians? >> Of course. We have seen ... >> After the war doesn't mean armistice is signed and everything is wonderful, right? That's when the country needs to rebuild, right? >> Of course. Yeah, we saw Korea. When we left Korea, Korea was flat. It was just destroyed, Seoul, not much left in Seoul, so no, when we left, and we returned, no, it was any sort of difference. Korea is a wonderful country at this moment, oh, but the moment we left, it was destroyed, completely destroyed, and the people were poor, needed help from everywhere, from anyone, yeah. >> I am very interested in the armistice. >> Uh-huh. >> Do you remember reading about the armistice? Who signed it? Why? Do you remember a little bit? >> The signing was between the North Koreans and the Chinese and the Americans also. You know the members. I don't think there were Belgium among them. It mostly between the North Koreans, Chinese and, of course, the Russians behind. Russia was one of the supporters of North Korea, so on the other side, on our side, was the Americans. They supported the South Koreans among the 23 other countries who helped South Korea, so yeah, that is all. >> Everyone must have been very happy that ... >> Of course. Everyone was happy that the war ended, especially the people. >> And you were very lucky. >> I was very lucky. >> Yes, you were very lucky. >> I wanted to join the Korean battalion before, and a friend of mine came to my parents to ask if I could go with him, and my father said, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no." It doesn't happen, but 1 year later, I joined anyway. [INAUDIBLE] was the name of the man who came. He was a friend of mine at home, and my friend, he died already, yeah. >> In the war? >> No, not in the war. Afterwards. >> Okay. Good. Okay. Well, do you have anything that you'd like to share, anything else? >> No. No. >> No? >> I'm glad I have been in Korea. I'm glad I could be of some help to the Korean people. I met Korean people because they are very friendly. >> Well, thank you, Grandpa. >> You're welcome. >> I'm very grateful for you.
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>> Hi, everybody, from Northern Ireland. I'm in front of the Belfast City Hall to show you and of course for me to kind of pay tribute to the Irish. There were 157 Irishmen who died in the Korean War, and this memorial actually was erected in 1951 originally, and as you can see, it honors those who died in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, the 45th Field Regiment and the 170th Mortar Battery, the Royal Artillery, and I'm going to save this for last, and the VIN King's Royal Irish Hussars. Gave their life for the United Nations and Korea especially by this valley. This valley, meaning Happy Valley, was the ... It was a single battle that took lives of more than 157 Irish on January 3rd and 4th in 1951, and I guess I wanted to show you this because it really doesn't do justice if I just showed you a picture. This is so beautiful, this inscription that reads, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." So, yeah, immediately after arriving to Belfast, I wanted to come here because sometimes when I'm with the veterans, I don't get to really show you the memorial itself. Again, it's in front of Belfast City Hall, so I thank the city of Belfast for having this memorial in front to honor those who died for freedom and, of course, Korea on behalf of all the Koreans. So thank you all for following my journey. I will see you soon, and shout-out to my new-friend prince over there. I met a prince in Belfast before taking this video. So thank you. Bye.
