In memoriam
By Michael P. Downey
The young Americans who came here were not always the most educated or well behaved. They, typical of the young away from home and community, sometimes caused trouble, drank too much, fought, and I'm sorry to say committed crimes against the Korean people.
But these were a minority. Most came here and did their duty as soldiers, trained to a standard, and were always ready to fight ― tonight. They are my heroes and I salute them.
Before that in South Korea's darkest hour, the United States came to the aid of the small nation under attack. It is always said that it was the United Nations and troops from 16 nations that came to Korea's rescue and of course that is true. But it was the United States who did the heavy lifting in terms of resources, manpower, and blood.
About 10 years ago my wife and I went to the city of Busan and visited the U.N. cemetery. There we found marble walls set up with the names of those who died defending this country.
In alphabetical order, each of the 16 nations had the names of their people who died carved into the surface. I looked at the walls of names and was immediately struck. Some nations had 10 or 20 names, some only one or two.
The United Kingdom had several thousand inscriptions. Then we came to our country. There was not space on part of a wall or even one wall to hold the names. There were seven walls to hold the names of more than 38,000 Americans who died from 1950 to 1953. The names seemed to go on forever.
On that day we spent three hours there and touched each and every name. I cried and cried and I thought this is the pride of my country. These names represent the treasure of my country.
Most of them didn't even know where Korea was when they answered the call to arms and yet they came here and these names are of the ones who never went home.
The greatest pride of my country is not its wealth, power, military, culture, language, or anything else. It is these young people who answered freedom's call and paid the ultimate cost.
On that day, I prayed to God that they will have not died in vain but that the Republic of Korea and its people will continue to grow and prosper in freedom.
Michael P. Downey (mpdowney308@gmail.com) is an author and teacher living in South Korea. In his free time he is a human rights activist primarily working with refugees from North Korea. As a volunteer English teacher and speech coach (with Teach North Korean Refugees) he is endeavoring to give them a voice by assisting them in telling their stories.