The War Memorial of Korea - The Story of the Korean War 1

The Story of the Korean War 1: Saving General Dean


Hello, I’m Jo Se-ho from “History Repletion: Oh! Cool Guys”.
This is the War Memorial of Korea
where records of numerous wars in our country are preserved.
We, Oh! Cool Guys, heard about the sad history of the Korean War here
that began on June 25, 1950.

The Korean War left numerous victims along with the tragedy of division of the two Koreas.
Today, I’m going to tell you the story of the late train driver Kim Jae-hyun, who was a victim and a hero of the Korean War.

After the outbreak of the Korean War, Task Force Smith,
the U.S. ground forces, were dispatched to stop the North Korean troops from advancing southward.
However, they were pushed back by the power of the North Korean troops, which used a powerful tank called the T-34 tank.
Meanwhile, General William F. Dean, the commander of the Task Force Smith, was taken as a prisoner.

And to rescue this key military figure at the time, special U.S. troops were urgently sent,
but no one came forward to drive a locomotive to the enemy's camp since it involved risk.
However, there was a Korean man who showed his braveness;
it was the late Kim Jae-hyun.
Unfortunately, the military operation came to a failure,
leading to the death of the driver and numerous soldiers of the special U.S. troops.

Driver Kim was the first Korean to receive the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award from the U.S. Department of Defense in 2012.
There is a monument and a statue to commemorate him at Daejeon Station.
But what I want to tell you today is that we should keep in mind that many more people were sacrificed during the Korean War while helping the refugees evacuate or
after being dispatched to military operations.
They are the hidden true heroes of our nation.