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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.
>> 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].
>> 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!
>> 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.
>> ... 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 ...
>> Hi, everybody, from Paramaribo, Suriname. This is the Surinamese River, and I am going to take you to the Korean War memorial at this Independence Square. So it's very fitting today. I'm going to have to be careful because I don't want to fall into water, but today is Independence Day in Suriname, and that's why there's a lot of activities going on in the background. Suriname gained independence in 1975 on November 25th, and obviously today is November 25th, and they gained independence from the Netherlands. So the reason why I'm here in Suriname is because they were a former Dutch colony, and during the Korean War in 1950, the Surinamese, 115 of them ... Whoa! >> Watch out. >> Went to Korea, and two were killed. So you'll see over there, there is a memorial with three statues. Again, this is the Independence Square. And I was so happy because it seemed like obviously there's so many people here. It seems like a lot of people knew about this memorial. It was 2008 when the Korean government dedicated, donated money so that they could dedicate this memorial [INAUDIBLE]. This rain has [INAUDIBLE] a couple times throughout the day like a storm, so it's a little bit wet. So a Korean soldier, and this was erected [INAUDIBLE] monument in memory of Surinamese [INAUDIBLE] in 2008, June 25th. As you guys know, June 25th is the day that the Korean War started, 1950. So there's the beautiful Korean soldiers. If you look at them, they look a lot like the American soldier. If I'm correct, and I'll have to find out more, but the Dutch soldiers were attached to the 2nd Infantry of the U.S. Army, the Indianheads. That's probably why they're wearing, like, American uniforms. So I'll show you the [INAUDIBLE]. This side, so it basically says that it was dedicated to 102 Surinamese veterans, and like I said, two passed away. And on the other side ... Look, the [INAUDIBLE]. There are the names of everyone, and I am extremely excited because there are currently ... Among these, there are only three living, and so tomorrow I'll be meeting Mr. Gom and two more others, and we will be here in the morning to lay a wreath, so I am extremely grateful, and thanks to [INAUDIBLE] for filming and taking me around today ... >> You're welcome. >> ... and showing me this ... >> You're welcome. >> ... beautiful, beautiful country. I have learned so much from you, thank you, about the groups here, and I just wanted to quickly point out that the Surinamese are extremely diverse here, and I'll explain why a little later, but the flag has a star in the middle, and that star symbolizes the unity of all ethnic races, so ta-da. I'm wearing yellow to symbolize unity because I, wherever I go, pray for unity among just all of us, but at the same time, I keep praying for unity and peace between North and South Korea so that they become one Korea. So thank you, everybody. I will see you tomorrow. Bye.

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

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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

>> I’m named Edward Derdrick.

>> And when did you fight in Korea?

>> That’s … When was that?

>> 1955, no?

>> ’40?

>> ’52 or ’53.

>> ’52, ’53 and …

>> No, ’52, ’53.

[ Chatter ]

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

>> Oh, until July 27th.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay, yes.

>> Yes, July 27th.

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

>> Wilfred Herman von Hom.

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

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

>> Why did you volunteer?

>> Yeah.

>> Why did volunteer?

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

>> Oh.

>> Very good, tenacious.

>> Wow.

>> Yeah.

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

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> You have to show the patch.

>> This one?

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

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

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

>> Yeah.

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

>> Who is that? That’s on the video.

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

>> Yes, yes, yes.

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

>> Hello, everybody, this is Tanya.

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

>> Hello, everyone.

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

>> Grandson, granddaughter …

>> Yes.

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

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

>> Oh, Russia.

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

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

>> No, I was too young.

>> Okay.

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

>> Okay.

[ Chatter ]

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

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

>> Okay, I will do that.

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

>> Yes.

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

>> Chinese, Javanese, Indonesian.

>> Javanese.

>> I have African.

>> African.

>> And I have Dutch.

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

>> Yeah.

>> Were you here for the ceremony?

>> Yes.

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

>> Yeah.

>> You visited Korea?

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

>> Oh, you visited two times.

>> Yeah, visited two times.

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

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

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

>> When I went in …

>> Over there. What did you think?

>> About Korea?

>> Yes.

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

>> Oh.

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

>> Yes.

>> … to Seoul.

>> Wow.

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

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

>> Here?

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

>> My name is there, or …

>> Right here.

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

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

>> It’s von Hom.

>> Von Hom.