북아일랜드 벨파스트 (2)
>> Wow. >> ... [INAUDIBLE] kind of mold. The actually had the mortar between, and you can see the carriers going back, the centurions going back, they were actually retreating away from the Imjin. >> I've never seen that picture, nor the frame below. That is ... >> That ... Well, the picture's called [INAUDIBLE] at Imjin [INAUDIBLE] with Her Majesty on it. They were all made in Hong Kong. A lot of lads got these made in silk in Hong Kong. The picture to the left of it, that is General Majury. All right. He was a young lieutenant in Korea and was captured and spent a lot of time as a prisoner of war [INAUDIBLE] later on. The other one here, this is Brigadier McCord, who won an MC at Happy Valley as a young lieutenant, and then various pictures of the boys [INAUDIBLE] Belfast and different stories of the forgotten heroes and their stories. This is the [INAUDIBLE]. This was written by an American soldier and Lieutenant Majury. >> Wow. >> The original is in St. Giles' Cathedral. It was written in rice paper, and it's in St. Giles' Cathedral. This is just a copy of it. So each day, they held prayers, and they had different services for Easter, Christmas, all in the prisoner-of-war camp. >> Mmm. >> The original is in St. Giles', just in the cathedral. >> Wow. I couldn't but help notice the ... >> The Korean flag, the North Korean flag. >> Yeah, North Korean. >> That was found in the heist at Seoul when we went back into Seoul, so when we recaptured Seoul again, that was found in the heist. These weapons here: The first weapon is a Russian weapon used by the Chinese, and it had a folding bayonet [INAUDIBLE] that was quite vicious and [INAUDIBLE], and we couldn't heal the wound. Now, the second one is a Chinese copy of a Russian weapon, and you normally see them with the round magazine on them, but the Chinese preferred that type of magazine because it didn't jam. The third weapon is Colonel Charlie's rifle. >> Mmm. >> Now, Colonel Charlie didn't like carrying the big rifle that the militia got, so he swapped it for an American M1 carbine. >> Wow. >> So that belongs to Colonel Charlie, but we don't tell anybody that. >> Okay, don't tell anybody. >> The bottom one is a Mosin-Nagant, which was issued to the Korean ... North Koreans and the Chinese, and it's a Russian rifle, as well. >> So are these artifacts actually donated by the veterans? >> The weapons were brought back by the regiment, and then they were decommissioned. Most of these things were given to ... by people who had actually donated them. >> Wow. >> The little Korean flag [INAUDIBLE] signed by all officers just before ... >> Oh, my God. >> ... the Battle of Happy Valley. And ... >> That is amazing. And one of them must have drawn this, right? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Wow. So this is original, original. >> That's original. That's original signatures of the officers in the battalion just before Happy Valley. >> Wow. >> That's the Ambassador's medal that you seen earlier with a little miniature. The British-Korean [INAUDIBLE] Korean. These are medals issued to Chinese volunteers that fought for the North Koreans. >> That's amazing. >> And this is a book made up by Captain Sully. He found all these propaganda leaflets from the Chinese and ... >> Yeah. >> ... Korean, as well. North Koreans, as well, so it's a booklet of that. That's a little map of the Battle of Imjin. >> Mmm. >> And ... >> Well, Ms. Charlie, I want everybody to introduce Ms. Charlie, who is the daughter of Mr. ... Colonel Charlie, who passed away a month ago. >> Mm-hmm. >> But she told ... He told Ms. Charlie why Happy Valley, which is one of the major battles, is called Happy Valley because I was wondering ... Suffered 157 casualty, and it seemed a little bit ironic to call it Happy Valley. But why was it called Happy Valley? >> Well, it was called Happy Valley because the Regiment had already given the name to the area because they had ... When they arrived in Korea in Busan and Pusan, they had the early November 1951, 1950. Albert was one of those on the troop ship that came in, and they were moved ... It was still ... The war was nearly over, and they were moved up, up, up towards what is now North Korea by train, by truck and things. And they're basically pushing the forces the other ... the opposing forces north. Suddenly, the Chinese Communists, they go up the other river, and so these Chinese Communists ... Troops were involved, and they started moving down. And this was early December, down the Korean Peninsula. And the first time that the battalion was able to stop and have a proper meal and know they weren't going to have to pack up and move on at any minute was in this valley just north of Seoul. And, consequently, I think it was the [INAUDIBLE] Sarge "Shifty" Dawson. I don't know what his real name was, but ... >> Jack Dawson. >> Jack Dawson. He was the one, I think, who gave the name Happy Valley because, at last, he was in charge of the cooking, and, at last, they could do the cooking without being bothered by too much. Another nickname the troops gave it was Compo Canyon. Compo was named for the food ... tins of food they were given. And so Compo Canyon, Happy Valley, has to do with food. That's why that valley was given that name. