Young-Oak Kim
Young-Oak Kim | |
---|---|
Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit (Korea) | |
Korean name | |
Hangul | 김영옥 |
Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Kim Yeong-ok |
McCune–Reischauer | Kim Yŏng'ok |
Young-Oak Kim (
Early life and education
Kim was born in Los Angeles in 1919.
Kim graduated from Belmont High School and proceeded to Los Angeles City College. He dropped out after a year to support his family. He tried various jobs, but racial discrimination prevented him from staying long at any job.[10]
The U.S. Army refused his enlistment for the same reason. But after the
Career
World War II
After spending half a year in the Army as an engineer, Kim was selected for the
The 100th Battalion was sent to North Africa to assist in the war in Europe, but initially the U.S. Army had no plan for its deployment due to racial discrimination at the time. By its own request, the battalion was sent to the front and joined the war in Italy. There, Kim's map-reading skills and determination led to success in many battles and some "impossible missions".
He also led elements of the 100th Battalion in battles at Belvedere and Pisa, which helped break the Gothic Line. The Allies were able to occupy Pisa without casualties.
In France, Kim was the battalion's operations officer. He fought in battles that liberated the towns of
Korean War
Kim left the Army after World War II. However, there were not many opportunities for a young Korean man. He started a self-service laundry, which was quite rare at the time. The business was very successful; Kim's earnings were five times his salary as an Army captain.[15] Two years later, war broke out in Korea in 1950. Kim abandoned the business and re-entered the Army:
As a Korean, the most direct way to help my father's country even a little, and as a U.S. citizen, the most direct way to repay even a little the debt owed to Korea by the U.S. was to go to Korea, pick up a gun and fight.
— Young-Oak Kim, interview, The Chosun Ilbo[15]
The Army allowed all U.S. soldiers of Korean descent—and anyone who could speak at least a word of Korean—to work in the
He was assigned to
The 31st Infantry played a major role in stopping Chinese troops and pushing them back above the
During Operation Piledriver in August, after a battle in which his unit proceeded to the north of Kimhwa, his unit was mistakenly bombarded by the 555th Field Artillery Battalion because it seemed too far north to be friendly. Kim was seriously injured in the friendly fire incident. He was saved by doctors from Johns Hopkins University, who were in Tokyo. He made it back to Korea after two months of recuperation.
Upon his return, McCaffrey put him in command of the regiment's 1st Battalion and promoted him to the rank of major. Major Kim became the first minority officer to command an Army battalion on the battlefield in U.S. history.[17] His battalion also adopted an orphanage in Seoul. More than 500 war orphans were taken care of, and grew up to become artists, musicians, and other successful professionals. After fighting for nearly a year, Young Oak Kim left Korea in September 1952. In 2003, the government of the Republic of Korea decorated Kim for his social service.[15]
After serving in the Korean War, Major Kim became an instructor at the
Awards and decorations
- Badges
Combat Infantryman Badge (2nd Award) |
- Decorations
Distinguished Service Cross | |
Silver Star with bronze oak leaf cluster | |
Legion of Merit with bronze oak leaf cluster | |
"V" Device and bronze oak leaf cluster
| |
Purple Heart with two bronze oak leaf clusters | |
Army Commendation Medal
|
- Unit Award
Army Presidential Unit Citation with silver and bronze oak leaf clusters |
- Service Medals
- Foreign Awards
Bronze Medal of Military Valor (Italy) | |
French Legion of Honour (Officer) | |
French Croix de guerre
| |
Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit (South Korea)
| |
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
| |
United Nations Korea Medal
| |
Republic of Korea War Service Medal |
Later life and death
After serving in the Army for 30 years, Kim retired with 80% disability in 1972.
