A Chuseok Visit Becomes a Bridge Between Generations
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| Young volunteers from the Wonju Branch of the Shincheonji Volunteer Group, who have completed their military service, are visiting a 95-year-old Korean War veteran residing in Hoengseong District, Gangwon Province, to express their gratitude and share a warm embrace. |
For the Shincheonji Volunteer Group Wonju Branch, a Chuseok food delivery became something much more meaningful: an opportunity for young people to sit with veterans, hear their stories, and say thank you.
Volunteers prepared homemade jeon and visited national merit recipients in Wonju and Hoengseong. Among them were Korean War veterans Young-hwan Kim and Dong-geun Kim, both 95.
When young men who had recently completed their own military service handed them the food and said, “Thank you for protecting our country,” the veterans and the young volunteers stood face-to-face and exchanged salutes.
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| Young volunteers who have completed their military service are expressing their gratitude and respect with a salute to a 95-year-old Korean War veteran residing in Hoengseong |
More than 70 years separated the two generations, but the moment needed few words.
“I am grateful that young people have not forgotten me,” Young-hwan Kim said. “It warms my heart that they prepared the food themselves and came to visit.”
Dong-geun Kim added, “As I get older, it means even more when someone comes to visit and asks how I am doing.”
For 24-year-old volunteer Min-jun Kim, meeting the veterans was equally moving.
“Listening to their stories made me reflect on their sacrifice and dedication,” he said.
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| The Wonju branch of the Shincheonji Volunteer Group preparing holiday foods such as mushroom pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, and skewered pancakes, along with traditional Korean sweets and rice cakes shaped like the Korean flag, to deliver to national merit recipients. |
The visit also brought back memories for Vietnam War veteran Myeong-seo Park, 80. As a child, he heard stories about the Korean War and the help Korea received from other countries. Years later, when he had the opportunity to serve in Vietnam, he volunteered.
He served for about one year and eight months beginning in 1969, later learning Vietnamese and working as an interpreter.
“Since I went there and came back, I live with pride, thinking that perhaps I was able to contribute in some way,” Park said.
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| Volunteers from the Wonju Branch of the Shincheonji Volunteer Group are spending a time filled with laughter with a Vietnam War veteran's family, performing a verse of a song chosen during a 'wish drawing' |
During the visit, volunteers surprised him with a video message from his daughter. When Park chose “listening to a song” as his wish, a volunteer sang for him, turning the room into a moment of warmth and laughter.
For 78-year-old Vietnam War veteran Hee-tak Yang, memories of Vietnam are connected to a letter he left for his family before departing in 1970.
By the time they received it, he wrote, he would already be on a ship bound for Vietnam.
During his 10 months of service, Yang experienced the fear of artillery attacks.
“I could hear the shells whistling over the barracks, followed by explosions nearby,” he recalled. “Fortunately, there were no casualties.”
More than half a century later, his wish remains simple.
“If the government takes care of those who went to the battlefield, and if people look upon them with kindness, even if only in their hearts, I would be grateful.”
A volunteer official said the visit ultimately became less about delivering food and more about listening.
“We came to deliver food, but instead, we had the opportunity to hear stories from the elderly that we had never known before,” the official said.
For the veterans, it was a visit from a neighbour. For the young volunteers, it was a chance to hear history from those who lived it.
And for a few hours during Chuseok, a simple plate of homemade jeon helped bridge generations.
Source: vo.la/Qvjn7Oh
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