3 Brothers Korean

[Hasan Fogg]

Twobrothers were separated in childhood at an orphanage, only to find each other as adults 30 years later. But right after their reunion, their birth mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, suddenly disappears. So Sang-yeon (a pastor raised in America) and Ha-yeon (a shaman) team up together and go on a road trip to search for her.

Long, long ago, there were two brothers. The older brother wascalled Nolbu, and the younger brother was called Hungbu. The olderbrother, despite being very rich, was an extremely greedy andvindictive man who constantly caused trouble for his neighbors. Onthe other hand, his brother was poor, but very kind-hearted. Hungbuwas a very hard worker, but for some reason he didn't have much luck.His wife and children knew no days but hungry ones. They led a verypitiable life.

One day, just after Hungbu had returned from work, a snakeappeared and began to attack a swallow's nest. The swallow and almostall her young were eaten alive. Only one young swallow escaped death.Even still, the young swallow had been injured. When it was fleeing,its leg had got caught in a bamboo blind and it had fallen to theground. Seeing this, Hungbu quickly brought some ointment and rubbedit on the swallow's wounded leg. Then, he carefully wrapped somestring around it to give it some support. Next, he carefully placedthe young swallow back in the nest.

In due course, the day came for the swallows to fly south. Theswallow at Hungbu's house, now fully recovered, flew off in finespirits. In due course, winter passed, spring came, and it was thethird day of the third lunar month. The swallow which Hungbu hadhelped also flew back chirping cheerfully. Hungbu was delighted. Thenthe swallow dropped a gourd seed on the ground. Thinking that thiswas strange, Hungbu picked up the seed and planted it in the garden.

After a few days, the seed began to sprout. The plant began togrow at a great rate. It pushed forth leaves and flowers, andeventually it bore five large gourds. Realizing that they were indeedwondrous gourds, Hungbu consulted with his wife about what theyshould do. "Those gourds are many times larger than normal ones.Maybe we should cut one open to see if there might be somethinginside." No sooner had they cut open the gourd when rice beganto flow out of the gourd.

They filled five huge containers, but there was still lotsremaining. They then took another gourd and cut it open. This time,it was gold which flowed out in large quantities. Hungbu and his wifedanced with glee. Taking a third gourd, they cut it open. This time abeautiful nymph appeared. Looking at the two remaining gourds, shesaid, "Come out! Come out red and blue bottles! Come out!"With that, one of the gourds rolled over by itself and split in two.

A red bottle appeared from the center of the gourd and announced,"Here I am!" Then in the same fashion, the other gourdopened and a blue bottle appeared. Then the nymph said, "Now youmust build a large mansion here." No sooner had she said this,when out of the blue bottle came a number of carpenters. Then fromout of the red bottle came a large quantity of timber. In no time,the carpenters had built a splendid house. Then everyone returned totheir places. The nymph disappeared in a puff of white smoke into theblue bottle.

After that, Hungbu became a man of wealth. He and his family livedhappily and wanted for nothing. However, when his elder brother Nolbuheard the news, he came immediately to Hungbu's house. He demanded tobe told how his younger brother had managed to become so rich in sucha short span of time. "Hey, you! How on earth did you do it?It's a miracle. Tell me now how you did it." Hungbu told him allabout the injured swallow and what had happened afterwards.

Hearing that story, Nolbu went home and decided that he too wouldgain great wealth. So, he immediately built a swallow's nest andwaited for a swallow to come and make its home there. Then ithappened that one unfortunate swallow did come and hatched some babyswallows there. In due course, Nolbu threw one of the swallows out ofthe nest and broke its leg.

Then he rubbed some ointment on the injured leg, wrapped it upwith string, and placed the bird back in its nest. Winter passed andNolbu's swallow returned in the spring. The bird dropped a gourd seedin front of the waiting Nolbu. Nolbu immediately planted the seed.Things continued to happen just as Hungbu had described. Then, whenthe gourds appeared, Nolbu immediately split open one gourd to seewhat was inside.

