Serving on the Forgotten Frontier

ROK Drop

January 23rd, 2008 at 5:31 am

“Brave” US Soldiers Recognized By Korean Defense Minister

The soldiers who rescued three Korean passengers from auto accident have received further recognition of their efforts:

Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo has sent letters of appreciation to two U.S. soldiers who rescued three South Korean passengers in a highway traffic accident earlier this month, the Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday.

Reports said Staff Sgt. Kimberly Veal and Pfc. Bradley Herron of the 2nd Aviation Regiment based in Camp Eagle in Wonju, Gangwon Province, saved three people injured in a car accident on a snowy highway Jan. 11 by reacting automatically, while other Koreans drove past the car that had collided with a telephone pole.

One of the four passengers died in the accident, according to reports.

“Through your valiant deeds, you and Pfc. Herron personified bravery and soldierly conduct, which will be forever etched into the memories of a grateful Korean public,” Kim wrote in the letter to Veal. “I’m convinced that your heroics will serve as a boost to the foundation of friendship and trust that binds the armed forces of our two great nations.”

Kim also sent a letter to Herron, praising their teamwork as “a testament to the overall excellence of all service members of United States Forces Korea.” [Korea Times]

It is good to see these soldiers receive recognition like this.Â This is the first time I have seen the Korean government issue an official thank you for soldiers assisting people in need.Â

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GI,

There must be a new Sheriff in town.

CPT KIM on January 23rd, 2008
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New sheriff in town? Defense minister Kim Jang Soo was appointed by Roh Mu Hyun. I wish GI could stop trying to make this look like this is something out of the ordinary.

Tom on January 23rd, 2008
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Tom, this is out of the ordinary. When has a Korean ministry issued an official thank you to any of the many cases of US soldiers aiding Koreans? This is the first one I have seen and may just be because of the rather wide publicity this incident has generated for whatever reason.

Just for the record I don’t think the Korean government should be obligated to issue thank yous every time a soldier does something good like this, but it is a nice gesture none the less.

My gripe is that if the Korean media is going to publish stories as insignificant as how a GI brushed an ajumma with the side mirror on his car or how a GI’s bicycle scratched a taxi, then they should publish every little story about how GIs are doing good things as well which they largely do not.

Also the Defense ministry are not Roh puppets like as we have seen with other ministries. If it wasn’t for the Defense Ministry Kim Jong-il would own the NLL now because they stood up and raised hell against Roh’s attempts to surrender the NLL:

http://rokdrop.com/2007/08/24/defense-ministry-responds-to-attempts-to-give-away-korean-territory/

GI Korea on January 23rd, 2008
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yes i doubt this would have happend if there wasnt a recent election putting a conservative in office

roh somewhere is pissed off becasue of the good headlines USFK is getting over this

mcnut on January 23rd, 2008
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The fact that this was a Roh appointee just helps illustrate how things worked under Roh. It shows the chill that Roh instilled throughout the ranks — like in that story in the press a couple of weeks ago about a briefing official who ran out of a meeting of Roh’s transition team because one of its leaders screamed that he was just a pro-American flunky.

This is clearly a product of a new sheriff in town….

usinkorea on January 23rd, 2008
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