Retired engineer Charlie (Chi-Yong) Choi with his wife Susan.  (Photo credit: Brien Robertson)

October 2, 2021.  In Part 1 of the childhood wartime memories of Charlie Choi, who was 4 years old when the Korean War started in June 1950, his father had disappeared, leaving his mother to cope with 3 pre-schoolers and their maid.  As the situation worsened, the family left Seoul for the farm owned by her parents-in-law in Onyang, south of Seoul.  (See https://bordencarletonresearchproject.wordpress.com/2021/09/30/on-the-war-memorial-trail-part-1-charlie-chois-childhood-memories-of-the-korean-war/)

In Part 2, after a harrowing journey, they safely reached the farm. A few weeks later, however, soldiers from the North Korean Army arrived at the farm and announced that 21 members of the family were to be executed, including Charlie’s baby sister. (See https://bordencarletonresearchproject.wordpress.com/2021/10/01/on-the-war-memorial-trail-part-2-charlie-chois-childhood-memories-of-the-korean-war/)

Now for the conclusion to Charlie Choi’s story….

… ‘Mr. Kim and the villagers decided our fate’ ….

It’s funny how you remember the smallest details in times of great stress.  Charlie recalled that it “… was drizzling and we were all getting wet.  I was standing right next to my grandfather in front of the North Korean firing squad, waiting to be executed.  Their purpose was to kill large landowners and their families and then take over their assets.  The Captain asked my grandfather if there was anything that he wanted to say before the execution. My grandfather saw Mr. Kim standing behind the Captain.…”

Charlie explained that “…Mr. Kim’s family had been long time farm caretakers on my grandfather’s farm.  Mr. Kim was the supervisor of all the farm caretakers and was a very knowledgeable man in many aspects of this region. He was hired by the North Korean Army as an informer/advisor and he joined the Communist party…”

The story continued.  “… ‘Yes, Captain’ my grandfather replied. ‘I would like to have a few minutes with your Mr. Kim who is standing behind you.’  The Captain told Mr. Kim to hear what my grandfather wanted to say…. 

…My grandfather said to Mr. Kim ‘we took care of you and your family for many years.  You know that we shared our crops with the village people.  Ask the Captain to have us go through a ‘village trial’.  Let the people decide if we should be executed.’  Mr. Kim conveyed my grandfather’s wish to the Captain and he agreed.  The Captain ordered his soldiers to gather all the villagers in the front yard outside the farm gate house.  About 200 people gathered. 

 The Captain announced the purpose of the gathering and gave the people 3 choices:

1. Execute all the family members on their list (total 21) and divide their entire assets among the village people.
2. Let them live and keep this farm house only, dividing their other assets among the village people.
3. Leave them alone…”

I was surprised that the tribunal was allowed and that the villagers were allowed to decide the fate of the Chois.  Charlie continued.  “…They all clapped very loudly as the Captain was announcing the third option.  We were saved, thanks to Mr. Kim and the people of the village.  The North Korean soldiers withdrew completely from the farm right away.  However, the Captain returned several hours later with 4 empty trucks and asked my grandfather for rice, wheat, corn, soap and some cash…..etc. …”  

… ‘Mother no longer felt safe at the farm’ ….

The family was spared but who knew how long before something else happened?  “…My mother no longer felt safe at the farm since the North Korean Army was further into the south. She wanted everyone to flee the area further into the south.  My grandparents wanted to stay put on their farm.  My mother decided to move us to Daejun City, just south of the farm.  It did not quite work out there either and we finally moved to Daegu City, the temporary location of the Central Government Center.  We were able to rent a small four room shack just across the street from the UN Military Headquarters in Daegu City….”

Throughout their journey, Charlie’s father was missing, his whereabouts unknown.  “… We still did not have any information about my father.  He had told my mother to go to my grandfather’s farm when he fled our house in Seoul. He probably was searching for us and wondering what happened to us.  My mother finally got a break through the UN headquarters in Daegu City.  They conveyed our relevant information to the Korean military headquarters.  It took some time but somehow it got to my father….”

… ‘My father is found’ ….

Charlie’s father found them.  “…One cold afternoon (probably early spring of 1951) a jeep with a trailer pulled up the very small and narrow alley where our rental shack was located.  A uniformed jeep driver asked me for my name and for my mother’s name, and then he went back to the jeep.  My father came out of the jeep and we were finally reunited.  He brought a trailer full of food items like K-rations, canned spam, canned beans, and Vienna sausage….etc.  I still love these foods to this day….” 

