ID :
20549
Mon, 09/22/2008 - 11:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/20549
The shortlink copeid
Seoul to build memorial park dedicated to U.S. veteran William Shaw
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean Navy and a Seoul district office will build a memorial park dedicated to a U.S. Navy officer, who voluntarily rejoined the U.S. armed service after retirement to fight for South Korea and was killed during the Korean War (1950-1953), the Navy said Monday.
The park, dedicated to the late William Hamilton Shaw, will be built by 2010, according to the Navy.
Born in what is now the North Korean capital Pyongyang in 1922 to William E.
Shaw, an American missionary who worked under the Korean name of Seo Wi-ryeom,
the American was raised in Korea until he graduated from high school.
He served as a naval officer during World War II and was honorably discharged in
1947 as a junior lieutenant. Shaw then returned to Korea to help train the first
graduating classes of the country's Naval Academy, and later went on to study for
his doctorate degree at Harvard, according to the Navy.
The self-described American-Korean, who was better known to his Naval Academy
students as Seo Wi-ryeom Jr., rejoined the U.S. Navy in 1950 when he learned a
war had erupted in Korea.
"The reason Lt. Seo volunteered to join the Korean War was because he believed
Korea was his second home and because he could not leave his Korean Naval Academy
students to fight alone," the Navy said in a statement.
His love for Korea was also shown in a letter he wrote to his American parents.
"I cannot be in good conscience in return to Korea as a Christian missionary in
peacetime if I am not first willing to be there to help the Koreans defend their
freedom in time of war," Shaw wrote.
Shaw was killed Sept. 22, 1950, at the age of 29 while taking part in an
operation that eventually led to the recapturing of the South Korean capital
Seoul for the first time since the war broke out on June 25 that year, according
to the Navy.
He is buried at the Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery in Eunpyeong-gu,
Seoul, along with his parents. A monument dedicated solely to him was erected in
1956.
In a rare ceremony to mark the fall of a single U.S. officer during the Korean
War, hundreds of South Koreans, including the country's former Navy chiefs and
active servicemembers, were to gather later Monday at a Eunpyeong-gu park.
"Lt. Seo was truly Korean who never hesitated to call Korea his home," ceremony
organizers said in a statement.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean Navy and a Seoul district office will build a memorial park dedicated to a U.S. Navy officer, who voluntarily rejoined the U.S. armed service after retirement to fight for South Korea and was killed during the Korean War (1950-1953), the Navy said Monday.
The park, dedicated to the late William Hamilton Shaw, will be built by 2010, according to the Navy.
Born in what is now the North Korean capital Pyongyang in 1922 to William E.
Shaw, an American missionary who worked under the Korean name of Seo Wi-ryeom,
the American was raised in Korea until he graduated from high school.
He served as a naval officer during World War II and was honorably discharged in
1947 as a junior lieutenant. Shaw then returned to Korea to help train the first
graduating classes of the country's Naval Academy, and later went on to study for
his doctorate degree at Harvard, according to the Navy.
The self-described American-Korean, who was better known to his Naval Academy
students as Seo Wi-ryeom Jr., rejoined the U.S. Navy in 1950 when he learned a
war had erupted in Korea.
"The reason Lt. Seo volunteered to join the Korean War was because he believed
Korea was his second home and because he could not leave his Korean Naval Academy
students to fight alone," the Navy said in a statement.
His love for Korea was also shown in a letter he wrote to his American parents.
"I cannot be in good conscience in return to Korea as a Christian missionary in
peacetime if I am not first willing to be there to help the Koreans defend their
freedom in time of war," Shaw wrote.
Shaw was killed Sept. 22, 1950, at the age of 29 while taking part in an
operation that eventually led to the recapturing of the South Korean capital
Seoul for the first time since the war broke out on June 25 that year, according
to the Navy.
He is buried at the Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery in Eunpyeong-gu,
Seoul, along with his parents. A monument dedicated solely to him was erected in
1956.
In a rare ceremony to mark the fall of a single U.S. officer during the Korean
War, hundreds of South Koreans, including the country's former Navy chiefs and
active servicemembers, were to gather later Monday at a Eunpyeong-gu park.
"Lt. Seo was truly Korean who never hesitated to call Korea his home," ceremony
organizers said in a statement.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
