Posts Tagged ‘Geoje Island’
The Best Christmas Present Ever
Seventy years ago, US Navy demolition teams, Army engineers, and hundreds of other American servicemen, all part of a UN force that weeks earlier had numbered over 100,000, watched as a massive explosion – the largest since World War II – erupted over a small port in North Korea. With docks, warehouses, and wharfs bursting…
Read MoreA Christmas Miracle
Thousands of refugees, huddled at the water’s edge and anxiously waiting to board American ships, knew what would happen if they were left behind. The Chinese, massing in the nearby mountains, would storm into Hungnam and make an example of anyone who had defied them. US and ROK collaborators, Christians, anti-communists, and anyone deemed a…
Read MoreGuided by God’s Own Hand: Captain Leonard LaRue and the Meredith Victory
From deadly World War II Murmansk runs, to history’s greatest rescue operation by a single ship, to a life of prayer as a Benedictine monk, Leonard LaRue, or Brother Marinus as he was called after entering St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, New Jersey, led a life of service to others. He has recently been remembered…
Read MoreMen of the Merchant Marine: Unsung Heroes of the Korean War
As the elderly American, surrounded by cameras, microphones, and reporters, walked towards the memorial, two Korean men stepped forward from the crowd. As if on cue, the sea of people suddenly parted, and the three men shook hands, their warm smiles and contagious laughs drawing everyone’s attention. It was a magical moment, one that words and pictures…
Read MoreBringing History to Life: The Power of a Road Trip
Let’s go! Bali, Bali, Hurry, Hurry! Grab your bags and get on the bus! We all remember our favorite field trip. Whether it was for a day, an overnight, or a week, it became a permanent part our of memory. Snapshots of the teacher, place, and key moments of the outing flash through our minds…
Read MoreHonoring the Past
They’re a loyal, fun-loving bunch. The former North Korean refugees, men now in their seventies and eighties, get together four times a year to have dinner, reminisce, sing, and give thanks for the opportunity to live in a free, democratic country. It all started five years ago when, on a whim, a few members of…
Read MoreMay the Circle Be Unbroken
They boarded a ship on December 19, 1950, and never returned. None of them could have imagined on that fateful day 67 years ago that they were saying goodbye to family and friends – forever. But they survived. With the help of Dr. Hyun Bong-Hak, a Korean doctor who was determined to save them, and…
Read MoreA Beautiful Day, a Bus Full of Friends, and a Tragedy
It was Friday. The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and the air was clean. And I was headed for Geoje Island . . . with a busload of men and women who 67 years ago were North Korean refugees. I had been asked to give a speech at the Hungnam Evacuation Memorial Committee’s annual…
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