Circa 1952. Charlie with his father, Jae-Jin Choi, in the uniform of the Korean Air Force, at Charlie’s grandfather’s farm after the area was recaptured by the Allied Forces. (Photo courtesy Choi Family Collection)

At last the family found out what had happened to Charlie’s father.  “… When my father fled our home in June 1950 he joined a team of government officials to be trained in an accelerated program by the US Air Force to become Korean Air Force Officers.….”

… What goes around comes around ….

Charlie’s family was spared, but his story had another chapter after South Korea was recaptured by Allied Forces.  “…Our Mr. Kim was one of the informers to be prosecuted. Needless to say, my family came to his aid because of what he did to save the 21 members of my family at my grandfather’s farm in August 1950.  He was saved and continued to work for my grandfather and later for my father.  He had a long and good life.  This story of Mr. Kim always reminds me of my grandfather’s favorite saying ‘What goes around comes around’. My grandfather always told us: be creditable, share your fortune, and always be fair.  I still miss him greatly….”  

… Traumatic childhood experiences stay forever in the mind ….

Charlie’s childhood experience was seared into his memory, and even at his very young age.  Susan explained that “…Charlie has experienced triggers which produce stress/anxiety since the war.  The sound of low flying planes and even the hum of lawn mowers and sometimes other similar noises could produce the feeling he had as a child of bombings and danger.  He also found the sound of crying babies another trigger.  It always reminded him of the bomb shelters, where, of course, the babies cried as the bombs fell.  These triggers have never gone away but have only recently eased slightly as a 75 year old man….”  As someone whose father lived through World War Two as a child, I know that the trauma experienced never fully goes away. 

Charlie ended his account by saying that “…I will be forever grateful to the Allied forces for their help and sacrifices. As regrettable as the war and the division of Korea has been, I’m so glad that the south was aligned with the US led UN forces. The help of these nations and the wartime sacrifices made it possible to lay the foundation for the ‘Miracle of the Han River’ which led to today’s Republic of Korea (South Korea)….”

Charlie immigrated to the USA, where he became an engineer, and met his wife Susan.  It was not easy for him to relive his childhood experience in wartime Korea, and we thank him for doing so. 

With Remembrance Week a month away, please take a look through your photo albums and in your attics in case you have a photo or information to share about Canadian soldiers.  You can email us at dariadv@yahoo.ca, comment on the blog, or send a tweet to @researchmemori1.  

…..Want to follow our research?….

If you are reading this posting, but aren’t following the blog, you are welcome to do so.  See https://bordencarletonresearchproject.wordpress.com or email me at dariadv@yahoo.ca and ask for an invitation to the blog. 

You are also invited to subscribe to our YouTube Channel: On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter Valkenburg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ591TyjSheOR-Cb_Gs_5Kw. 

© Daria Valkenburg

We meet with retired engineer Charlie (Chi-Yong) Choi and his wife Susan.  (Photo courtesy of Valkenburg Family)

October 1, 2021. In Part 1 of the childhood wartime memories of Charlie Choi, who was 4 years old when the Korean War started in June 1950, his father had disappeared, leaving his mother to cope with 3 pre-schoolers and their maid.  As the situation worsened, his mother made the difficult decision to leave Seoul and seek safety at the farm owned by her parents-in-law in Onyang, south of Seoul.  (See https://bordencarletonresearchproject.wordpress.com/2021/09/30/on-the-war-memorial-trail-part-1-charlie-chois-childhood-memories-of-the-korean-war/)

At the southern edge of Seoul, they ran into their first obstacle – a bridge over the Han River that had been destroyed in an attempt to stop the southern advance of the North Korean Army.  The river had to be crossed in order to get to the farm, and Charlie’s mother had to find a solution if they were to reach safety…..

… A farmer helped them cross the river and continue their journey….

Luckily, Charlie’s mother was able to keep a cool head.  “…In order to cross the river we literally ran for our lives under continual bombing.  We ran on the hot sandy river banks, searching for a way to cross the river.  Mother managed to get us all safely across by negotiating with a local melon farmer who had a small row boat and a cart for his melons.  The farmer was traveling with his young son.  The farmer and his son could no longer make a living by selling melons.  Mother negotiated with them to help us get to my grandfather’s farm….”