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Mr. Glass, can you tell us ... I know it's almost 200 years of history, but what would you say is one of the major accomplishments of the rifle regiment in Korea? >> In Korea, well, we were the only Irish regiment that were there, and the lads came from the north, the south, and we trickled out of [INAUDIBLE] tricked out of [INAUDIBLE] they were all ours [INAUDIBLE] at that time. We lost so many men. The Battle of Happy Valley [INAUDIBLE]. The real reason we lost so many men [INAUDIBLE] was because when the Chinese had started to come down, the Americans, on one flank, had been ordered to move at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so they moved. The [INAUDIBLE] on this flank were told to move at 6 o'clock. They moved. The Chinese were watching this, so the Chinese infiltrated both flanks of the rifles. Captain Charlie's platoon was the farthest platoon when he was ordered back. We just got back when everybody ... The ambush happened, and the ambush was virtually 2 kilometers long. That's how many, and they just kept cutting the convoy into pieces. And then the small groups [INAUDIBLE] got surrounded and fought [INAUDIBLE]. >> Well, despite the odds, I know that it was a major battle which was significant in the entire war, this battle, so the contributions are immense. And last but not least, Grandpa Albert, what is the significance, because I know even in the Commonwealth, everybody has different color, but why does the rifles ... Why is this called the rifles green? >> What? >> Why is this color the rifles green? >> Well, it's Irish green [INAUDIBLE]. The green of Ireland, the Emerald Isle. >> Yes, I just wanted you to tell it to the people. >> Well, I think the pattern in the [INAUDIBLE] if you look in this cabinet here, you'll see the British army wore red. >> Mm-hmm. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Even in America. >> Yes. >> Whenever [INAUDIBLE] the Rifle Regiments were formed, and the Rifle Regiments took green to move forward and to [INAUDIBLE], so it was actually a bit of [INAUDIBLE]. >> That is very true. >> So when we turned from the 88th [INAUDIBLE] to the Royal Irish Rifles, we become a rifle regiment, so we took on the rifle green ... >> Rifle green. >> Yes. >> ... which we [INAUDIBLE]. So if we even look at the rifles in the British army now called the Rifles [INAUDIBLE], they wear rifle green. >> Yes. >> So that's ... >> Less conspicuous. >> [INAUDIBLE] and they march faster than everybody else because they have [INAUDIBLE]. >> Well, I was ... >> They walked. They marched faster than everybody. >> Well ... >> Oh, yes. [INAUDIBLE] Regiment march. Normally, the Regiment march is 120 paces to a minute ... sorry, 140 to the minute, but the rifles did 120. Now, people [INAUDIBLE] ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> ... [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Oh. >> So all Rifle Regiments march faster than normal [INAUDIBLE] regiment. >> Why do you think? What do you think the secret is to the fast walking? >> Get there faster. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE] walk fast. >> [INAUDIBLE]. The other major battle we had was Imjin, was, again, another part. Everybody talks about the Imjin River and the Glosters. The reason the Glosters were captured was ... and quite, I will say, because of where we were, we were holding blocking positions and ordered forward. The Belgians who were there had fell back, and the Chinese stopped in the Belgians and us and cut us in two, captured half the rifles. The other half just about flocked away, but they completely surrounded the Glosters, who were up in [INAUDIBLE] Imjin River. >> Mmm. >> But this was all [INAUDIBLE] Glosters being [INAUDIBLE] ... >> Mmm. >> ... but don't think we were there, but it's because we were in blocking positions [INAUDIBLE] we were cut in two by the Chinese, as well. But the Glosters were captured virtually intact because of where they were. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> And what happened to the Glosters was, they [INAUDIBLE] and the next morning [INAUDIBLE] aircraft come in with supplies [INAUDIBLE]. I'll never forget this [INAUDIBLE] and they couldn't [INAUDIBLE] the drop zone to the [INAUDIBLE]. It was just a catastrophe [INAUDIBLE]. >> Well, I do want everybody to note that the Irish contributed all significantly in the Korean War, and the reason why I'm here is to make sure that these unsung heroes are remembered, preferably honored. As you all know, the Korean War is called the Forgotten War, but that doesn't mean we should forget the heroes that fought then, and especially of the Irish and your father for their sacrifices and the 157 men who died. And thank you so much for opening, not only opening the museum for us today but really being the protector of the memories because this is all not only just history but stories that should be passed down, and I just appreciate you so much for being the keeper and the guardian of their sacrifices. >> Yes. No, we will never forget these. >> Yes, thank you. So, everybody, we're going to go to the memorial and pay tribute and lay some flowers. So I'll see you there. Bye! >> [INAUDIBLE].