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

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

>> My name is Nora Drumstedt, and I had liked to go to Korea and help all the soldiers, 1952. I fly by ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]? It's a small airplane. It took 2 days to go over from Stockholm to Korea, a long, long time, so we was very tired when we come to Korea, but the Swedish people was there. They took care of us, so we'd have some rest. And after a couple of days, some [INAUDIBLE] work in Korea, but it was very interesting. We had soldiers from all type of military people, and we had a very big hospital. I can't remember how many people was there, but we couldn't stay for a long time. But I stay for 1 year because I feel okay, but just under no time, I was simply, and after that I got ward. That'd be good, and I had so many soldiers to give injections, so I was sick in my eyes of the ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]? >> Smell? The smell. >> Smell, yeah. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Smells and aroma. Aroma? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Mm-hmm? The fumes? >> So I had to change and go back, and after that, I had taken rest, and I got a paper on my doctor, once I had come home, something happened with my eyes, but it was real messy job. Ah, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. I had so many doctors from [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] had taken my exam, and he was doctor for a bunch and special. Many of the Swedish doctors were special, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. I remember their first night when I come over to Korea. They took me in a big ward for medicine, patients. It was many, many in that ward, but after a couple of days, I got smaller ward. But very, very ... They were very bad, but I was very interested in patients also, very, very nice to me, very nice, and when they can leave better, I took them out. And we went out and through the promenade, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]? >> Get exercise. >> Exercise. How you say, exercise. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I haven't got the memory. >> What kind of patients were they, Korean patients, American patients? >> I can't hear. >> What kind of patients were they, American patients, Korean patients? >> Oh, they are from France, all of them, every of them. >> All [INAUDIBLE]. >> Every of them, yes. >> Do you have somebody that you remember? You remember somebody? Do you remember an interesting patient? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh, oh, yeah. One patient I had, he was had many [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] on his body, and when he was better, he one day was sitting with Korean boy, and they play ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]? >> Cards. >> Oh, card, yeah. And then [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] and he won the boy's watch. >> Watch? >> Watch, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Mm-hmm? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] watch? Watch, yeah. >> Mm-hmm. >> And I told him he cannot do that. I told him, "You have to bring it back to the boy because he has to see how he can come and work with you tomorrow. He has to have a bus to go with, so he has to have time, right time." And he put back the watch, so the boy got the watch back. And after that, the boy wrote to me when he left, and when I come to America, I met his mother and wrote to me and liked me to come over to New York, to the family. >> Wow. >> Oh, a nice family. Husband has been a doctor, but he was die, and all the boys, he would get married. And after that, I don't know what has happened. I have left. Maybe he was married, and he was in, has been in a fruit tree and fall down, and I don't know if he died, so I can't find him. I have asked. >> Hmm. >> Because Nora used to live in the United States. You worked in the United States for some time. Did you ... >> Yes. I have worked in the ... After I was in Johns Hopkins hospital. >> Mm, Baltimore. >> Yes, 1 year, in medicine, and I like it very much. But it wasn't terrible because I got home outside of hospital, and you see, I didn't like ... If I go home about 11:00 o'clock in the evening, it's dark outside, and so I had to leave it because I was scared. >> Mm. Baltimore was a little dangerous at the time. It was dangerous. Johns Hopkins, that area, was dangerous. >> Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. This was not good. >> Mm-hmm. >> So I was so scared. >> Mm, even now, even now. >> But ... >> In this book, there are many colleagues. >> Yeah. >> Sweden colleagues and American colleagues. What do you remember about them, your colleagues? Do you have any stories with colleagues? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Oh. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Mina. She was 10 years younger than me. She was a lieutenant, and I was a captain. >> Oh. >> And after that, she left. When she left Korea, she come to United States in Detroit and was married with an engineer in Ford. And they get children, and Kathrine was their child, and we were [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> You were very close. >> Mm. >> Very close. And when I left America, I could come back when I got married when I come home, and they lived in Los Angeles though, Maryann working in Los Angeles hospital. >> She was American, or she was Swedish? >> In America, yeah. She was living in America. >> But she was Swedish? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh, yes. >> And you both served in Korea? >> Yeah. >> She was in Korea? >> Yeah. We ... Same flight we had when we were together, every day. >> Mm. Mm. >> And the daughter came to your 100th birthday party. >> Yes, yes, yes. >> Oh! >> Yes, yes. >> Wow! That must have been very special. >> I am so sorry. I have forgotten my English and everything. >> No. You're good. You're good. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Very good, very good. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> What do you remember when you first went to Korea? Korea, did you go back to Korea? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> No? >> No. >> Mm. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] The first you remember from Korea. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. I come in my work, take care of the patients. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Because I have been in the north in Sweden since I have taken exam in Uppsala and I come up to [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> She was used to the war situation because she served in a military hospital in the north, and this was after the war in Finland, and a lot of children came to Sweden. >> So I was working in [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Mm. >> Mm-hmm. >> What do you know about Korea now? Because, you know, a long time ago, Korea was very poor, very, very poor after the war. Now ... >> No, they are ... have very good. >> Yeah: Samsung, LG, Kia, Hyundai, big companies, right? >> Yes, yes. >> Yes. >> Samsung. >> Mm. >> Samsung. >> Oh, yeah. >> They got this in my birthday. >> Oh, a Samsung TV. >> On my [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Oh, from whom? From whom, your children? >> This was from the family. >> Family, my brother's children. >> Oh, wow. >> Because all my brothers is dead. >> Mm. Did you ever want to go back to Korea? >> Yes, but no. I have not go to there again. I cannot. >> Well, I call all the veterans of Korea War my grandpa and grandma. >> Ah. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Because I say I would not be here if you were not there, right? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yeah, yeah. >> And Koreans all over the world, like South Korea, we enjoy freedom. >> Ah. >> We enjoy freedom. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh. >> In America, I was able to have American dream. >> My twin brother has a son. >> Brother? >> And he has been in Korea last year. He was in Seoul. I like him to see how Seoul's Swedish hospitals, but now I think they have taken not Sweden ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Scandinavian. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> You would apply to work in the Scandinavian hospital after the war, when she came home, but it ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I took a lot of initiatives. >> Yeah. You seem very adventurous, adventurous. >> Yeah, I am. >> Independent, very independent. >> I think you can tell Hannah about the nice gift, how appreciated you were among the patients. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] When I left my patients and go home, they give me, they had written a paper, all the patients on my ward, and gave me a pearl [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] and earrings, so I had this paper, and I had put it in that bag there. >> Do you still have the ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> You do? >> Yeah. >> The necklace and the earring? >> I cry. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Mm. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They came from all over the world. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Beautiful. Wow, wow! From ... >> That's a gift from my patients. >> From 1953. >> Mm-hmm. >> Right, 1953? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]? Two months before the ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> May, May, May 1953. >> Yeah, 2 months before the armistice. >> Beautiful. Is that your picture? >> Yeah. >> That's you, picture? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That's you. You, right? You, right? >> Yes. >> What do you think? You know, Korean War never ended, like you said. Korean War never ended. >> No. >> It didn't end. Even right now, there's Swedish United Nations peace commission. They are still at Panmunjom. >> Panmunjom? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> What do you think about Korea? Do you think the war could end? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I cannot understand how they can work. >> How they can put up with still being in war. >> No. >> Do you think reunification is possible? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It's really too bad. >> I don't think so. >> Mm. I hope so because North Koreans don't have freedom like South Koreans. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> No, they are not, definitely not free. It's terrible. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> This is ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He's a grandchild of Nora's twin brother, and he's traveling the world. And he went back. He went to Korea, and she's very happy that he has seen the new Korea. >> Oh, ah. >> Mm. >> And he keeps sending post cards from his different places he goes to. >> Wow! >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yes. This is a desert in Namibia. >> Wow! How does he send post cards with ... >> The Victoria Falls, and this is also Africa. >> Wow! >> Can you explain to me about this? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Ambassador, Ambassador for Peace medal. Explain to me: What is that? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> "My eyesight is not very good," she says. >> But what is it? Tell me. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Can't see. >> But what is it? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And your medal, Nora, your medal: Who gave it to you, medal? >> Ambassador for Peace [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. I got [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] diplom for my work in Korea. I got 23rd of September 1917, or was it December? >> September 2016? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> 2016. >> Twenty. >> Last year. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Twenty-third. >> Twenty-third September, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> What's the meaning? >> Very important. >> Nora, what is the significance of September 23rd? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Is it a special days for Swedens? Can you ask her? Nora, is September 23rd special? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I don't think Nora was aware of why we celebrate the 23rd of September. >> Mm. Tell her. >> Yeah. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] to the Swedish hospital in Korea [INAUDIBLE] September came more Swedish person for to help Korea in the midst of the war. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> 1950. >> 1960. >> Fifty, 1950. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] 1950. >> 1950? [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Ah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Mm. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] The first Swedes arrived, 23rd of September, 1950. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I can ... >> The first Swedes arrived 1950. >> The first? >> The first Swedes arrived 23rd September. >> The first of September? >> The first group of Swedes. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The first group of Swedes. >> The first? Oh, huh. The first group of Swedes came to Korea the 23rd of September, two thousand ... >> 1950. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> 1950. >> 1950, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Mm. >> 1950. >> Long time ago. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> What do you think ... Give me this. It's distracting her. >> Yeah. >> What do you think is the significance of Sweden in ... No, no, no. That's okay. I'll speak loud. What is the significance of Sweden's contribution in the Korean War? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Ah. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] For to help. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] You can say is that we were all volunteers. >> Uh-huh. We were working in the hospital where [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Volunteers. >> Volunteer, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Volunteer. >> And you saved many lives? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> You saved lives? >> We saved lives, yeah. Yes, we did. >> How many? Hundreds and thousands of lives? >> And we took also care of the children, Korean children. They're my good friend working. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Children? Korean children? >> We had ... Sometimes, we had worked in a special island for the [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We did. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Lepra colony. >> Mm. >> Leper? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Lepra colony. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Leprosy? >> Yeah. >> So when we were free, we did like that. >> There was leprosy in Korea? >> There was a leprosy colony. My father talked about that as well. >> Mm-hmm. >> The staff from the Swedish hospital went to help the people that suffered from lepra. >> And we took care of the children and just ... >> They had leprosy in Korea? >> Yes. >> Lepers? Leprosy? >> Yes, leprosy. >> Tell me more about that. I never, ever heard about it. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> On their spare time, they went to the leper colonies with medicine. >> And we had taken care of the children also, especially [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] So we took care about them if we had time. >> They also treated a lot of civilians, including a lot of children, in the hospital. They had a special area tent specially for receiving children. >> We tried. >> All volunteer? >> Mm-hmm. >> For leprosy? I mean, it was their spare time. Did they volunteer to do that? >> Yes. >> Can you tell her so that she can respond? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] spare time. "We helped the people with lepra in our free time." Can you say [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]? >> Well, ask her why would she want to do that? Isn't ... Why would she want to do that? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> You wanted to do as much as you could. Why? >> I was not there. This was special people and doctor. >> So they went [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Okay. Nora wasn't there personally, but the staff in the hospital did this in their spare time. >> Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. >> The Swedes? >> The Swedes. >> Mm. >> We did what we could do. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Go to the beach. >> Mm. So that was near the beach? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Which is like Stockholm. >> Yes. >> Mm. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Mm. And it was warmer? Because it was very cold, but Busan was warmer? Korea was very cold, right? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It was very cold during winter, right? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The rooms just had a bed and a small table. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] That we had. >> Did your ... >> I ... It's so long time since that happened with me, so it's very difficult to explain everything. >> Yeah, but you're doing very well, and you're telling history. You're preserving history. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Because not a lot of people know. >> It's too late. >> No, no, never too late, never too late. >> There is lots I cannot speak. >> Tell her not a lot of people in the world know about Swedish, especially nurses. >> It's very difficult. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The Korean War is called the Forgotten War. >> Korea [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And that is why I want to ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> "I'm surprised." >> That is why I want to make it known to more people. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And that's why your story is very, very, very important and precious. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Especially when people think war, they only think soldiers, but they don't think about the doctors and the nurses. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> She agrees. It was an important mission they had. >> You saved many lives, so thank you. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> All the stitches she has removed and all the burns she has treated. >> Did you see anybody die? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Not in her ward. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That's good. >> I've heard other veterans tell that the Swedish hospital was very well-respected among the soldiers. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Very good doctors. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> So the Swedish hospital had very, very qualified doctors, and another veteran told me that she even saw in the soldier's helmet that they had put little notices, a little piece of paper saying, "If I'm injured and cannot speak, take me to the Swedish hospital." >> Ah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> She hasn't heard that, but I've heard it from other ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> That's good. Well, I hope you have great pride in what you did. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Danish and Norwegian people also. >> Mm. But to you personally, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Thank you. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] You should come earlier.
>> My name is Katarina Ericsson, and I'm at present the President of the Korean War Veterans Association, which is actually part of the Korean Association here in Sweden since a few years back. My father was in Korea, so I'm a child to a Swedish Korean War veteran. When my father, who was very active in the association, when he passed away 2012, unfortunately the association then had no capacity to continue, and that's when I stepped in, and we joined the Swedish Korean Association. So my father was there. He was young when he was there. He was 22 years old. He came to Korea in July 1953 just before the armistice and was there for 6 months, so I grew up with all these stories about Korea, about Asia and stories from the war, which at that time was more like fairy tales but very thrilling stories about transporting things close to the front line of the war and hiding and hearing gunfire and operating wounded soldiers, and then of course my father loved to see "M*A*S*H" and told us that this is exactly what it looked like, and so I grew up with all of this, and I ended up in Asia myself for some years. I was working in Beijing, and just before my father passed away, he joined one of the revisit programs to Korea, and I had the possibility to accompany him and learned a lot more about the Korean veterans from all over the world, about how Korea still so many years after the world still appreciates and still thanks the veterans, and I realized the importance of keeping this group together to ... that there has to be a contact point in each country that still has veterans and also to bring together all the networks of children and grandchildren of the veterans, so this is why I'm engaged in this because I think it's really important to keep the memory alive and to take this on to new generations, and again, Korea still so many years later still invites veterans, those who are ... who still manage to travel and their children and grandchildren to come to Korea. But we also have ways of acknowledging the Swedish contribution here in Sweden. We have started since a few years back to celebrate the 23rd of September, which is the day when the first group of Swedes arrived in Pusan and started to work, so 23rd of September, 1950, which was very early. Sweden reacted very early to decision to support Korea with a field hospital. In the end, it became a stationary hospital in Puson, and again, this is where my father worked and the Swedish veterans worked. When I took over this responsibility of representing this group, we had a list, which was not that long, and I wanted to see if there were other veterans or families of veterans in the country that were still interested. So I managed to ... I wrote a little article and managed to get it published on the 27th of July, which is the armistice day, and as a response to that article actually, we got to know many more veterans that were interested and also family members, so our list became a little bit longer, and we do what we can to keep this group together to try to meet once a year on the 23rd, but also, we organize other events for the veterans, and the Korean embassy here is very generous and in helping us to organize these events and also to help us to fund these