Today’s June 25th. A rather random day to most citizens of the world, but to Koreans (and those familiar with Korean history), it marks the day the North launched a surprise attack that pretty much routed the South, forced it’s government out of Seoul within three days, and started a war that would drag on for three long and bloody years.
In Korea, the day is known as 6.25, or “Yugio.” This year is the 71st anniversary of the attack. There are plenty of resources if you want to find out more. I enjoyed the book, This Kind of War by T. J. Fehrenbach. It’s been a while though, so of course I’d better start reading (DoD library system has it as an audiobook!).
Yugio always reminds me that I’m living right in the middle of a lot of history. You often see me post about some of the cool stuff I find on my bike rides. It’s usually something historical from before the time the US existed, but at times it’s more recent. Just a couple of weekends ago, I passed through Suwon and took pictures of the monument to the French soldiers who died in the war. The monument to South Africa’s Airmen is nearby on another of my routes.
But there’s something even more interesting and closer than either of these — the UN monument, which is erected at the site of Task Force Smith’s battle with the North in Osan, just a few miles North of where I live. Task Force Smith was the first battle fought by Americans on the Korean peninsula (in the 20th century. If you recall my Ganghwado Fortresses ride from a couple of months ago, you would know the Americans fought Korea in the 19th century too). The US forces were pretty much flanked and overrun. We’d just finished a World War only five years earlier and couldn’t disarm and shut down fast enough when that was over, so we were completely unprepared. I won’t go any deeper but to say you can read about it here. I’ll run up there again someday and get pictures. They’ve put up a museum and developed the area quite a bit, even since the last time I went, which was fairly recently.
One of the most interesting encounters I’ve had was a few years ago at the airport. I spotted an elderly American gentleman in a wheelchair wearing a Korean War hat. Now, I’m not one to walk up to strangers and start conversations, but in my eyes, this guy was a superstar, so I went right up and shook his hand. I’d noticed the writing on the side of his hat: “Task Force Smith Survivor.” It turns out he was in Korea for most of the war, and wasn’t wounded once. I regret not getting his name. It certainly was great talking to him though.
So take a little time to check out some history over the next week or two (TF Smith engaged the north on July 5th), and if you have any questions, let me know.