북아일랜드 벨파스트 (3)
>> Hello, everybody. I am back at the Belfast City Hall where the Korean War memorial proudly stands. I am here with the last remaining Korean War veteran, Grandpa Albert. Say, "Hello," and Ms. Carol Walker, who's been extremely instrumental in arranging everything today. She will tell you the story behind this memorial, how it got here and that there is another memorial in Korea, in Seoul, that honors the Irish Korean War veterans. So Ms. Walker ... >> Hi. >> Should we do a little ... We're going to loop around and then show you, so I just want to show you ... >> We just stay here. >> ... how it looks like. It honors the Royal Ulster Rifle, and, again, I love this inscription where it says, "The people that walk in darkness have seen the great light," from Isaiah, chapter nine, verse two, and then another ... So there's three sides that honor different ... So we're going to face way because I think this is prettier, so okay. So Ms. Walker, tell us how this memorial got here. >> Well, this memorial used to be in Korea. The soldiers themselves and [INAUDIBLE] Battle of Happy Valley. Actually ... >> Speak up. >> Oh, speak up? At the height of the battle in Happy Valley ... Afterwards, they decided, the commanding officer decided they [INAUDIBLE] something to commemorate the sacrifice of the 157 men that had made this great sacrifice at that particular battle, which as you can see from the memorial, it was on the 3rd and 4th of January 1951, so the padre set out on a task to go and find something, and he managed to come across a Korean stonemason. >> Mm-hmm. >> And they were able to get this beautiful pink Korean granite, polished granite, and create a memorial. It was on the field at the site, the battle site at Happy Valley on the 3rd of July in the 1950s, 1953, and at the service, there was a service that took place, and many of the soldiers themselves attended it, and they had the padre at the time, and he performed the sermoning, and the words that are on the memorial that you said, Isaiah, he actually used them as part of the scripture during the service that day and during the sermon, in the remembrance sermoning. Also they laid wreathes at the time, poppy wreaths like Albert has just laid. >> I do want to show this. >> They laid these wreaths to commemorate the 150 men that had made that sacrifice and that had died at the Battle of Happy Valley in trying to give Seoul the freedom. >> Oh, yeah. >> You can see ... >> Yes. >> ... it tells the story. >> Oh, it tells the story. I didn't realize that before. That's wonderful. >> But unfortunately, then what happened was after the Royal Ulster Rifles left Korea, there was nobody coming back to visit the memorial, and HMS Belfast, which is actually ironic that it was HMS Belfast, happened to be visiting Korea at the time in the '60s, '64, and it was decided then to bring back the memorial back to Northern Ireland so that the soldiers who were still alive from the Ulster Rifles could still have ceremonies and could attend remembrance services ... >> That is awesome. >> ... for their comrades. So it was brought back onboard HMS Belfast. It was brought to the [INAUDIBLE] barracks which was in Ballymena, and it was positioned there. Sadly then, Ballymena actually closed as an army base, and the memorial went into storage for a while, but people like Colonel Charley and Brigadier McCord at the time were instrumental in making sure that the memorial went somewhere important and had the honor that these men had bestowed wasn't forgotten, and the memorial was actually then given this very prominent place here in Belfast, and it has progressed over the years. It's been looked after. As Albert said, you know, there was a new path has been put in. People are able to come here and visit it, and the Ulster Rifles Association will come here and will hold memorial services and still remember the war dead oftentime. >> I guess I just want to show you that they put up that gate especially for this, you know, walkway because technically, this area right now, there's no pathway. That's the City Hall, and it is in a very prominent location. >> And it's so close to the cenotaph which is Belfast Cenotaph that's here to commemorate and honor the war dead of the First World War and the Second World War, and so it's still fitting to have it ... >> Very fitting. >> ... to have it so close to the cenotaph. >> So over there, Ms. Walker, pointing out the cenotaph honoring those who died in World Wars I and II, and it's literally ... You can see it from here, and this memorial is right here, and I just wanted to thank you because the one that's filming right now is the daughter of Colonel Charley, who