events, so the 23rd of September is very much appreciated. We've ... The last 2 years, we've been invited to the [INAUDIBLE] castle for a very, very nice dinner but also organized some presentations and seminar part where we listen to either one of the veterans telling their story, or, like, last year, we had a researcher who is now doing some research about Swedish medical assistants in wars, not only the Korean War. He came to talk about his research. We've also, of course, had presentations about the documentary project now ongoing. There's a short promo film that we have shown, and we hope that maybe this year or if not this year maybe next year to be able to show the whole documentary when it's finished in one of these meetings because of course the idea of a documentary is to spread knowledge about the war, but I think it's also fantastic for the veterans themselves to see it, and I can tell you, not one eye was dry. It was many tears when ... And just thinking about that little promo, I almost cry because it's very emotional to see the veterans talk about this and to think about what they did, the fact that they were all volunteers and went there just because they wanted to help. They wanted to use their medical skills to help a country in war. And I've been to Korea a couple of times, also business trips, and when you tell people that you're from Sweden, they ... and that you have a parent who's a Korean veteran, people are very, very ... I mean, it's to the point you almost feel embarrassed that they think me. I wasn't there. But they very much appreciate the Swedish veterans. We weren't many there, maybe just over 1,000 people, 1,100. No Swedes died in the war, but they were all volunteers, and I think that matters a lot.
>> My father was a doctor, and he served in Korea in Busan from autumn '53 until spring '54, half-year. And he was a pediatrician, and here is a picture of him with a malnourished child. And my memory from this: I was born the year the war started, 1950, so I was only 3 years old when he went away to Korea. And I had three sisters, one younger and two older, so we were four young children at home with our mum, mother. My strongest memory from this is the pictures. He took a lot of pictures, and he showed them for us and for friends. And he had a long story to tell about all the pictures, and then nearly 2 years ago, I saw a little notice in the newspaper. They were looking for pictures from the Korean War, especially about the hospital in Busan, and I contacted them. And I wanted to use our pictures, and then it's for making a documentary for Swedish television. And by this, I also got to know about the Korean Society at several meetings with them and the Korean Embassy here in Stockholm, and they have been very interested in our story and the story of other veterans and relatives to veterans. When I heard about this reunion ... It's for veterans and relatives, so I said I was interested. And so was Paul, and we went together there in November 2016, and it was a fantastic trip to see the country where my father had served. It was quite a different view. As Paul said, I could recognize the landscape, the water, the mountains, but nothing else. It was a modern society, a modern country. When my father was there in the 1950s, it was one of the poorest countries of the world, and now it's one of the richest. And it's only a little bit more than 60 years, and so it's a fantastic story, and it was very interesting to meet the Koreans and their hospitality. They were very kind and thankful to us, and they showed us a lot of places of interest. So it was a fantastic trip, and when I came back to Sweden, I showed my pictures from our trip and compared them to my father's pictures, and I showed them to friends and relatives and colleagues and so on. >> What do you remember, maybe something vivid about your father's experience maybe that he might have told you about? >> Yes, it was ... What he told me about the country and especially when he showed the pictures, it was like being in a movie. Though it was pictures, it was like a movie for us, and I've seen them many times, but I remember the story behind the pictures. >> Mm-hmm? Such as what? Like, something maybe you remember? >> Yes, he gave a hopeful picture of the country, though it was very poor, that you can help people in many ways. And the Swedes did healthcare aid, other countries did other countries for the Koreans. >> But does he have a story, like, about a boy, about a patient, about ... >> No, not as I can remember. He died when I was a teenaged, so I ... >> Oh, okay. >> And he hasn't written anything about it, so I don't have a written story or ... only the telling about around the pictures. >> So do you have some pictures maybe you can show? >> Yes, I have. I have. >> You can lift it up. >> Yes, I will. I'll just choose some of them. People lived, some of them lived in very simple houses, almost shanty town, and he told ... And you see also these simple buildings, and there was a great fire when they were there. And here people are in the ruins after the fire, and he told me that no people died in the fire because the houses were so low. So they just walked out, and it was a big fire. Here was the cemetery, war cemetery in Busan with the flags of the nations that participated. Here's a funny picture: children playing. They are jumping on a board over a crest. They could jump very high, and I think this is a national sport in Korea, and I like the pictures. Though the pictures are old, the colors are very clear still. It's funny to see these simple buildings, but they're very fine clothes on the children. Here's a funny picture. These are boys looking for garbage, and they are pickpocketers. And they put the things in the boxes here, and they could steal a watch with this little stick. >> There were a lot of poor and orphans. There were a lot of orphans. >> Yes, yes. There were. >> They had to find a way to live. >> I think I have a picture. Here is also the gate of the hospital. It was ... See the flag from the United Nations, Sweden: a red cross. >> Mm. >> I think I have a picture of the orphans too. >> It must have been very emotional for you to visit Korea to see because you say your father passed away when you were young. And for you to go to a place where he was, you know, around your age, of course a lot younger, but that must have been very emotional for you. >> It was really, and it gives ... >> And you must have been very proud. >> I'm very proud, yes. >> Because he volunteered. He wasn't ... >> Yes. >> He wasn't forced to do it, you know? >> No, no, no. >> He volunteered. I think that's remarkable. >> And he ... I ... >> You know, can you explain that? Because I heard about it from Nora yesterday, and I was ... I never knew about leprosy. Oh, my god. >> Leprosy. This man has leprosy. It's a very old disease, which has been in several societies. It's an infectious disease which is very little contagious, you know? But people are afraid of it because you get wounds all over the body. You lose your senses in the skin, and therefore you get wounds which will not heal. So the faces will be malformed, and they live in separate villages because people are afraid of them. >> But it's not contagious? >> It's contagious, but very little. >> Right, but the ... >> You have to have very near contact. >> But the Swedish ... Nora said that they volunteered in their spare time to go to the village and treat lepers. >> Maybe, yes. I don't know if my father did, but he had these pictures, and nowadays you can treat this disease with antibiotics. I have more pictures in the other place, in these cases. >> I would guess that he went because he took pictures. >> Yes. He was, but I don't know if he was working as a doctor with these patients, but he took pictures. Yes. >> Remarkable. War is horrific. >> Mm-hmm. >> Which, like I told Grandpa Paul, thank you ... >> Thank you. >> ... for your father's service, and I hope that the war will end soon so that Swedes won't have to be there protecting the border and there's lasting peace. I truly hope that, and I ... Honestly, I didn't ... I knew about Swedish contribution in providing medical support, but many people, when they learn about the Korean War, they talk about the 16 nations. You know, that front, and then they say, "Well, plus five," and they don't know about individual contributions from the medical supporting countries. But already it's only my second day interviewing veterans and learning about it, and I'm just overwhelmed by how much, how significant that contribution is. People don't think about the doctors and the nurses because where the death toll could be twice as much without the doctors and the nurses, and for ... Because I don't know about Denmark and Norway but for Swedes who, I'm sure as doctors and nurses, didn't need the money. >> No. >> They didn't do it for the money. >> No. >> You were already well taken care of here and respected, but to volunteer to go to a foreign country during your youth. Whew. I'm like, "Wow." That's ... Thank you. Thank you. >> I heard a number that I think about more than 1,000 Swedish personnel worked in these hospitals during the years. Could that be true? >> Yes. >> Yeah, during the war? >> And after the war. >> During the war, around 1,000. >> Yes? >> And after the war it was another 1,000 ... >> Okay. So ... >> ... Swedes. >> ... two thousand. >> Two thousand. >> Is that the war started in June 1950, and the hospital in Busan was in place 3 months later. >> I know. September 23rd, 1950. >> Yes, yes. That's very impressive. >> I think today it would be possible to have that kind of decision process. >> Yes, yes. >> Mm. >> That would take half a year. >> Mm. >> Yes. >> I think. >> Yes. >> But during these 3 months, they made a decision. They organized it. They made all the ... >> And they recruited. >> And they recruited. >> Yes. >> And they did all the negotiation with the FN and with the U.S. >> Mm-hmm. >> Amazing. >> So ... >> Mm-hmm.
