Notable Korean-American – Colonel Young Oak Kim
In an effort to teach my kid about the Korean-American experience, I’ve had to learn more about the Korean-American experience. Makes sense, right?
Well, it turns out that there are many notable Koreans and Korean-Americans who helped shape the landscape of what it means to be Korean-American and to have a Korean heritage as a whole.
Today, I’m putting the spotlight on Colonel Young Oak Kim because January 29th is his birthday.
Happy Birthday Colonel Young Oak Kim!
Young Oak Kim was born on January 29th, 1919 in Los Angeles, California. And he died from cancer on December 29th, 2005 at the age of 86.
He served in the U.S. Army for 30 years, was promoted to the rank of colonel and retired in 1972. During his service in the military, he received many awards and is a well decorated war hero.
But honestly, what really impressed me was his service after retiring from the military. With the same level of dedication he had to the military, he turned his attention to his own community of Los Angeles.
So much more than a war hero
He was a champion for racial equality, the impoverished, and the elderly. By serving on the board for the United Way, he diversified the board with more Asian American members and helped create more Asian branches as a resource for the Asian community.
Among many other contributions to the Los Angeles Asian community, Colonel Kim also co-founded the Korean Health, Education, Information, and Research Center who help new immigrants with understanding the health care that is afforded to them by law. I can really appreciate how important a service this is for uninformed, even misinformed, immigrants because I served as my parents interpreter on many legal and health documents. In fact, I don’t know a single child of immigrant parents who didn’t!
Colonel Kim saw this need in the community and did something about it. And his other contributions to society are just as great and, quite frankly, too many for me to put in this post. But if you want to learn more, check out “Unsung Hero: The Col. Young O. Kim Story“. It’ll be a mandatory read for my kid when he’s older! 😉
There are all kinds of heroes
Going to school in the States, I learned about many great Americans like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and even about peanut inventor extraordinaire George Washington Carver (one of my personal favorites). And that’s all fine and well, but it left me ignorant of the existence of their Korean equivalents. I mean, were there even any? And yes, there were. But I didn’t learn about them in school and it would be preposterous to expect that. We barely had time to get through the ones we did!
I was forced to attend Korean school on weekends in addition to regular school. However, they didn’t teach us about these notable Koreans and Korean-Americans. Perhaps they thought the subject matter was too heavy because many of them involve the Korean War? Or perhaps, there just wasn’t time after Hangeul lessons?
But whatever the reason, I will definitely be making it a part of my kid’s curriculum at home. And hopefully, it’ll give him a sense that heroes come in all shapes and sizes, colors and creeds, and all different walks of life.
Had you heard about Colonel Young Oak Kim before this? Are there other Korean or Korean-American heroes you learned about outside of school? Share in the comments!