Hong,+Ka+Yun+(Mirae)BlockA

My Grandparent's __SURVIVAL__ during the Korean War

__Grandmother's interview (Primary) __
Grandmother’s experience

I: Granny so can u tell us a bit about the Korean war? How old were you? G: I was 18 years old when the war started on 1950. Since I lived in Geojae island which is at the South-East side of Korea I have never seen a real fight between the South and North soldiers. I: So there were no changes in your island? G:Well there were few changes. First, there were so many people coming to our island for refuge because the island was far away from the North. I: Do you remember any of them? G:Actually, a lot of people allowed the refugees to stay in their house, providing them home, and food. I:Did your family also allowed them to stay? G:Of course, we all felt bad for them and also my house was pretty big so actually three family lived in my house for about 2 years. I: Wow, I don't think I can let strangers stay in my house for that long. G: Well, it was during the war, and we all knew that they had no place to go. I: Were there anymore differences between before and during the war? G:During the war, Concentration camp was made in Geojae island. I:Why not other place? G:Because now, there are many ways to go to that island, but back then, there were no single bridge between the island and the mainland. The only way for the captives to run away was to swim, which was almost impossible. I:How did you feel when u realized that the North Korean soldiers were in the island? G:First, I was just curious because I thought they would be different from us but I really felt bad when I saw them marching through the crowd because they all looked sick and scared. Then I felt sorry for them because they didn't choose to fight, but they were forced to. Just like almost all other soldiers in Korea. I: Can you tell me how you feel toward the Korean War? G: Well. It was definitely one of the darkest history in Korea and it should never happen again. I:Thank you for the interview!

__Pictures (Primary) __



__Mother's Interview (Secondary) __ Grandfather's experience I:Mom~ can I interview you about grandfather? M: Sure~ What do you want to know? I: I want to know what happened to him while he was attending the Korean War. M: Oh, sure.. I: How old was he when he attended the war? M: He was exactly 20 years old, before he married your grandmother. I: I heard he was really lucky that he survived. M: Yes, definitely. A lot of people similar age to your grandfather had died during the war. I: Oh. But I think I remember him missing his right foot toes, did that happen during the war? M: Yes, I heard from him that he got a frostbite during the winter, so had to cut his toes, or else he could’ve died. But that wasn’t the only injury he had. I: Oh my god. What else? M: Have you heard of a battle called “White horse highland battle (백마고지전)”? I: Yes, isn’t this battle really famous because so many people died? M: Yes, I heard in 10 days, about 3500 people died. During the battle, Your grandfather got 2 shots in his head and fainted for a long time. He said that when he woke up, there were no one because all the soldiers thought he was dead. This is the miracle part, he walked all the way back to the camp and it took about 3 days for him to get there. I: Wow. Was grandpa proud when he was telling you? M: He was proud but never happy when he was telling this to me. He said that he didn’t want to tell me but he wanted me to know the history of out family, and our country weather it is good or bad. But I am very proud of him. If there were no soldiers like him, there will be no Korea. I: He is buried in National Cemetery(국립현충원) now right? G: Yes, it’s for people who sacrificed them selves for the country. I: Well.. Thank you for the interview!

**Brief Description of Source**- The artifact above is the approval by the president Young Sam Kim of the National merit. The two interviews are from my mom and my grandmother.

**Source Type**- The picture above is a primary source since he got this after the war, The interview from my mom is the secondary source, and the other interview form my grandmother is the primary source.

**Short Explanation of the Source’s Significance to the Event**- The artifact says that my grandfather had sacrificed himself for the country, therefore praise his patriotic spirit. This was one of the proud event happened in my family. The primary interview signifies the my grandmother’s perspective and the secondary interview signifies my grandfather’s point of view of Korean war.

**Written recount**- The Korean War began in 1950 when Seung man Rhee boasted that he was going to attack North Korea. It was good enough excuse, soKim Il Sung, the leader of North Kore invaded South Korea. The main reason why Korean war started was because Kim Il Sung wanted to unite Korea by his power. But the real reason was because of the cold war going on between USA and USSR. USA had a power over South Korea and USSR had a power over North Korea.

__Roles of Historians __

**Detective**-As a detective, I had to prove that the Shift/change in history has occurred by Korean War. To prove these, I found and gathered the historical proof by the primary and secondary sources I had. The two primary sources I had were interviews and pictures from my grandparent. Since they’ve been through this historical event, I think I gathered the good sources. Also I had an interview for my secondary source. My mom was told by my grandfather so this interview interpreted well with the primary sources.

**Interpreter**- As an interpreter, I had to decide what I wanted to prove historically. Even if this was the Family history, I also had to know more deeply about Korean War. For example, when my grandfather had a battle of White horse highland, I wanted to interpret my grandfather’s experience with other secondary sources. Also, after my grandmother told her story, I wanted to know the deeper side of the Concentration camp. I found the secondary source that said that the North Korean soldiers died a lot by experimenting chemicals on them, diseases and lack of food.

**Judge**- As a judge, I had to decide which point of view/idea/thesis is that is more accurate. When I was looking for sources, I didn’t just want to write one point of view about Korean War. I thought that I didn’t just want to know about the perspective for my grandfather but also for the citizens just like my grandmother, who lived in Korea because the soldiers weren’t the only one who got effected by the war. To use the accurate thesis, I analyzed both Primary an secondary sources.

**Philosopher**- As a philosopher, I had to attach the meaning of my sources to the history. In other word, Why would or should I care? I thought about it. Why should I care? Because it is not only about my family’s history but also about the country I am born in. Korean war was one of the major war in Korea and the reason why this place still exist is by the sacrifice of our grandparents.

 T hank y ou f or v isiting !