>> This reunification between families is, at least to person outside the Korean nations, I think it's a little bit peculiar. This is not really a reunification. They meet for 2 days, and then they split again, so it's ... But anyhow, I think it must be very important to both the Korean nations, the people of the two because it's really heartbreaking to know that families were split because of the Korean War. And so I think this of course is very, very important to a lot of people both in South and in North Korea, so I hope it will continue. Definitely I hope so, but as you know, it's very much a result of the political game between the two governments, I think. I think that perhaps today there is hardly any need of a Swedish-Korean friendship association because there are some very good relation between our two nations. I think Korea is quite well known in Sweden today and especially to the younger generation with an interest in Korean popular culture. Korean films are quite popular in Sweden, Korean music. And this is the purpose of my association, is to spread information about Korea and to promote exchange, and this is what we do, of course. We have a magazine, and we have also a scholarship that we annually give to a young Swedish student that wants to study in Korea, and there are a lot of Swedes, young Swedes going to Korea to study today, and we have ... Every year we have something like 30, 40 applicants for this very small scholarship, and we know that there are many more going there, so there is a very good relation and quite well-spread knowledge about Korea today in Sweden. It's quite rewarding also in Sweden to do this, and still there are many connection. Many Swede in Korea, like in Korea, Sweden, we have something like 70 or 80 companies established in Korea with offices, representatives, so there are many Swedish companies on the Korean Peninsula, but Sweden, I can find perhaps six or seven Korean companies, although they are very big, Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Kia. I think they are the four. Hankook Tires, so that's the five. I don't know any more. I think there is more need of spreading the word about Sweden in Korea than the opposite way, I think, but anyhow, when you go to Korea and you say, "I'm from Sweden," many people are more than friendly. They are very enthusiastic, and they think very highly of Sweden. Sometimes I may get a little bit embarrassed about that, and I think that many Koreans think that Sweden is the perfect country, but of course it's not, but anyhow. There are still ... There are many, many connections with Korea and Sweden. We have quite a few adoptees. Almost 9,000 Korean children was adopted to Sweden, 3 years, of course. It started after the Korean War but still today, it happens. More rare, but it happens that Swedes adopt Korean children, and yeah, so still we send some military personnel there every year. Five persons goes to Panmunjom. >> Well, I'm sure as Koreans tell you when you're there and the veterans when they're there, we are very grateful. >> Yeah, definitely. >> Because we learned, especially Koreans learned medical, a lot of medical ... >> Yeah, yeah, I think so. >> ... techniques from the Swedes, got that from the hospitals, so thank you, and thank you for your service. >> Okay. It was ... That's a perfect assignment for a military man as long as nothing happens. >> Well, knock on wood that can continue. >> Definitely. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> My name is Paul Olson. I'll tell about how it was when I went to Korea in 1953, I think, in February, something like that. I went there together with my wife Astrid, and she was a nurse. I was intern medicine, but later on there, I was head of the X-ray department. Can I show you ... >> Sure. >> ... what meant to show for you or ... This is entrance of the hospital. It's called Swedish Red Cross Hospital. Actually, it was Swedish Red Cross organizing this, and I'll show you. Right around there is some of the buildings. This is [INAUDIBLE] building, and we have another building there [INAUDIBLE] building. They are both royal persons, the [INAUDIBLE]. They were both children, the names, because they were the heads in the Swedish Red Cross Hospital. >> How Department of Defense you learn about the Korean War? You volunteered, right? >> Yeah, well, actually, I knew very little about there. I didn't know anything about the Korea before the war I started, and I read in the paper and so on. I think in our Swedish paper it was asking people to help, and I don't know exactly why I thought this may be something for us for my wife and me, but I had been working before right after the war in Belgium [INAUDIBLE]. I've been working in Germany, helping in their X-ray department. I've been working in Finland, the Second War in Finland, so I had some interest in going out and seeing the world on work. >> And your wife? >> Yeah. >> She said yes too? >> Well, she hadn't ever been abroad nearly, and when we went there, we took farewell from relatives and so on. That was the very first time she entered an airplane, and at that time, we went strolling down Europe and stayed for quite a long time in Cairo, and that's the very first time that we [INAUDIBLE] far east. It was something very, very new. >> What did you both think about Korea when you first landed, you and your wife both? >> We knew very little about Korea. >> Hmm. >> We knew there had been hard war, the front line going forth and back, but very little we knew. When we came first to Japan, I remember, oh, this is a poor country, and later on, coming to Korea, still more poor, so we thought, how harsh it should be to live here, but we were very well taken care of there at the hospital. >> What do you remember from the hospital? Do you remember ... >> The first day, I remember we were invited for dinner the first day we came there, and the head of the hospital, he said, "Now we are waiting for the hostile soldiers and airplane trying to make something." There was talk about getting peace negotiations because everybody wants the best position for that. For the first time, I think nearly in our lives, we were given somehow a drink so forgot dinner, so we were a little up and down right after a long trip too, so we were a little ... I don't know. But we were very well taken care of. >> At the hospital, did you meet a lot of soldiers from different countries? >> Yeah. They came from very many countries, and the kind of patients that came to this hospital should be those who could go back to the front line within a few weeks or those who should stay for days, a few weeks, before going to Japan where they made your long-term care. >> What kind of hospital MASH units were in Japan? Americans? >> In ... >> Japan, uh-huh. >> ... Japan, well, sure that was American hospital. The other Nordic countries, they had more like MASH Norwegian MASH-like hospitals in tents. I was actually there for a few days visiting them, and Denmark, they had a hospital ... >> Jutlandia. >> Yeah, Jutlandia, and they would always take patients direct from the front on the plane and could land right on the ship, so they were very effective, and I think they become specialized in head injuries needing rapid care. >> Urgent care, wow, so Swedish treated kind of minor injuries, not critical, deadly, fatal injuries, no operation. >> In ... >> Swedish hospital. >> ... Swedish hospital, oh, sure, they had lots of operations but no very big operation, but I never served in the surgical department. I know my wife was for part of the time worker there, and she told me they had patients coming from very many countries, and they had sometimes [INAUDIBLE] nighttime and telling terrible histories about how they were injured and how Chinese people coming in hundreds during the night and so on. >> What do you remember about Koreans? Did you see Koreans there? >> About the Korean ... >> Mm-hmm, Korean children, Korean people, did you see ... >> Well, we were there before the armistice, and then there were a strong many injured before, but after the armistice, July 27, '53, we taken more and more Korean patients, civilian Koreans, and I know I was working the X-ray department. I saw many places with terrible [INAUDIBLE] in the lungs with the holes in the lungs, and we were just discussing, how should we [INAUDIBLE]. Few drugs possible. Sometimes they got the treatment, but if they were to be out, well, we send them further on. We couldn't treat them there, and lots of civil Koreans, they were coming there to the hospital, lying in the street. See? >> Can you ... Mm-hmm. >> Lots of people waiting to come inside the gate, and here they are giving them DDT spray. >> A lot of children. >> Yeah. >> Well, did you ever go back to Korea? >> Yes, I've been back there twice. >> Wow, twice. >> Yes, one time I was invited to Korea together with a few other friends there privately, and we stayed only in Seoul, but that's 15 years ago [INAUDIBLE]. Now a few months in November, we were invited by the Veteran Administration in Korea to visit there for 1 week, and we were very well taken care of. We were many people coming from many countries. We were three bus loaded with people, and one thing I think was a little curious that we always had an ambulance following us and several nurses to ... Well, of course, many of us were very old, so it was maybe necessary. I don't know if anybody had to use the ambulance, but it was always a few meters there from where we were. >> That must have been very interesting for you because you're the ones that treated Koreans during the war and after, and now they're looking after you. >> Now ... >> They were looking after you. >> Yes, that's the riddle. >> Yeah, yes, that must have been very emotional, yes, and were you surprised to see Korea, the modern Korea? >> Yes. Of course, I was surprised. It was quite new, Korea. As I understand, Seoul was twice the size, maybe more, than when we were there before, and it was most modern city we think about, and maybe the change was still more in Pusan. That was a small city when we went. Now there were most modern, lots of sky buildings. I couldn't remember. It was nothing what I saw there before. It was quite new, but the mountains, I could see far away. I'm happy to say they were the same. >> Yes. Korea has many mountains. I heard that during the Korean War, it was very cold. Everybody talks about how cold it was during the Korean War. >> Mostly, we were there springtime, summer and autumn, so we had very good weather when we were there. >> You were very unfortunate. >> In our free time, we were longing for the Korean [INAUDIBLE] where you could taking baths and swim and so on, very nice places. >> So looking back, what do you think about the Swedish contribution in the war? So you have your personal, you and your wife's personal experience in Korea, but in a larger context, what do you think about the Swedish contribution? >> I think it has been a very good importance for the long time, I mean, because it was important that we could help them with taking care of the patients. We had about 150, 200 beds in each two buildings, so I don't know. Maybe several thousands of patients had been taken care of, but I think it's more important what has happened in the long run, that the context with South Korea and Sweden been very good importance for the development of Korea and development here in Sweden. You helped us, as I understand, with the context for Korea and maybe also for Japan. >> I saw where the Swedish hospital was turned into a national hospital for Korea. Have you visited there? >> No, I haven't visited that, but I know about that. >> And there's a monument for Swedish, huh? >> Yes, yes, I didn't see it, but I heard about it, but the Sweden, Norway and Denmark, they decided that they wanted to start a university hospital in Seoul, and the latter time in the Swedish hospital there in Pusan, they worked, I think, for a short time together with the Dens and Norwegian. One of my best friends worked in that hospital that moved then to Seoul, but my friend was ... We know talking about together [INAUDIBLE]. >> Oh, yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> He worked there several years. >> Your best friend from the Korean War >> My friend from medical studies, he was working several years in ... >> Korea. >> ... this hospital in Seoul. >> To help build it. >> Yes. >> To help train. >> Train. >> Mm-hmm, to train. I saw in the documentary that the nurses and even after the war, they were trained by the Swedish doctors and nurses. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yeah. That's remarkable. >> I think that was important for the future education of nurses and doctors there in Seoul. >> So one thing that breaks my heart a little bit is that the Korean War never ended. >> Yeah. >> As you know, Swedish still are at the [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] the DMZ along the border to protect the border. >> Yeah. I was up there. >> Oh, you were? >> Yeah, and I was visiting the Norwegian hospital NORMASH up near the front, and there was like MASH. All the hospitals were just in tents. >> Did you watch the American TV show "M*A*S*H"? >> Yes, sure, sure. >> Oh, you did? >> Yeah, and this Norwegian hospital was quite like "M*A*S*H." >> Really? >> Yeah. >> Really? Oh, okay, so it was ... >> Well, seeing it, all the tents and what happened there, but I think have more fun in the American version in the movies. >> Well, I think the greatest honor for the veterans is when the war ends and there is peace. You know? Then I truly hope that in your lifetime, you will see a unified Korea because in this picture here, we have a very malnourished baby, and I look at a toddler, and I look at him, and he reminds me of babies or toddlers in North Korea, but as you know, South Koreans are now prosperous, and we are very grateful to the sacrifices of you and your comrades and the veterans all over the world whom I call my grandpas and grandmas. So I hope that, number one, we will never forget but two that there's really peace so that you know that you not only defended freedom for South Korea but all of the Korean peninsula. >> I will really hope. >> Right, to see that, and maybe next time, you could even go to North Korea, right? >> Maybe. >> Yeah. I hope there is peace. Well, thank you so much.
