I was born in the ROK, Reb. wink

My father was involved in the war, too. He was a North Korean businessman whose family owned a cod liver oil processing plant off of the Yellow Sea. He helped fund the resistance against the Japanese occupiers (the old man was a pretty sly #%&*$#) until the end of WW2. Then the communists came in and nationalized the plant. Dad didn't take too well to that, so they murdered his wife and kids. (His brothers saw what was coming and relocated their families to the south, but his father had left the factory to him. And he couldn't shirk that duty.) He flipped out and spent years fighting as a guerilla, alone. (Learning skills that would come in useful, later.)

Then the Korean War happened and dad decided that was it. He walked down to Pusan while avoiding both allied and communist forces. As he was an able-bodied man during a civil war, he spent most of the rest of his time with the ROK forces.

His relationship with the ROK forces continued after his retirement due to his rather unique knowledge of the communist forces. Some of my earliest memories of him was when he was lecturing a bunch of ROK Rangers during the end of the Vietnam War. In the late 60s, he met my mother and the rest of it is history.

He never said as much, but I don't think he was fighting for victory...only vengeance. The man was harder than woodpecker lips and I'm sorry to say that he got far more than his fair share of sorrows in life.

My father was always grateful for the U.S. involvement in the war and the subsequent ceasefire. It was not lost upon him that the U.S. owed Korea nothing and he was very much indebted and honored by the American sacrifices.

edit:

You know something funny? Because of the way my father acted at night (just like yours did after the war), I was absolutely convinced that ghosts were real when I was a young lad.

Last edited by shan2; 11/12/08 07:18 PM.

You're only young once, but you can be immature forever.