The most harrowing part of the journey was just beginning. “….It took us 3 days and 2 nights to get to the farm.  We walked through mountain paths, bombed and damaged dirt roads, and narrow rice paddy banks.  We slept for a few hours when we were able to take shelter in a bomb-damaged shack that we ran into along the way….”

… ‘I saw people getting shot’….

The journey got harder.  “… For the first time I saw people getting shot and killed, and for the first time I saw humans of a different race other than my own black haired Asians.  I saw blond and brown haired Americans during this journey.  We had two very close calls on the way to the farm.  One was on a flat stretch of dirt road….” 

A P-51 Mustang. (Photo source: https://www.flightjournal.com/mustang-an-old-war-horse-in-its-second-war-free-screen-saver/#outer-popup)

 “…All of a sudden two fighter jets, Mustangs, appeared from nowhere and started shooting at people heading south.  My mother and the maid, with my baby sister, ran and took cover inside the road drain pipe.  The farmer and his son who pushed and pulled the cart that my brother and I were riding in also ran to take cover, leaving us in the cart.  I was able to get out of the cart but my brother was unable to get out.  We were crying for help.  I was trying to get him out but was unable to….”

… ‘Mustang pilots spared my brother and me’….

That might have been the end of Charlie’s story, but then, “…the Mustang pilots saw two young boys struggling, crying, and scared to death.  They circled and came down very low many times to assess the situation and then finally flew away.  They circled around us so low that I could see their faces and they were not black haired Koreans….”

Charlie later found out how lucky he and his brother were that the pilots didn’t see any adults by the cart.  “…. Much later we learned that the fighter jet pilots were ordered to shoot people dressed as civilians who were heading south, because the North Korean Army was infiltrating the south, disguised as civilians….” 

It was a challenge for UN pilots to distinguish friend from foe in these situations, and unfortunately there was collateral damage.  “…The other close call was near the final stretch to the farm.  The road split, onto a regular dirt road where the cart could go, but it was a longer distance.  The other route was a shortcut through rice paddy banks that were not wide enough for the cart.  Mother decided to take the shortcut with us only and told the farmer and his son to take the regular road and rejoin us where the two roads meet near the farm….”

… Not all refugees were spared….

Disaster struck.  “…We were on our way through the banks of the rice paddy when we heard bicycle bells from behind.  5 or 6 men on bikes told my mother to take cover, yelling ‘here come the Mustangs’ as they were passing by us.  Sure enough, very soon we heard the Mustangs………..pop pop pop pop…….all the cyclists were shot and fell like dominoes into the rice fields….

….My mother was very calm.  She held our hands and said ‘this is it’, ‘don’t cry or be scared’, ‘just stay calm’ and then she closed her eyes and appeared to be praying.  Two Mustangs circled us a few times at a very low elevation, and once again they spared us and flew away….”

The family finally made it to the farm “…in the late afternoon in early August 1950.  My grandparents, their maid and the farm workers, were so relieved to see us since there wasn’t any way to communicate during the war.  My grandfather thanked the melon farmer and his son and made the payment my mother had negotiated with them.  They stayed overnight and left the farm the next day.  We do not know what happened to them….”

… ‘We were on the North Korean Army’s execution list’….

Unfortunately, the family’s safety was soon compromised.  “…Our joyful life at the farm did not last long.  The North Korean Army captured this area about 2 or 3 weeks after we arrived.  One rainy day in the early morning in August 1950 a truckload of North Korean soldiers came and ordered us to line up in the courtyard of the farm house…. 

…The Captain had a list of all our family members who were at the farm house.  He told us we were on the list of the shooting squad. When the names were read out, the list even included my baby sister….” 21 members of Charlie’s family were on the North Korean Army’s execution list. 

In Part 3, Charlie’s story continues as the family members await their fate….. 

Thank you to Charlie Choi for his courage in relating his childhood experience in wartime Korea.  If you have a story to share, please email us at dariadv@yahoo.ca, comment on the blog, or send a tweet to @researchmemori1.  

…..Want to follow our research?….

If you are reading this posting, but aren’t following the blog, you are welcome to do so.  See https://bordencarletonresearchproject.wordpress.com or email me at dariadv@yahoo.ca and ask for an invitation to the blog. 

You are also invited to subscribe to our YouTube Channel: On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter Valkenburg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ591TyjSheOR-Cb_Gs_5Kw. 

© Daria Valkenburg