was not only instrumental in getting this here, but in Korea, they now have a memorial honoring the Irish Korean War veterans. It's in Seoul. >> It's in Seoul at the National Museum, at the museum, because it's a very fitting site. It's where there's also memorials are from the Canadians, and all the other Commonwealth countries have now started as well on the back of what we did and what the Irish did with their memorial, and there's other countries, you know, from the United Nations have placed their memorials that are in a war memorial garden, and it means people can go and commemorate. The good thing is that every year, as well, the Irish, the Irish Embassy, still hold a remembrance service there and for people, so it's not forgotten. [INAUDIBLE] memorial, we spent a lot of time working out [INAUDIBLE], what shape it would look like, how the memorial would come about. It was decided that it wouldn't be a replica that we had here because it needed to reflect as it is today Ireland's [INAUDIBLE]. >> That's true. This was erected in 1951. >> And the Ireland that we are in today and we were in in 2012 when we started with the project was a very different Ireland. It was an Ireland that had started to come through the the peace ... >> Aw. >> ... process. >> Oh! >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Oh! >> I'm cold! >> I don't want him to freeze. This is Grandpa Albert, everyone. He's 91 years young, and his memory is impeccable, right? Oh, before we close, see, I wore this rifle green to match him, but can you sing [INAUDIBLE] for us? [Lyrics] [INAUDIBLE] >> Yay! Ninety-one years young. He's the last remaining Korean War veteran in Northern ... >> Well, one of the ... One of the last. >> One of the last Northern Ireland ... >> The last Irish one. >> Yes. >> He is. >> An Irish one. Many have passed just in the past month ... >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That's it. >> ... including Colonel Charley and ... >> Uh-huh. >> And many of the veterans that we were able to take back to Korea in 2013, many of them passed very quickly after their trip back ... >> Yeah. >> ... when you think about it. >> So I want to thank you because actually Ms. Walker is part of a different organization and association that remembers and honors those that died in World War I, right? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> World War I and World War II. >> World War II. >> And the Korean War as well. >> Yes. So thank you for bringing the [INAUDIBLE] as well of their memories, and thank you again to Colonel Charley's daughter, yay, Katherine, who is filming this video. So, everybody, thank you so much for joining me in both Ireland, all of Ireland now ... I will be on my way to Wales, so thank you. Thank you. Bye!
북아일랜드 벨파스트 (4)
>> I think it was either [INAUDIBLE] and we stayed and ate there. Now when we stopped, during the summer months, these people [INAUDIBLE] and the ground [INAUDIBLE] stacked up during the summer to dry, and then at the end of the summer, they bring it in and stack up, say, the houses. Now these would be cottages [INAUDIBLE] and they stack them up. That's the fuel for the whole winter. Now having said that, the same applies in Korea. You know about the [INAUDIBLE]. You know the [INAUDIBLE]? >> No. >> [INAUDIBLE] famous thing in Korea, two hands to make a forklift, and the person has a stick with a hook, and when he goes out, he pats it on the ground, and he puts a hook on it and sits there, and he goes around, and gets all sort of stuff, jungle grass or twigs. Anyway, at the end of the day, a pail of stuff, and he'd go back to his cottage, and he'd put all that stuff beside the house. Now that was the winter fuel. Now cooking, they just have the one room, and at the back, they have a kitchen, as you would call it. Now the kitchen comprised of a roof and two sides. The rest was open. Now let's just say the house was [INAUDIBLE]. They have their cooking utensils, like two or three pots, and that was permanent there. That's where they cooked. Now all that stuff is there for the fuel to light the fire and do their cooking. Now I observed this before, seeing what they did, and luckily I had matches, and I got some of the fuel and put it on and lit the fire, and what happened was, the Koreans were very well advanced on the floor heating. Well, as soon as we lit that fire, all the heat went underneath, as well as cooking. It went underneath and heated the floor. Now the floor was big clay again and big clay I say. Holes were there for heat for ages afterwards, and what happened was, the smoke that went out through the back of the chimney, whatever it was, and inside about 1/2 an hour, and