>> My name is Cigor Piettri, and I'm nearly 95 years old. I worked in the Swedish Red Cross Hospital in Korea from November 1952 to April 1953 as a chaplain, so ... >> What are some things you remember? >> Yes, I remember I was there. No, it was very interesting period because you had to participate in the war and see it from the inside. I remember when I came to Tokyo. At that time, it took 5 days to go by air from Sweden to Tokyo. I was in the plane all the time, day and night, and when we then should leave in Tokyo, we met a person from the Swedish hospital that should leave from an American airbase. We were in fact a part of the Eighth Army, the hospital, and I remember I sat on the plane, and we should start, and nearby was an American bomb plane. I saw them put in the bombs, and I said, "No." If somebody had told you 10 years ago there's a city and an American airbase and go to country in a war in the service, it just would make me mad, but anyhoo, we came over in some hours, and were transported to the hospital, and there, we were received, and it was a special Sunday. It was a first Sunday in that Lent, and they received me, and I should have the solace in the right. They had me in a special barrack that was used as a Church, this one, and a very beautiful interior, especially the old one. Where is the improvement? This is the altar in Easter, Easter solace, and I came to be received by the offices there. It was 1952 in November, 8th November. >> Did you volunteer? Did you volunteer? Volunteer. >> Yes, yes. I was quite volunteer. >> Why did you volunteer? Why? >> I was asked to do so. I had a friend who was a chaplain before me, and I had another friend who should be after me, but between that was a gap. Usually, you should stay at least 6 months, but they had a gap for 5 months or something, nearly 5 months there, and they asked me if I could go there, and in fact, it was not at all good for me because I had began a new training for to be a librarian, but I felt I had a task because otherwise, I couldn't get anybody, and I was naturally rather curious about how it should be there. The last year before I had spent in Israel in Jerusalem, and then I got the taste how it is to be in a foreign country and to live in the country and to see what is going on and in the world. Israel's founding was naturally a world problem, not so much a problem at that time but to be, and I had the chance to go into it during that time, and I thought I must see what's going on in Korea, so I said, "Okay. I will take it, be there for 5 months." >> You must have seen a lot of injured soldiers, wounded soldiers. >> Yeah. >> Wounded soldiers. >> What? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yes. The Swedish hospital in Korea was a base hospital, not at the front, yeah? So the patients came there from the special front hospitals. For example, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Norwegian Hospital, and when the Norwegian minister died, it change sometimes between, so I was up at the front too for some days, and when I came to the hospital, he happened to be there for some days, so we had not the directly wounded soldiers. They were wounded which had been in field hospitals and so needed further treatment but not too bad. Those who were hopelessly wounded, they just passed us, but then they went on to America or Japan or something, but the church had a service. The UN chaplain, he had to have services in the war church, and he had, in fact, to be the one who should care for the wounded people. I shouldn't, but anyhow, they didn't much to it, so I had to go. It was nearly every day in the hospital to speak with people, especially I think the not American one because there were a lot of other people from Belgium and Holland and France and Turk and Ethiopian, Colombian, and they had nobody to speak with in the hospital. It's very important that people who are alone, wounded in the hospital have somebody to speak with, so I more used to go to them than to the Americans because they should have their service, and they had any of fellows who could understand them and speak with. >> Wow. >> So but then, we had all of the permittance. When it was very calm in the war, we get very few wounded from the fronts, so we had the permission to take civilia, civil Koreans and help them in our hospital, and then I had to care for more and especially the children. You see, Busan was a city for about 300,000 people, but when I came there, there were nearly 1 1/2 million, and they were all refugees living in the slums. All of it was slum, and the children in the slum, you can understand. They had sometimes no father, beggars everywhere. You had to pick them up. They came to the hospital, naturally wanted to come in, but we couldn't take in anybody, but sometimes we have to take one or little one. I remember some of them were fantastic children. A boy, 11 years, and they told me one evening at night, "Okay, we have a boy for you," and then he was taken out. He had only a little short. It was cold out. His feet were frozen, and he came in and gave him a bath and gave him food and everything, and then the cold on me, he sat in a staircase in a too-big military costume, and that boy just looked at me and said, "Thank you, sir." He thought it was I who had ... And we'd keep them for some days. We had a very good children doctor. He went around to the hospitals and to the orphanages around and get through the shield and then picked those who were ill, and they could get carried to the hospital. Then it was my way to bring them back again. That was in the Busan Catholic mission, Maryknoll Sisters which I admire more than most people. They lived in ... had a wonderful place in the middle of a slum, and there could be ... You'll see if I find it. Oh, there it is, I think. No, that is the boy I spoke about when he had been brought to an orphanage. He was especially fond of me, and it was not always so very good. I remember the Rusk commission, you know Dean Rusk foreign ministry had a special commission in Korea to find out the political circumstances that we had at inner for at the hospital, and it was very wounded, very fine people, and I got it in the bottom there somewhere and made the little thing ... This boy came and hopped up in my knee. >> Oh, no! >> And then it was not so [INAUDIBLE] so strong. >> Do you remember his name? Name? Name, his name. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Nay. >> Nay. >> No. I have no idea his name. There was no time to find out who he was. That is the orphanage. The Maryknoll Sisters were very ... Swedish [INAUDIBLE] they were very interested of the Koreans and supported them very much, so we had, for example, once a week, we'd have the bingo evening, but it was a custom in the last weeks I was there that the one who won, he gave it to the children, so I had to be down with a gift for about $100 to Maryknoll Sisters to send it for the two. That's fantastic. >> You said that was a Christmas card. Can you show us the Christmas card? >> This card. >> Ooh. >> Oh, it's my ... You see I'm not used to it because I didn't come serve in the military ... come serve in Sweden, but when I got out into the hospital, I was an officer, so I had to say I say to everybody ... I got my own servant, and, boy, he came in every morning, made it clean for me, and so I am missing him. He was a student, I think, and his name was Andon Ackwy Gordon Anton. He gave Swedish names, and this is a Christmas card from him. >> Can you show it inside? Inside. >> Yes, yes. >> Inside. >> Yeah. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There. >> He drew it. >> I don't know. >> He drew it. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He said it's painted. >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Well, you talked a little bit about your personal experience, but tell us ... >> Well, my special task was for Swedish person. I had to care for their spiritual care and in firsthand service and so on and to be there for people who wanted to speak to me. I had maybe little too great expectations that all going out there were idealists to work for a big case, but in fact, there were a lot of people who tried to flee their problems at home, as if it should be easier solved there, so it was rather much of that up to. Then I had to be to the entertainment detail, so I had to make evenings for the personnel where we were speaking, and so I had ... I don't know if I have some of the programs since we have it in ... We have it every week, every week newspaper for the personnel where everybody could write, and we had the program for every week. >> Wow. Every week? Every week? >> Yes. >> Wow. >> Nearly every week. It was sometimes ... And it was, you see, we were not more than 140 people there, 50 people maybe, and they like to see what it is ... >> What is inside? Tell me. What's inside? >> Yes. Today ... Come on here. Serious articles, and there was ... >> Poem? Poems? >> This is everything which ... >> Poem. >> ... about what is happening in the hospital. For example, we had two American social workers there, and they got medals from the chief, and we wrote a little here. He had the medals in his pocket, and we wrote here something about that we have seen give medals to them, and we are glad he didn't get more after his pocket, and then it ... [INAUDIBLE]. It's funny how people can hand you things, and we had made big songs for the evenings we had, which I have one of them there which everybody would sing it at the evenings, and it as always full. Somebody told about something they had done. I spoke, for example, about Israel. >> Do you remember the song? Do you know how to sing it? >> What? >> Can you sing the song? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> No. From Sweden to Korea, we [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. Or it was the military chief. We met in Tokyo, and then it's a refrain. Oh, little one, excuse me we're in the same shape, and nothing will be better if you are angry about it. That was the song. It was just [INAUDIBLE] ... I don't know. >> Wow. How do you remember? >> We have no flag. Yeah, so there's no flag, but it's not our fault because somebody took it and run a feast. >> Are you proud of Sweden for fighting in the war? >> If you want to see [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] ... >> Christmas tree. Christmas tree. >> Yeah. If you want to see a tree, such one you have for Christmas, so look at your second lieutenant is rather ugly. >> Second lieutenant. >> Are you proud of Swedish contributions in the war? >> What? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yes, I am. It's only little port. It's like my port. It's a very little in those, but when I see the first photos I had here about Korea, how it looked ... Hold on. [INAUDIBLE] ... how it looked when I came and see the pictures from Busan today. It's rather fantastic. >> Have you been to Korea? >> What? >> Have you been to Korea? >> No, I'm sorry. I haven't. I've been rather much around the world, most places, Paris, but I haven't come back to Korea. Nearest I have been is in China, and that's a big difference. >> If you would go back, you would be shocked, shocked. >> Yes, would like to go, but it's too late now. I can't go to even to my mail. >> That's why I'm here. I came to say thank you. >> Thank you very much! >> Yes! >> It's very nice. >> Because I am a product ... >> I'm sorry it's so ... But I'm not quite ... >> No, no, no. >> ... prepared for it. >> No, no. Last ... >> I'm a little tired of [INAUDIBLE] >> I know. Last question. The war never ended. The Korean War never ended, right? >> No. >> Just armistice. >> No. I hope it will be an end but what end? >> Yes, and I hope that it would end and ... >> Same people, completely different. They don't understand each other at all. >> Yes, but still brothers and sisters, right? >> What? >> But still brothers and sisters, one people. >> Yes. >> So I hope that it will end, and the country and unify. >> Yes. It could be that. Can see it in Vietnam. It has been ... >> And Germany. >> ... and rather much better than most socialistic country, yeah. >> Okay. I know you're tired, so thank you so much. That's good.
>> Everybody, I am inside this gorgeous chapel, the sacred chapel of the Columban Fathers. It's in Dalgan Park which is about an hour away from Dublin. I am here with very ... three extremely special people. They are three Columban Fathers who served in Korea as missionaries for, three of them combined, more than 100 years because, Father O'Brien, you were there for how many years, 50? >> Fifty. >> Father O'Brien was there for 50 years. >> Twenty-five. >> Twenty-five and ... >> Fifty-seven years. >> Fifty-seven ... >> Fifty-seven, wow. >> ... years. He ... They ... Well, for sure, they lived in Korea longer than they lived in Ireland, so thank you so much for your service. So Columban Fathers were ... You tell us. When were they first in Korea? >> 1933. >> 1933, and, everybody, 1933 was still when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. 1945, Korea was liberated, gained independence, but that's when there were two differing sides of two ... communism versus democracy, and as we all know, in 1950, June 25th, the Korean War broke out, and when the Korean War broke out, approximately how many Columban Fathers do you think were there at that time? >> Thirty. >> Thirty. >> Thirty. >> Twenty, 30. >> Well, yes, about 20, 30, and very sadly and tragically, seven who had an opportunity to flee chose to remain, right ... >> Yeah. >> ... and were very sadly killed and murdered, so here we are inside this chapel because they are here, memorialized here. Can you point them out? >> Monsignor Patrick Brennan here, Thomas Cusack, John O'Brien, Tony Collier, Patrick Reilly. >> So that's one, two, three, four, five. Oh, and maybe ... >> Two there. >> And there was James Maginn and Frank Canavan. Frank Canavan was taken North Korea and died in North Korea. >> Mm. >> He was taken up with two other Columban priests or three of them taken over the border up to North Korea. He died in North Korea, so his remains would still be in North Korea. >> Ooh! >> He was on the death march. >> Prisoner of war. >> He was a prisoner of war on the death march. >> Oh, but you said something ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Oh, my god. Yes. They all [INAUDIBLE]. >> Death march. >> But [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Oh, my. Actually ... Okay. You said something that really ... So you're right. Two of those who died in North Korea, their remains were never found. >> One. >> Just one. >> Just one. >> Just Frank Canavan. >> Frank Canavan. >> Those remains were never ... >> He was very young. >> His remains were never recovered. >> Very young. He was only 40. >> Oh, my. That breaks my heart because of the current situation between North and South Korea. There are at least ... Or there are still about 7,000 remains unaccounted for, okay, veterans unaccounted for in America, but Father James Maginn would be one of many across ... >> Also these are unaccounted for. They're buried in a common grave in Taejon ... >> Oh. >> ... those three ... >> They think they were ... >> ... one, two, three. >> ... marked in Taejon. >> Oh. >> And their bodies ... There's no graves. We don't know. >> In Taejon, we don't know where the graves. >> Oh, but the others, where are they buried? >> They're buried in Chuncheon. >> They're buried in Chuncheon. >> Oh, my god. >> We have them in Chuncheon. >> Chuncheon. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> So they never really physically ... >> Found the bodies. >> ... made it. >> No. >> No, even ... They're not even buried in their homelands. >> That's right. >> Oh, no. >> Oh, no. Buried in Korea, Korea somewhere. >> That breaks my heart. That breaks my heart. Oh. Well, I am very glad I came to Dalgan Park on their behalf. Although it's not their hometown, I know they all left ... They were trained here, right? >> Mm-hmm. >> And they left from here and ordained, of course, from here, right? >> Yes, ma'am. >> And they were only 35 at the time when they went to Korea and ... >> And they died. >> They died. [ Chatter ] >> They could've left Korea. >> Thirty-five. >> They could've left Korea. >> So ... >> Less than 35. >> But they stayed in Korea. >> Yes. >> They stayed with the people. >> And that is actually many of the veteran stories. They didn't have to go. >> Mm-hmm. >> They didn't have to serve, yet they chose to, and I guess, in a very, very weird way, I completely understand because when I started doing this visiting veterans, honestly I thought I would do it once around the world, and that would be it. That would actually fulfill my promise to God and myself and to just this universe that I would do it, but the reason why I did it again across America, did it again across the Pacific and again now is because I choose to. I choose to. It's not even I feel obligated to. It's not even that anymore. It's I choose to because I want to, and I think all three of you as missionaries. What they said was ... because I thanked them for their service, and they said they actually gained more from serving than going there, so thank you so much to the three of you Fathers for your service to just the people of Korea and to this world, to take love, to spread message of hope and peace and love. So, everybody, wow. This is just only my second day, and I am just overwhelmed with so much, just so much emotion and gratitude, so thank you, everybody. Continue to follow me. Tomorrow is a big day also at the [INAUDIBLE] Peace Park. Thank you. Bye. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
>> ... from Dublin, so I am at a church. It's called the St. Mary's, and there is a beautiful cross here, a memorial, that lists the names of those who died in World Wars I and II and Korea, and so we were just gathered here, but I have not just two but four Korean War veterans. God always doubles my prayers, by the way, so thank you, God. So here is Grandpa Walter. Oh, Elizabeth! Please come! Come! >> Oh, no, no, no. Just records. >> Well, Grandpa Walter, when did you fight in Korea? >> I went to Korea in 1952 with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, and I fought in Korea for 1 year from '52 to '53 and until the cease-fire. I was in the front line when the cease-fire was sound, and then we moved off of the position and put wire up around the hill and then moved off, and then we went home. I was wounded there in Korea in the first few weeks. >> You were? is that why you have a Purple Heart? >> Yeah, I have ... >> Oh, okay. >> Can you believe that I did get a Purple Heart given to me when I was ... >> Wow. [ Chatter ] >> Oh, he lost his Purple Heart. >> Grandpa. [ Chatter ] >> Oh, can you say your full name, Grandpa Walter? >> My name is Walter Leslie Cout. >> So you have a long name. >> And, Grandpa, what is your full name? >> James Doyle. >> James Doyle. >> Yep. >> Oh. Everybody, look. I gave him my shamrock pins. Yay! Okay. When did you fight in Korea? >> It was in 1953. >> 1953 towards the end? >> Mm-hmm. >> Yes. >> And I was Royal Engineers. >> Royal ... With the Royal Engineers, yes. Okay, and so you did a lot of work with the equipment. >> Yeah, on the bridges. >> Bridges. >> Clearing minefields. >> Yeah, clearing minefields. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Very important. Yes, it is. >> A dangerous job, but we go through it. >> I'm so glad you were able to come today. Thank you. Grandpa Ray. Well, I gave him an American heart because he fought in the American Army. >> Yep. >> Yes. When? >> In the 40th Division in Company G of the 224th Infantry. I was stationed in [INAUDIBLE] gateway to Seoul in South Korea. [ Chatter ] >> [INAUDIBLE], and there were a mile and a half on the inside, and we were [INAUDIBLE]. It was that way for, I would say, maybe 4 or 5 months. [ Chatter ] >> [INAUDIBLE] and I thought, "Jeez, get me the hell out of here and see a different sight than this." So I got back [INAUDIBLE]. [ Chatter ] >> Were you born in Dublin, or were you born in America? >> America. >> Where? Which state? >> New Haven, Connecticut. >> New Haven, Connecticut, everybody. I was there in Connecticut in Danbury. And last but now least, Grandpa ... I think he's the oldest grandpa here, right? >> Yes. >> How young are you? >> Ninety-one. >> He's only 91 years young, and he looks great. Where and when did you fight in Korea? >> '50 and '51. >> 1950, 1951. Yes. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Wow. Were you born in Ireland? >> Oh, yes. Definitely. >> Where? In Dublin? >> In Dublin. >> Oh, and you left from ... Where did you leave from? >> Belfast. >> Belfast. Okay. Well, I'm going to go to Belfast on Friday. Yes. >> Yes, are you? That'll be fine. >> Yes. Well, like I said, everybody, since I'm going to go to Belfast, I am here in Ireland because I think it's not only important to thank the veterans who fought, the Irish veterans who fought, but I do really want to, as a Korean who knows well about the pain of division and separation, and I just commiserate it with the Irish pain of division and separation as well and praying for peace and unity for all, okay, so that is one thing I do want you to know. I also want to You'll hear and meet a lot about Mr. Michael Schafini, who came and traveled all the way from Mayo, Castlebar, where I'll be tomorrow, so you'll hear a lot about him, but, Elizabeth ... Well, and then before we go to Elizabeth, I have two people from the British Legion to welcome here which was a pleasant surprise and a great honor. >> Oh, our pleasure. >> Yes. Oh, and I want to show you what he gave me because this ... I don't bear ... This, I take it very seriously. He requested that I take this and plant this at the Korean War Memorial in Washington on behalf of the legion which ... [ Chatter ] >> Yes, in Ireland, so that is a huge task, a huge honor, and I am very, very proud to bear the cross. Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And any words to say about from on the behalf of the British Legion? >> Well, we're very proud of all our veterans. There are so few of them left, and most of them ... Don't forget, every one of them was a volunteer if they left the Republic of Ireland which is something else. They weren't necessarily on scripts. They were volunteers. >> And you? >> I think the ... Korea is called the Forgotten War. I think in this situation, it's not even known about, and that's such a challenge to us as a nation here now to make better known of what these chaps did in the '50s. So ... >> So thank you so much, gentlemen ... >> My pleasure. >> ... for coming here and representing and thanking on behalf of the legion, and last but not least, this is Elizabeth, everybody. >> Oh, goodness. >> Yes. I was so surprised because she said she had actually known about me even before she met me today. >> I did. >> Yes, because we have many, many ... >> Many friends all over the world and in particular in Australia, Ray Rogers, Raymond Rogers. He keeps me in contact with all that Hannah is doing and also Edgar Green who is in London, and we keep contact. >> So I was amazed because she said that she has seen me and received their newsletters and e-mails as I was traveling to South Africa, Canada, London, New Zealand, Australia, so that was very amazing. >> Keep up what you're doing. >> Aw, thank you. Thank you, and last but not least, I want to give a shout-out to Ashley from the Korean Embassy who is here to represent the Korean Embassy as well because as you all know, I am here not as an individual but on behalf of all grateful Koreans. The rector is not here, but I want to give a shout-out to the rector who actually ... This beautiful church, as you can see from the back, is closed today, but he made it an exception to open it for us, so thank you to the fathers of the temple. And last but not least, I want to show you where it says Korea, and we will ... So on the side of the cross, it says, "Korean War," and I guess Mr. John David Foster had passed away, so, everybody, thank you so much for joining me on this journey. This is my official day 1 of my "Remember 727" journey to honor veterans and promote peace, so thank you. Bye.
>> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Okay. Well, you can go. Okay. Ready? Go. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Hello, everybody, from Mayo County in Ireland. I am here at the Mayo Park Garden of Remembrance with many people, but particularly I'm here with the council members of the Mayo County, Mr. ... >> Gavin. >> ... Gavin and ... >> Ger Deere. >> ... Ger Deere. So thank you so much. Please say a few words about this beautiful town and the significance of having this Peace Park here right in the middle, the heart. >> First of all [INAUDIBLE] deputy mayor [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE]. We both do. >> A thousand, 100,000 [INAUDIBLE]. Myself and councillor here were delighted to present you with [INAUDIBLE] very, very proud of this Peace Park here [INAUDIBLE] many, many years ago [INAUDIBLE]. We have people coming here from all over the world. [ Chatter ] So we're delighted to be involved. [INAUDIBLE] our municipal district are delighted to be involved, and we've been involved with this Peace Park right from the start. You can see all the names on the wall. >> Yes, I love this inscription in particular, that, "Dedicated in memory of all who served and died in the cause of world peace," because everybody, at the end of the day, we remember the fallen to hope for peace and unity. So ... >> [INAUDIBLE] by our president [INAUDIBLE]. >> By the president [INAUDIBLE]. I want to introduce Mr. Feeney, who is a chairman of the committee, right? So please come and ... So, Mr. Feeney, as you may have seen yesterday, he not only came to Dublin, took me everywhere yesterday, to all the visits, but he also escorted me to Mayo, which is almost 4 hours away from Dublin. But he is the one who thought of building this memorial, and this entire town supported it, got behind and actually made it into a reality. So please, what inspired you?? >> What inspired me was forgotten generation [INAUDIBLE] Korean War [INAUDIBLE] so many other wars. It was something that needed to be done at that time, and with the support of [INAUDIBLE] Council, our own committee, there was a lot of people involved [INAUDIBLE]. And we are proud [INAUDIBLE]. And so many people, such as yourself, come here who are proud of it, too. It's a tourist attraction. It's a memorial, heritage site, but it remembers the fallen and gives respect to all who served and died and gives respect most of all to the families who were left behind. >> Yes. >> [INAUDIBLE] ... >> That is ... >> ... people here had to go to Belgium and France [INAUDIBLE], but the graves are still out there. >> Yes. >> But at least we can remember them here [INAUDIBLE]. >> That is ... Thank you for pointing that out. This is not only to honor the fallen, but it's also for those left behind, right? The families and the town, the friends to come and remember. Of course, you don't need a wall or a memorial to remember them, but it is something where the community can come together and ... >> Ma'am? >> Yes? >> I would like to add Mr. Jim Casey, the National Executive Chairman of the Irish United Nations Veterans to give a small presentation to you. >> Oh, presentation. [ Chatter ] Oh, wow! So thank you. Wow! Thank you. What an honor, the Irish United Veterans Association, United Nation ... So as you know, the Korean War was a United Nations effort, and so Mr. Casey has come on behalf of the United Nations Irish Veterans Association. Thank you so much. If I'm correct, I'm going to ... [ Chatter ] Yes. Oh. >> On behalf of [Indistinct], another badge. >> Wow! [ Chatter ] I'm having a lot of badges, everybody! This is a Mayo Peace Park Garden of Remembrance badge. >> Yeah. >> The doves. >> Aw. >> The doves were made in Germany. >> Oh, wow, the doves were made in Germany. How symbolic is that? >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes, yes, thank you. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes. So I just wanted to point out, remember the hearts that I've been pinning to all the grandpas? Well, I laid them at the marker where it actually lists from this town alone four who died, so I'm going to just take you over there. In fact, I'm going to bring the Columban Fathers, so remember yesterday I visited the Columban Fathers in [INAUDIBLE] Park? It's a little loud there. They're having construction, but, the fathers, would you like to join me when [INAUDIBLE] Korean War [INAUDIBLE]? [ Chatter ] >> So ... [ Chatter ] ... they lived in Korea for 40 ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> ... years. Can you believe that? And they speak Korean fluent, and they came today, and I want to point this out, so these are Irish who fought with the Americans and died, so in the Korean War, Sergeant Mark Brennan .. >> Fitzpatrick. >> ... Mr. Michael Fitzpatrick, Michael ... >> Gannon. >> ... Gannon and Michael ... >> Hardiman. >> ... Hardiman, so I laid these four in their honor, and we laid these wreaths, so, everybody, I just want to show ... Oh, you said you wanted to present something. >> [INAUDIBLE] yes. >> Yes. >> We'll go over there because it's so loud here but ... >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> [INAUDIBLE] seven Columbans that died in the Korean War. >> Oh. >> And I produced this. [INAUDIBLE] Smith is my name. >> Wow. >> We have a little piece of poetry here in English and in Korean remembering the seven Columbans that died. >> Wow! >> Seven who died and left the life [INAUDIBLE] with no word of farewell, seven great [INAUDIBLE] busy green truly fell [INAUDIBLE] to the green return, and when it came, have already [INAUDIBLE] rigid in the ground. >> Wow, and you can read it in Korean, too? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Let's go over there. It is raining, so we're going to go inside, but ... >> But anyway ... >> ... these are the seven Columban Fathers who died in Korea during the Korean War. They could've fled, but they chose to stay, so I'm going to just show you guys quickly this place, and then we're going to go in, so it's okay. [INAUDIBLE]. So look at this. It's of course a cemetery in the back, and this is the garden with all the different conflicts that ... and alliances, right? >> Yeah. >> The Irish alliances. I'm okay. And I'm okay. I'm okay. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> Yes, I'm okay. And this is where it lists more than 1,000 Irishmen who died in World War I, but of course over there that includes the Korean War and Vietnam War. Everybody, I cannot thank God enough for ... Just continue to bless me, bless everybody that joined me on this journey, so thank you very much, and I am going to be making my way back to Dublin later today and will soon be in Belfast where ... in Northern Ireland where I'll also be hoping for peace and unity there as well as meeting Korean War veterans, Irish who fought in the Korean War, so thank you, everybody. Bye.
>> Fathers, can you explain to me what this video is? >> Well, it's about the seven Columban priests who died in the Korean War, and it is for the 80th anniversary of the Columban formation back in '33. This was the anniversary here. It would have been ... >> And you produced it. >> Yes, yeah. >> Can you read the poem in Korean? >> You read it this time. >> The seven who died after [INAUDIBLE]. >> Oh, in Korean. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Wow, and you can read it in English. >> Yes. The seven who died after [INAUDIBLE]. They left on the life-death road with no word or farewell. Seven great pines, dizzy green, truly felt. They looked to the great return, and when it came, they were ready, seeds securely rooted in the ground. >> So ... >> Recalling the subjects who ... >> Yes, so ... >> ... died. >> The Columban Fathers first entered Korea in 1933 before the Korean War when Korea was colonialized by Japan, but after the outbreak of the war in 1950, the Columban Fathers had an opportunity to flee, but they chose to remain with the people, and these seven were martyred, or they were killed over during the war, during the 3 years the war took place. Some were taken prisoners, and they didn't know that they were killed until after, and so yesterday, I was at Dalgin Park where they were trained and ordained before going to Korea as missionaries, and these two fathers have, after the war, served in postwar Korea until fairly recently, and that is why they speak Korean fluently. We all are very grateful, but I'm sure there's a more special place in your hearts because you two have followed their footsteps. So thank you so much to both of you. >> This is Tony, who came from [INAUDIBLE] which located here was Frank Canavan, who died in a death march in North Korea with Bishop Phil, oh, yeah, Frank Canavan and Phil Crosby from Austria. May they all rest in peace. >> May they all rest in peace. How do you say, "Rest in peace," in Irish? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] means peace. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].