Daughter retraces Korean War veteran father’s journey through fiction

Patricia Bittel visits a hanok (traditional Korean house) during her research trip to Korea in May. Courtesy of Patricia Bittel

As Wednesday marks the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, one American woman is commemorating it in a more personal way — through a novel that connects her father’s military service to the divided realities of the Korean Peninsula today.

Patrice Bittel, a retired lawyer now pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at Pacific University in Oregon, recently made a research trip to Korea.

Her goal was to collect firsthand experiences and impressions for her debut novel, “The Buddha Head,” a modern-day suspense story involving South and North Korean characters.

But the trip was also a journey into her father’s past — one she only partially understood while he was alive.

Patricia Bittel's father James Edwin Thomas while he was serving the U.S. Navy / Courtesy of Patricia Bittel

“My dad was in the Navy during the Korean War, and his job was to deploy depth charges,” she said during a recent Zoom interview with The Korea Times.

Depth charges are explosive devices dropped into the sea to destroy enemy submarines.

Her father, James Edwin Thomas, enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at age 17, served until 1949 and returned to active duty in 1951 during the Korean War. He retired from the Navy in 1974. Though records are incomplete, he told his daughter he had been stationed in Korea during the war, working to prevent North Korean ships from moving freely.

“He told me that their (North Koreans') attitude, their philosophy, their approach and their methods — everything about them — was just almost unthinkable,” she said. “When he talked about that, I could tell that he was talking about a really tough time.”

Decades later, as she began her master’s program, Bittel decided to write a novel for her thesis. She didn’t originally set out to write about Korea, but found herself drawn to the subject.

“My first semester I started reading and I read all kinds of different stuff about Korea,” she said. “I read a lot of books about North Korea and some of them were fiction but not all and it was a mixed bag.”

Her novel itself is set in present-day Koreas and centers on a mysterious Buddha head — an antique with a hidden secret that connects multiple characters.

Over several weeks in May, she traced a path through Korea that doubled as literary research.

She visited Seoul’s antique market in Dapsimni, where her protagonist is caught in a chase scene. She walked through the Demilitarized Zone and the Third Infiltration Tunnel. She tried Korean cuisine and took a Korean cooking class — she is planning to mention food at some point in her novel, including bulgogi (marinated beef). In one market alley, she stumbled on a counter lined with severed pig heads — a gruesome but perfect backdrop for one of her novel’s action sequences.

Despite the dark subject matter, her research trip was full of small joys and discoveries. Bittel recalled being moved by the kindness of people who helped her navigate cities and subways without knowing a word of English.

“I took a wrong turn and all of a sudden I didn't know where I was and I had KakaoMap and KakaoMap didn't work at all on my phone. I had to ask for help and people always helped me and they had no reason to know me,” she said.

The trip also made her think more deeply about what her father might have felt if he had returned to Korea later in life.

“He never came back. He won trips to other places, even China. It (the Korea War) was a tough experience for him, so I don't think it occurred to him as a great fun idea to go back,” she said.

But for his daughter, walking Korea’s streets offered unexpected closure — and a connection she hadn’t fully grasped until now.

"The way back to Incheon on the bus, I just started saying 'Look dad! Look at the five-lane highway here in South Korea that wouldn't be here, and look at the tall apartment buildings where people get to live in nice apartments that wouldn't be here either' ... none of that would exist," Bittel said.

"I wish I could have told him and showed him because I think it would have stunned him."

Her father lived to the age of 94 and died during the COVID-19 pandemic. The family wasn’t able to hold a traditional funeral, but later gathered for a memorial party filled with stories and photos.

In many ways, her novel is a living tribute to him — though the work is still very much in progress. Now back home in Utah, she is continuing to develop her manuscript, which is about one-third complete. She estimates she’ll need at least two more semesters to finish her draft, with another year for revisions.

“My best guess would be that in two years, maybe I could do it,” she said.