it was freezing while were in there, 1/2 an hour. We'd take our jackets off [INAUDIBLE]. It was so primitive but so very good, and that just shows you the ingenuity of the Korean peasants. I'll never forget it. You have your cup, which was aluminium, and you also had what they call a Tommy cooker. A Tommy cooker came in a wee square box of cardboard, and we took this wee metal thing. We [INAUDIBLE] could put either your mess tin ... I don't know whether you know what a mess tin. It's what you cook in, individual cooking. There's two parts, and you do your cooking and that sort of thing on the wee stand with something like if you remember fire lighters to light a fire. Well we had wee small tablets, and they didn't create any flame [INAUDIBLE] just a like a glow, and you cooked your food in that, and that's how you have on the field. Everything was there for you. The Americans' rations was far superior to ours, oh, yeah. >> How about the cold? Do you remember the cold? >> Oh, yes, very much so, yeah, mm-hmm, yeah. Not only that, when we went out there, we just had ... It's hard to explain, so you'll need to see pictures. We just had what they call a [INAUDIBLE] a tunic and trousers [INAUDIBLE] sort of thing, and the Americans and all these other things and Canadians, they had their combat suits and their liners inside, if you remember liners. You could zip them out in the summertime and put them back in in the winter. We didn't have that. All we had were ... You'll see a picture of a red coat. We called it a red coat, like a topcoat and your battle dress, and that's all you had, and whenever we got wet, that was just too bad. [INAUDIBLE] in good weather but nothing in the winter. We were ill-equipped, and not only that, but we only had weapons. [INAUDIBLE] was our main weapon, a very good weapon, automatic fire, and then we had a rifle, .303 Lee–Enfield, a very famous weapon, but it was one action. You have quick-fire. You had to keep loading and unloading every time, and you had a magazine of failed rounds on the rifle. No, no, I never had any Korean food. >> Oh, even now? >> Oh, I have tried it on the way out to Korea [INAUDIBLE]. I thought it was [INAUDIBLE] asked me, "Well, do you want English or Korean?" So I tried Korean, but it was a bit too complicated. It's too much little tubes of different things to add, but I got through it. Having said that [INAUDIBLE] on the last day of our last visit in May there, I forget the name of the [INAUDIBLE]. As I recall, it was a woman, and she had a seven course meal for us on the [INAUDIBLE] before departure and through seven courses, and you would hardly see what was on the plate, and it was very good. It was different what I got on the aircraft. >> Korean food at the time, but did you try Korean liquor at the time? >> No, the only thing we got was two battles a day of Asahi, Japanese beer. >> Oh. >> But having said that [INAUDIBLE] as it seems a terrible ship. You had a hole in the wall, just like the hole, square hole, a square in the wall, and you were issued out two bottles of Asahi beer. That's what we got. >> Oh, I would have never guessed that. So no soju, huh, no Korean alcohol? >> No, no, it was all Asahi beer. >> Oh, okay. Do you think you'll see a unified Korea in your lifetime? >> It's hard to see. I would like to see it. I would definitely like to see it because it's a [INAUDIBLE] having the knowledge of what has went on there, the starvation. Even the soldiers not being able to get [INAUDIBLE] and the feeling of the children and all those big pompous parades with their machinery and rockets and what have you. It's a terrible site. >> Well, I'm hoping for peace not only on the Korean peninsula but in all of Ireland as well. >> Uh-huh, thank you very much. Ten o'clock, 22 hundred hours, and what happened was, as we were going out [INAUDIBLE] and we're going across, and I remember going up this hill here, and I went in the dark and the windscreen I could see ... Sorry. It was heavy gunfire, consolidated gunfire, and you see the tracer bullets on the reflection of my windscreen, and I said to the guy who was with me, "This is good." [INAUDIBLE] our tanks, centurion tanks, and I said to the guy with me, "This is good. They're giving us covering fire to get out." What happened was, I found out later that the medical officer and his driver [INAUDIBLE] was quite some distance behind me. Apparently the Chinese had did a horseshoe movement. Instead of coming across, they came that way, a horseshoe movement, and closed it, and the people behind me, that was them trapped and taken prisoner of war. I'll never forget that. I'm surprised you don't know about the [INAUDIBLE] is famous.
