Young-Oak Kim
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Colonel Young-Oak Kim (1919 - December 29, 2005) was a highly decorated U.S. Army veteran who fought in World War II and the Korean War. He was a member of the U.S. 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team and led many critical battles into victory in Italy and France during World War II. He became the first officer from an ethnic minority to command an Army combat battalion in U.S. history while in Korea. He was awarded 19 medals, including the Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, and the French Croix de Guerre. He died of cancer at the age of 86.
Contents |
[edit] Early Years
Kim was born in 1919 as the son of Soon Kwon Kim and Nora Koh in Los Angeles. He had three brothers and two sisters. His father was a member of Daehanin-dongjihwe, which literally translates to "The Great Korean Association," the group established in Hawaii to help liberate Korea from Japan by Syngman Rhee. This background helped Kim build a strong cultural identity.
Kim graduated from Belmont High School in Los Angeles, and proceeded to Los Angeles City College. After a year, thinking the advanced education would not do any good, he dropped out. He tried various jobs, but his racial background did not allow him to stay with one job for long. After World War II broke out, he applied to U.S. Army, but was turned away for the same reason.
In January 1941, though, he was drafted by the Army, after the U.S. Congress passed a law that allowed the Army to draft Asian Americans. This was three months before his father died.
[edit] World War II
After spending half a year as an engineer in Army, Kim was selected to the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Upon graduation in January 1943, he was assigned to the 100th Infantry Battalion, a unit that consisted of Japanese Americans from Hawaii. When he joined the unit, he was offered to transfer to another unit because of his Korean-heritage (Korea was still under Japanese control), but he insisted on staying, saying "We're all Americans and we're fighting for the same cause."
100th Battalion was sent to North Africa to assist the war in Europe, but initially the U.S. Army did not have any plan on how to utilize the unit. By its own request, it was sent to the front and joined the war in Italy. In Italy, Kim's incredible map-reading skills and determination led many battles and some "impossible missions" to success. His strategic skills started to be recognized.
An anecdote from the Battle of Anzio is well-known. In this critical battle, the Allied Force needed to know the locations of German tank units. Kim volunteered to capture German soldiers for intelligence information, and he and Private Fist Class Irving Akahoshi crawled into German territory and captured two German soldiers in the daytime, while the enemy rested for their evening watch. The information they gathered from the prisoners helped the Allied Force determine that there was not a tank unit in the path they were considering to break through. The Allied Force was then able to break Gustav Line and liberate Rome.
He also led 100th Battalion in battles at Belvedere and Pisa, which helped the Allied Force break the Gothic Line. The Allied Force was able to occupy Pisa with no casuality while Kim practiced remarkable strategies.
The battalion was then sent to France, where Kim participated as an operations officer. He fought in battles that liberated towns of Bruyere and Biffontaine, but was severely wounded by a gunshot from an enemy soldier in Biffontaine, and after a while, returned to Los Angeles for a 6-month break in late 1944. When he was about to return to Europe, the European part of the war was over.
[edit] Korean War
After World War II, Kim quit the Army. However, there were not many opportunities for a young Korean man. Thinking earning money would be the only way for him to survive, he started a coin laundry room, which was quite rare during the time. The business was very successful, but in two years, a war broke off in Korea. Kim abandoned the business and joined the war again.
The Army let all Korean-heritage soldiers, and anyone who could speak at least a word in Korean, work in Army Security Agency. Kim was no exception, but he wanted to fight at the front. By request, he was sent to East Asia, and by pretending not to know any Korean and with the help of people he had known from WWII, he was able to join the war in Korea as a member of an infantry. This was the first time he came to his mother land.
He was assigned to the the 31st Infantry of the 7th Infantry Division in April, 1951 as the Chief Intelligence Officer, under the commander William J. McCaffrey, who scouted him. Kim worked not only as an intelligence officer, but also virtually as an operations officer, by the request of McCaffrey. Kim rescued many U.S. and Korean Army in several battles.
The battalion was previously known to be incompetent, but with the arrival of Kim, it won nearly every battle it participated in, including the battles of Kuman-mountain, Tabgol, Keumbyung-mountain, and Suahn-mountain. The 31st Infantry played the major role in stopping the Chinese troops, and pushing them back above the 38th parallel. Kim's unit was the very first unit that passed the parallel. The 8th Infantry Division of U.S. Army redrew the map every day to reflect the changes, but these maps recorded only the locations of bodies that were bigger than or equal to regiments, which are groups of battalions. However, the map from May 31, 1951 included the location of Kim's battalion. Kim played a major role in shaping the current border between the Koreas.
During Operation Piledriver in August, after a battle in which his unit proceeded to the north of Kimhwa, his unit was mistaken as the enemy by the 555th Artillery Battalion, because it seemed way too north than possible, and was bombarded for this reason. While Kim was resting, he received a serious injury during the friendly fire incident. He was lucky enough to be saved by some people from Johns Hopkins University, who were in Tokyo. He made it back to Korea after two months.
Upon his return, McCaffrey let him command the 1st combat battalion of the regiment, which made him the first-ever officer from an ethnic minority to command an Army combat battalion in U.S. history. After fighting for nearly a year, Kim left Korea in September, 1952.
[edit] Social Work
After serving in Army for 30 years, he retired in 1972. He then actively participated in Asian American community affairs. He helped found Go For Broke Educational Foundation, the Japanese American National Museum, the Korean Health, Education, Information and Research Center, the Korean American Coalition, the Korean American Museum, the Korean Youth and Cultural Center, and the Center for Pacific Asian Families. [1]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- U.S. 100th Infantry Battalion
- 442nd Regimental Combat Team
- Go For Broke! This film dramatizes the lives and wartime heroics of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 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.
- List of Korean War veterans who are recipients of the Bronze Star
