One of the little known places that we were glad to have visited was ...
the one and only UN Memorial Cemetery in Korea.
Before continuing to write down what I experienced....let me phrase down some notions that..
We need to respect our heroes...whoever they were.
We need to engrave their names in our hearts with love..
We need to inscribe their names in our land with appreciation...
This solemn spot was way different from the other places we'd been to for the last two days in Busan. This was because this place is The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea. or 주한유엔기념공원.This is the picture of the memorial hall where we were welcome by the caretaker of the cemetery.
We could see the historical movie before entering the site.
Then..off we went inside the cemetery. This place is the only one in Korea and the only one in the world of course..because the heroes both known or unknown ones were the ones who died during the Korean war. So, historically speaking, this is a historical site worth-visiting for anyone having interest in one of the saddest history of the Korean peninsula.
정숙 or Please be silent to pay respect in a solemn place like this. This is the first big notion that we felt or that we "saw" upon entering the site. The rest: we were so mesmerized by how tranquil the place was, of course..simply because of the myriad flowers that the site has...
It was a good thing that there were lots of shades from the trees. Had the trees not been there, it would have been so much hotter. Luckily we could see lots of trees were there...as if they were meant to give shelter and peace to the minds of anyone visiting the yard.
The next notion that we saw was how solemnly majestic the flags of 21 countries participating in Korean war to defend South Korea. I learned that there were flags from US, England, Turkey, Canada, Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Greece, Thailand, Ethiopia, Philippines, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, India, Italy, and Sweden.
This was another angle of the park that I saw. The surrounding was apartments and other housing complexes. So, it was a sheer relief to know that this place has been kept intact.
As the only place on earth that the UN designated as the UN cemetery for Korean war, this was truly a historically important venue.
We laid a bouquet of flower as a symbol of our respect to the heroes who had sacrificed their lives to the present day freedom we are now enjoying.
After paying homage to the heroes, we were then exploring and at the same time learning who they were. Of course we could not learn each one of them....but at least we had a lump on our throat to think and understand that most of them were young soldiers in their teens and early twenties..........
We were then..walking towards another section of the cemetery. On the left side of the road, we could see strikingly unique trees that dotted the site. Only from this seemingly trivial-looking trees, we could see that this solemn place really respects the heroes of the Korean war.
A tree like this...
There are as many as 2,300 soldiers buried at this ceremony...
and this vast green lawn was the home to pay homage as a perpetual symbol of respect.
A vast green lawn like this....
Here lies Private A. Annan who was only 19 years old when he died during Korean War. This is something that gave me a choke and a big lump on my throat as I was walking through the cemetery...
Seeing the fact the this cemetery is well-managed has somewhat soothed me to some degree. It does show how serious and sincere the government of Korea and the UN in respecting the heroes of the Korean War.
Patched on the seemingly endless wall of remembrance....were the names of heroes from countries participating in the Korean war.
The fish pond circulating the cemetery was indeed another sight to behold.
In the midst of the scorching heat in the early summer, the round pond in the Wall of Remembrance was a truly a sight to see in itself. It signifies the Universe--as I learned. The reflection of the pond represents the sky, the fallen,....
oh, did I mention the helmet right there? It turns out that it symbolizes the War itself. And..the flowers in the other side of the pond represent the sublimation of the change from War to Peace.
There are small fountain spewers like those on the picture.
They represent 21 UN nations participated in the Korean War.
Indeed, having visited this place...one thing remains...
once again...let me phrase down what I wrote earlier...
We need to respect our heroes...whoever they were.
We need to engrave their names in our hearts with love..
We need to inscribe their names in our land with appreciation...
*-*
More on this post: www.unmck.or.kr
No comments:
Post a Comment