북아일랜드 벨파스트 (5)
>> ... the door who had been captured and could walk over the UN forces with them, but the UN troops, the Astor Rifles and the others who were with them, who had been killed were just left to lie, and they weren't buried by the cruiser, and they went out, and in this hard, harsh ground, they buried the bodies because they felt they needed to give respect to these people from overseas who'd come to fight for them, so it was very poignant, and then we were told how after the ... What we were shown were the ... Albert showed a picture earlier of the bullet holes on the bridge, which another Astor Rifleman ... I think it was a lieutenant then, Merv McCordy, went on to become a brigadier eventually. He got an MC, a Military Cross. Himself and somebody else protected a sort of area and ... two of those who had died in Korea, and they ... I discovered when I was back recently in Korea that near that side of Seoul is where all the monumental memorial makers were, and so that's how they managed to find ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yeah. The Padre found ... was told to go and get a stone, and he found a stonemason as well. Apparently, they were in the back of an army truck. I assume he was paid, and they drove around with the ... wherever the battalion was going, and he was told to carve on this memorial to remember the Royal Astor Rifles and the others who'd been there and then in Happy Valley and who'd died there and others of the Regiment, who'd died nearby or elsewhere in battles that included Imjin because the Astor Rifles had heavy casualties at Imjin as well, and that was dedicated July 1951. My dad wasn't there because at that stage he was in Japan training people to go to Korea and things, so he wasn't there but some very famous, very poignant pictures of that. That memorial, we will see later. It came back to Northern Ireland in the 1960s, put up in Palace Barracks ... not Palace Barracks, sorry, the barracks by Mina where the Regiment, the Astor Rifles, had their depot, and then that closed in 2010, and it got moved to outside the city fort here in Belfast, and my father, Merv McCordy got the MC in career, and a lot of the others of the Regiment were very instrumental and moving in that getting it placed outside the city hall, and it's been recently refurbished, and we've now got access to it from the Cenotaph area, the city hall, and they're looking after it well. So my dad and I went back to Korea in 2011. Mr. Kim showed us around Happy Valley, and my dad, I think he never totally said this, but I think, to me, but I think he always felt guilty that he'd survived, and so many hadn't, and he really wanted to do something to remember those who'd died in Korea of the Regiment, and initially we were thinking about putting up a wee plaque or something in Happy Valley. We spoke to the British Ambassador when we were there. We spoke to Mr. Parker when we were there. When we came back, we spoke to members of the Regiment because obviously it would have to have regimental approval, and then when we were sort of just ... We were just thinking of doing something quite small, really, maybe in Happy Valley itself, and then I got ... We met Andrew Salmon out there. He'd already met my father. He'd been to Belfast 2 or 3 years before to interview my dad for his book, "To the Last Round." He interviewed quite a lot of the Royal Astor Rifles for that, and he was delighted to see my father in Korea. They got on very, very well. They enjoyed going out and both good storytellers, so they could sit around and drink and tell stories, top teacher, he was, with the stories. But anyway, Andrew Salmon sent me an e-mail and said that the Irish Association of Korea and the Irish Embassy in Korea were thinking of putting up a memorial in Korea to those from Ireland who had died in the Korean War, and because although Ireland wasn't a UN nation, it ... People from Ireland had thought and for the Americans, the Australians, and then many of people from the south of Ireland were part of the Royal Astor Rifles, which was a British Army Regiment, so it was part of the UN. So and they were also wanted to remember some Padre, some missionaries who died in Korea as well, and there's a link there with the Royal Astor Rifles too, which I'll explain in a wee minute. So anyway, we then started liaising with Ambassador McKee, and again, we had to get approval from the Regiment and from the British-Korean Veterans Association, and there were links between Dublin and Belfast and everything else because obviously, we have these politics involved in this country too, and in among that, that's when Mrs. Carol Walker came on board because my mother used to ... my mother? My father used