In 1973, he joined Special Services for Groups (SSG), a non-profit health and human service organization dedicated to building and sustaining community-based programs that address the needs of vulnerable, richly diverse multi-ethnic communities. George Nishinaka, the head of SSG at the time, helped Kim become more involved with community service by nominating him to be a board member of
Kim continued to be an active member of the Asian American community and beyond. In 1975, he helped found the Korean Youth and Cultural Center, now known as the Koreatown Youth and Community Center. The organization now serves more than 11,000 immigrants from Asia and Latin America each year. It helps youth and families in Los Angeles who are struggling with poverty and language barriers. Kim further served the Korean American community, as a founding member of the Korean American Coalition (KAC) from 1985 to 2005. The KAC has an ongoing goal to promote civic and civil rights interests of the Korean American community, through education, community organization, leadership development, and coalition-building with diverse communities.[21]
From 1986 to 1988, Kim served as a member of Serving the Family & Friends of the Keiro Homes, part of a non-for-profit healthcare organization that promotes healthy lifestyles for the elderly.[20][22] Throughout the 1990s he served as Chairman of the Center for Pacific Asian Families, an organization that was founded to help address violence and sexual assault in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Under his leadership, the Center for Pacific Asian Families became the largest women’s shelter in Southern California.[20][23]
In 1986, Kim co-founded the Korean Health, Education, Information, and Research Center to provide new, uninformed immigrants with the health care information and services that they are entitled to receive by law in America. As one of the largest ethnic charity organizations today, it continues to help new immigrants obtain basic health care and offers them bilingual services in English, Spanish, and Korean.[19][20][24]
Along with health care and equal opportunities for the poor, Kim also valued education. From 1989 until 2005, he served as Chairman of 100th/442nd/MIS Memorial Foundation, a veteran’s association of Japanese American soldiers who fought during World War II. Under his leadership, the organization worked directly with teachers and provided them with lesson plans to tell students the story of these Army units and cultivate a sentiment of national pride and respect in schools throughout the United States. [28] Kim also co-founded other organizations that continue to educate the public: the
Kim died from cancer on December 29, 2005, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and rests at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii.[26] He has three stepsons, one sister, and two brothers.[27] His sister Willa Kim was a well known American costume designer.
Legacy
A newly opened middle school in Los Angeles' fourth local district was named Young Oak Kim Academy in 2009 in recognition of Kim.[28] In 2010, the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies opened at the University of California, Riverside. The Young Oak Kim Center has published many books discussing the history of the Korean American community, and has dedicated a biography to Young Oak Kim's life in the military after his military service. The book is called "Unsung Hero: the Col. Young O. Kim Story," and was originally written in Korean by Woo Sung Han and was translated to English by Professor Edward T. Chang.[6][29]
In 2016, the Council of Korean Americans (CKA), a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization of Korean American leaders, spearheaded coordination of diverse civic, political, and military leaders from across the United States to nominate Kim for a 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom.[30] The nomination was formally announced on May 17, 2016, at a press conference in Washington, DC by members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus[31] and is part of a series of tributes CKA plans leading up to what would be Kim's 100th Birthday on January 29, 2019.[30]
See also
- U.S. 100th Infantry Battalion
- 442nd Regimental Combat Team
- U.S. 31st Infantry Regiment
- Operation Shingle
- 442nd Regimental Combat Teamand the 100th Infantry Battalion's Hawaiian troops. The film stars Van Johnson as a young officer, reluctant about his assignment to the 442nd. He comes to respect the Nisei troops, eventually contesting a transfer back to his original Texas unit.
- Willa Kim—Young-Oak Kim's sister, a noted costume designer for stage, dance and film who twice received the Tony Award for Outstanding Costume Design.
References
- ^ "Young Oak Kim Academy | Monica Garcia – Board Member President". Archived from the original on 2014-04-20. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
- ^ "Heroes of the Korean War: COL Young-oak Kim". ROKdrop.com. November 11, 2008. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
- ^ "韩裔金永玉大校入选美国战争英雄16人之一 - 在韩看世界 - 人在韩国_韩国留学生的综合门户,论坛,商城". Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- Star Bulletin. Honolulu, Hawaii. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- ^ South Bay Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. January 2006. Archived from the original(PDF) on July 28, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2008. adapted from Myrna Oliver, LA Times. Jan 4, 2006, page B8 obituaries
- ^ a b Linda Ong (8 October 2010). "Daily Dose: 10/08/10". AsianWeek. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ^ "U.S. lawmakers call for awarding Medal of Freedom to late Korean-American war hero". Yonhap News Agency.
- ^ "Young Oak Kim". www.100thbattalion.org. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
- ^ Gates, Anita (28 December 2016). "Willa Kim, Designer of Fanciful Costumes, Dies at 99". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ a b c d Kim, Y. O., & Tsukano, J. (1986, April). Colonel Young Oak Kim Oral History. audio.
- ^ National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938–1946 [Archival Database]; World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.
