This week I am honoring the South Korean government and its people who are the very best of rememberers. There is a whole office of the government entitled the Korean Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and part of their outreach is honoring the American service members who served in the Korean War. They do this by flying these aging men to Korea for a visit to the country they were last in as very young men. The Koreans recognize that without this military help from the United States they might well be be living under the horrific dictator to the north, Kim Jong-un.
Yet here in the United States, we have almost forgotten the Korean War, lying as it does in the huge shadow of World War II. Many of those who went to Korea were veterans of that world-wide war and went off to serve yet again under fire. But the Koreans remember and pay airfare and all expenses for these men to come and be honored in the country they helped to save.
Our family is experiencing a small bit of that remembrance this week. A delegation from the Atlanta Consulate of South Korea is coming to our home to present a plaque honoring my grandfather as a Korean War Hero. This grandfather led the Marines in Korea for the landing at Inchon, the recapture of Seoul, and the battle of the Chosin Reservoir. As touched as I am to have this fine man honored, I am even more impressed that the Korean government would go to such lengths to remember someone who aided them in remaining a functioning democracy.
Our grappling with societal issues, the economy, the pandemic and all the confusions of modern life find me thinking of Rudyard Kipling’s words, “Lest we forget, lest we forget.” And I am so impressed that those who gave their youth, strength, and in some cases their lives for another people who lived on the other side of the world are not forgotten by a grateful government who remembers them still.