to be ... He was very much behind the setting up the Somme Association, the Somme Museum to remember those of the First World War from the north and south who'd died at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and he knew that Carol had a lot of experience in memorials. She put up memorials for the First World War in France, in Turkey, in visitors places. I'd asked her initially for advice on that, and then discussion began about taking back veterans from the Royal Astor Rifles and from Ireland. Generally, Carol has had experience of taking back First World War veterans to First World War battlefields, and so that's how she become involved in the ... on the team, basically, and then a representative of the Royal Irish Regiment, the modern regiment for the Royal Astor Rifles, which the Astor Rifles, my dad's regiment in 1968 amalgamated with three other regiments into the Royal Irish Rangers, and then in 1992, that became the Royal Irish Regiment, and they're very supportive of their heritage and interested in their heritage. So lots of discussions about the memorial, lots of liaisons between Korea and Ireland and phone calls at 7 o'clock in the morning and to work with the time difference, and then in 2012, Carol, myself and Trevor Ross, who was representing the Royal Irish Regiment, went out to Korea at the time of the Commonwealth Veterans revisit the following year and met with the British Ambassador, the Irish Ambassador, members of the MPVA in Korea, went to see possible memorial sites, and it was then that it was decided the memorial should ... the key memorial should go up in Seoul because it'd be easier to look after it there by the War Museum and things, and the Irish Embassy said it was look after it and that there would be a panel put up in Happy Valley as well to remember the battle in Happy Valley too. 2013, and you'll hear more about this from Mrs. Carol Walker, the memorial was dedicated in Seoul. My father and I were meant to go to be there for that dedication and for all the other events and be there with the other veterans from the Royal Astor Rifles and from Ireland. Unfortunately, my mother had a very severe stroke just a week or two prior to us going out, and we, anyway, my father and I couldn't go. She died shortly after the veterans returned from Korea, but we were very close in contact with what was going on. My dad was very keen to know. He kept saying, "Have you had a signal from Carol?" because he's not quite into e-mails, but a signal, and so Carol, Trevor and the others sent back information of what was going on, sent photographs of the memorial being dedicated, being put up and everything, but me and my father were ... My father and I were very evolved with Carol and others, and everything had to be approved with the wording on the memorial and everything else. Then with regards to the memorial, my dad ... One of the sides of the memorial, one of the sides is the Royal Astor Rifles and reflects this memorial here in Belfast and the wording on the memorial here in Belfast, and it particularly mentions Happy Valley. Another side mentions those Irish birth and heritage. Another side is ... talks about seven missionaries from Ireland, who died in Korea, and one of those missionaries, my father actually knew. Father ... I think he's known as Father John O'Kane, is it? >> It's O'Kane. >> Yeah. Father John O'Kane, though, my father knew him as Father Jack. Quite often in Ireland, people who are called John are known as Jack, very confusing. Anyway, so my father knew Father Jack. He'd been a Royal Astor Rifles Padre in the Second World War. We think he might have been at D-Day with them, but we definitely know he was with the Royal Astor Rifles in the Second World War. He was older than my father, maybe 10 years older than my father, and then after the war, my dad was in Palestine and Egypt, and he was the Catholic Padre with the Regiment there. The Royal Astor Rifles has a Catholic Padre and a Protestant Padre, and he was Catholic Padre in Egypt, and he remembered him because he was a Padre. He was part of the officers' mess. He had a tent, himself, I think, because he's a Padre ... had his own tent because my father had to share a tent with somebody else, which are all the boys who are over there, had a lot more in the tents, and he remembers them being very good at cards. He remembers them being a lot of fun. He remembers them riding around the camp on a motor bike, and all the guys thought he was wonderful, so my father was very sad when he'd heard that he'd been killed in Korea. He knew he'd gone out to Korea as a missionary, and so that's a link between the Astor Rifles and the others in the memorial as well. Then in 2015, this ... the ...