Comments on: The Forgotten Americans at Yanghwajin

By: Sunny Murray

Sunny Murray — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:38:45 +0000

I am so thankful you posted these tombstone names. My name is Sunny Murray and I’m the daughter of Phil and Sun Shil (Sunny) Lee Murray. My mother died during childbirth on Aug 21, 1963. My father Phil died 2 years after he moved me to the States in 1970. I did not know my mother’s family and have never returned to Korea since. You have given me the gift of information I can hopefully build upon. Thank you so much.

By: The Showdown of Yanghwajin Foreigner Cemetery at ROK Drop

The Showdown of Yanghwajin Foreigner Cemetery at ROK Drop — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:30:41 +0000

[...] of the graves that may be disinterred include members of the US military. Robert Neff in a later posting at the Marmot’s Hole provided names of all the US military servicemen and their family members buried at Yanghwajin. [...]

By: Warren

Warren — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:03:02 +0000

Robert, can you link to another article/post that explains the problem for clearly? I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe others are familiar with the issue but reading your post was like joining a conversation well after it started. I’d like to understand the issue more thoroughly.

What “religious group” are you taking about? Are they Korean? Are they American?

What incident are you describing as a “recent usurpation?”

Who is this “President of the organization?”

Was this formerly a military cementary? Why are so many service members buried there? Was/is this cementary under the authority of the U.S. Embassy?

Who are the “true caretakers” that you mentioned?

Please take a moment and fill in the gaps for me.

By: sewing

sewing — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:47:51 +0000

No, I meant “cleanup effort” as in what the Hongdae group wanted to do, not “cleanup effort” as in some kind of twisted euphemism for removing graves!

By: robert neff

robert neff — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:49:44 +0000

Sewing-

Actually I think the KS list thread was started by me…but can’t remember. I have spoken with Prof. Clark in the past, who has a personal vested interest, but this new push is coming from a different quarter and has a heck of a lot more power. I am pretty sure they are going to eventually win. As to the cleanup effort….propaganda from the un-named religious organization……

By: sewing

sewing — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:24:48 +0000

Robert, what happened to Don Clark’s Hongik-sponsored group two years ago that was going to spruce the place up? Was that or Mapo-gu’s involvement the source of friction with the Seoul Union Church? I thought there was a discussion of the threatened disinterments recently on the KS List, but I could only found a mention of the cleanup effort from two years ago.

By: Paul H.

Paul H. — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:50:23 +0000

Thanks for the detailed response. Didn’t expect an individual listing of each grave, just your categorization of general categories, perhaps with a few samples.

I expect many of these people are forgotten by anyone now alive But if we as a country (I mean the USA) spend millions to search for the lost remains of our MIA on formerly enemy soil, the least we can do is try to look out for known graves on presumably “friendly” soil as well, even if they are just the normal deceased that come with a substantial long-term presence in a foreign country.

USFK isn’t going to take an official position IMO, though you might get the informal support of USFK commander (ie his signature on a letter of concern, given that some of the graves appear to be deceased US military who were on active duty at the time of death, possibly at least one killed in a war zone). But the US military isn’t involved in running cemetaries.

Political/legal pressure, presumably led by the US embassy (if they can be gotten to take an interest) would have to be brought on bear on whoever “owns” the cemetary; it would be interesting to know exactly what Korean law has to say about the subject.

The “subject” is the potential disinterment and “removal” of non-missionary graves; again a question that comes to mind is what “removal” actually means in practice. If it’s merely a matter of moving the graves to another location, that may be a prerogative of the owners.

However, if it’s a matter of the graves suddenly “disappearing” into a crematorium and the ashes being disposed of anonymously, I think that would be an outrage; I wonder if that’s legal under Korean law, if living descendants can’t be found or are uninterested in paying for a reinterment elsewhere.

By: snow

snow — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:08:34 +0000

Having recently visited the cemetery for the first time, I must thank you for the post about this. I recognize many of the names on tombstones. Touching and fascinating to wonder about their many stories.

By: SomeguyinKorea

SomeguyinKorea — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:35:35 +0000

What were their plans for the would be vacant plots?