- ^ Affairs, Office of Public and Intergovernmental. "Remarks by Secretary Eric K. Shinseki - Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs". www.va.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ^ "Go For Broke National Education Center >> Oral Histories >> Hanashi Oral History Program >> Podcasts". Go For Broke National Education Center. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
Colonel Young Oak Kim, a member of the 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team, shares with us an anecdote of a daring mission that made it possible for the Allies to break out of Anzio. General Mark Clark, commander of the Fifth Army, was so pleased at the outcome of this heroic mission that he personally awarded Colonel Kim the Distinguished Service Cross...the second highest military declaration of the United States Army and is awarded only to those who express acts of heroism that involve extraordinary risk of life.
- ^ Travers, Dorian (June 2006). "Four New Inductees to Museum's Gallery of Heroes" (PDF). Museum News You Can Use. Honolulu: Hawaii Army Museum Society. pp. 4–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
Private first class Akahoshi voluntarily accompanied an officer on a patrol to secure information about enemy units and their locations in a vital sector of the front line. Pfc Akahoshi and the officer infiltrated about 800 yards through enemy lines to discover the German outposts ahead of them. After observing a large enemy group in a forward area, Akahoshi and the officer, in broad daylight, crawled 250 yards ahead, across an open field, exposed to enemy observation from the Germans located on a command ridge to their rear, and arrived at a point near the forward outpost. They surprised two German soldiers armed with machine pistols, who were providing security at the time. After participating in the capture of these two prisoners, Pfc Akahoshi retraced his perilous route, successfully by-passing two German listening posts, and got back to his own unit behind the front lines.
- ^ a b c d e
"The Many Firsts of Col. Young-oak Kim". Digital Chosun (English Edition). Seoul: The Chosun Ilbo. August 19, 2005. Archived from the originalon June 23, 2006. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
- ISBN 9780615473727.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Foulkes, Debbie (8 June 2010). "Young Oak Kim: First Ethnic Minority to Command a U.S. Army Combat Battalion". Forgotten Newsmakers.
- ^ Retrieved 2015, from https://services1.arcgis.com/rct9rcgw4fy2e7dk/arcgis/rest/services/photos/featureserver/0/1028/attachments/2029
- ^ a b c Kim, Y. O., & Ho, P. (2000). Young Oak Kim Oral History. audio.
- ^ a b c d Watanabe, B. (2009, May). Officials, Students and Community Leaders Dedicate Young Oak Kim Academy Middle school named for war hero, community leader pilots single-gender classrooms. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.goforbroke.org/about_us/press_releases/about_us_news_press100509.php Archived 2015-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Korean American Coalition. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.kacla.org
- ^ 19. History – KYCC | Koreatown Youth Community Center. (2015). Retrieved 2015, from http://kyccla.org/about/mission/
- ^ Mission, Vision and History. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.nurturingchange.org/about-us/history Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Korean Health, Education, Information & Research (KHEIR) Center, Los Angeles, CA . (2008). Retrieved 2015, from http://www.lakheir.org
- ^ Nam, Jaeyon (February 24, 2006). "Growing Support for Naming School for War Hero Kim". Dynamic Korea. Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States of America.
- ^ Foulkes, D. (2010, August). Young Oak Kim (1919–2005) First Ethnic Minority to Command a U.S. Army Combat Battalion. Retrieved 2015, from http://forgottennewsmakers.com/2010/06/07/young-oak-kim-1919-–-2005-first-ethnic-minority-to-command-a-u-s-army-combat-battalion/
- ^ "Colonel Young Oak Kim (U.S. Army Ret.), 86; decorated US World War II and Korean War veteran" (Press release). Go For Broke National Education Center. January 3, 2006. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
- ChosunMedia. July 16, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
- ^ "YOK Center - Welcome". yokcenter.ucr.edu.
- ^ a b "Colonel Young-Oak Kim – Council Korean Americans". Council Korean Americans. Archived from the original on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
- ^ "CAPAC Seeks Presidential Medal of Freedom for Young Oak Kim". www.rafu.com. June 2016.
Further reading
- Asahina, Robert (May 2006). Just Americans: how Japanese Americans won a war at home and abroad. New York: Gotham Books. ISBN 1-59240-198-8.
- Moulin, Pierre (January 1993). U.S. Samuraïs in Bruyères. Peace and Freedom Trail Editor. ISBN 978-2-9599984-0-9.
- Han, Woo Sung (2011). Unsung Hero: The Story of Colonel Young Oak Kim. Chang, Edward T (trans.). The Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies, UC Riverside. ISBN 978-0-615-47372-7.