Korean photographer travels the world to honour the service of last few remaining Korean War vets
Veteran says fellow Korean War vets had to fund their own memorial wall
It's been 70 years since the armistice that ended the Korean War, and the number of Canadian soldiers still with us who fought in "The Forgotten War" is fewer and fewer each year.
That's why Rami Hyun is on a mission to tell the stories, through interviews and photos, of these remaining few soldiers.
"In Canada, the Korean War has been known, sadly, as the Forgotten War," he said. "It's not a forgotten war—it's a forgotten victory."
Since 2017, Hyun has interviewed thousands of veterans from all over the world and taken their photos as part of Project Soldier.
He said he's been taking photos of Korean War veterans for almost 10 years — a project he says is meant to honour their service.
"We owe a lot," he said, adding that veterans from the Korean War have had to fight for recognition.
Hyun, who lives in South Korea, spent last year travelling the United States, taking photos and conducting interviews. He said each place he visits provides a "different country, different feeling, different story" about the Korean War.
Last week, Hyun visited some of the few remaining Canadian veterans. He said out of almost 27,000 veterans, only six per cent are still living in Canada.
One of those veterans is Romeo Daley, president of the Korea Veterans Association, in Fort Erie, Ont.
Daley said he didn't want to be part of Project Soldier at first, because he was concerned revisiting stories about his past would trigger nightmares, but said he decided participating was important.
"Korean War veterans are dying faster than any other war veteran," Daley said.
He said there were around 151 Korean War veterans living in the Niagara area in 2019 — now Daley is one of four remaining veterans.
"I'm one of the youngest and I'm 91," he said. "How much longer do we have?"
'We ended up being peacemakers'
Daley said he turned 18 the month before the Korean War began on June 25, 1950 — the day 75,000 North Korean troops under dictator Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un, swept across the border.
He said he joined the Canadian Army two months later, in August 1950, and was deployed to Korea almost a year later, in June 1951.
"At the time, it was a one year term. Every Canadian that signed to go, signed to go for one year and as it was they couldn't find a replacement for me, so I had to stay a little longer," he said.
He said he was sent as a peacekeeper, not as an active soldier, even though he had been "to hell and back" during his time in the war. He said for a long time, the Canadian government saw the soldiers returning from the Korean War as "peace officers," not as war veterans.
"We went to Korea as peacekeepers, but we ended up being peacemakers," he said.
Veterans fighting to remember their legacy 70 years after war
There is a memorial wall for the fallen soldiers who fought in the Korean War in Brampton, at Meadowvale Cemetery. It was built in 1997 and has the names of the almost 27,000 Canadian soldiers who served.
But Daley said the wall, which cost around $77,000, was entirely funded by the veterans. Daley said he raised $5,000 himself.
The Korean conflict took the lives of 516 Canadians, making it the country's third most deadly conflict, but it wasn't until the 1990s that the war's dates were added to The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa, Ont.
"We had to fight for everything," Daley said.
Hyun said that in his experience, from meeting thousands of Korean War veterans, what most of them want is recognition.
He said if you meet a Korean War veteran, you should say, "'Thank you for your service and sacrifice.'"
"If you remember them, they're not going to go. They're going to live forever within the mind, and in history too."
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With files from Tess Ha and Murray Brewster