However, out of the gourd came many little imps wielding sticks."We must punish you for your greed," they said and beat himmercilessly. Then the imps disappeared. Convinced that the othergourds contained gold, Nolbu struggled and managed to open anothergourd. This time a number of debt collectors appeared. "Give usmoney. Repay your loans or else we will take everything from you."Eventually, they took everything and left. Nolbu, thinking thateverything would be all right if he could just open up the othergourds, split open the third gourd. This time a flood of dirty,smelly water poured from the gourd and deluged the house.

Nolbu couldn't take it any more and ran to Hungbu's house forhelp. His compassionate brother took pity on him and welcomed himwarmly. The greedy brother reflected on his deeds and was very sorryfor everything that he had done that was wrong. From then on, hebecame a very humble person. Hungbu divided his fortune equally withhis brother and both of them lived happily ever after!

All of a sudden I started getting emails and phone calls saying, 'My relative's name is misspelled or not on the wall,' and that's unacceptable," said Ted Barker about the monument which was revealed last summer.

The Barkers, who runs a nonprofit called the Korean War Project out of their two-bedroom apartment in Dallas, said they've spent more than three decades collecting information and stories of those who served in the Korean War.

They created the Korean War Project website in 1995 to help bring Veterans of the Korean War along with their families, historians and other researchers together in one place to develop knowledge and information relating to the Korean War.

Their father didn't talk about his service in Korea, which is why the brothers set on a journey to learn more. They found out he was a Silver Star recipient at Heartbreak Ridge as a helicopter rescue pilot.

"Many of the names are misspelled, especially Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Eastern European, Hawaiian and Japanese. There were problems going back to the war itself where they spelled their names wrong," explained Hal, who is also a historian.

If they had just talked to us and worked with us, we could have saved the United States taxpayers probably $10 [million] to $15 million, because that's what it's going to take to redo this," said Ted, with regard to the government and the group that oversaw the construction.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation had oversight on the new memorial, but the list of names came from the Korean War Casualty list, which is from the Department of Defense and was forwarded to the Department of the Interior.

A spokesperson for the DOD said while respective military departments reviewed every name against official military records, "Though not common, the official records themselves may have contained errors making this review challenging. Additionally challenging was determining if a deceased service member that was previously considered a Cold War era loss should be re-categorized as a Korean War loss."

When asked if the DOD would be reaching out to the Barkers for help, in a statement the department said, "The Barkers have provided valuable assistance to the Department on a number of occasions in the past, and DOD is currently reviewing [the] information provided by the Barkers to determine if any changes to the Korean War Casualty records is warranted."

WAEGWAN, South Korea -- "They just kept us in a ravine in the daytime. Then at night they'd move us across country. On Aug. 17, about the middle of the afternoon they motioned for us to get up again, that they was going to move us out again. That's when it happened. That's when I started hearing shots. I looked around and I saw my buddies was falling, getting murdered with their hands tied behind their back."

These are the words spoken by Cpl. Roy Paul Manring Jr., one of the four survivors of the Hill 303 massacre when he testified in front of a congressional committee about atrocities during the Korean War.

Soldiers hiked up the steep hill early in the morning. When they reached the top of the hill the Soldiers together with the Korea Veterans Association and local students laid a wreath and flowers on the memorial.

"Sixty six years ago the days were dark, there were dark clouds on the horizon and ill winds blew in the face of both Korean and U.S. Soldiers." Lt. Col. Ellis R. Baker, commander 6th Ordnance Battalion said, "Korean and U.S. Soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice defending the flame of democracy burning in South Korea."

Hill 303 was a major battle site during the Korean War where the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division successfully defended Waegwan during the battle. Forty-one captured U.S. Army Prisoners of War were killed by North Korean soldiers.

According to the official report, on Aug. 14, 1950, a group of 26 American Soldiers was surprised and captured by North Koreans whom the Americans had reason to believe were reinforcements. The men were stripped of their combat boots and personal belongings and their hands were tied behind their backs. The second day after capture, several other American prisoners joined their group, bringing the total number to 45. On the third day, all of the prisoners were led to a ravine, and without warning, while their hands were tied, were shot in cold blood.

Capt. Sam H. Kim, commander 84th Ordnance Company, was born in the Republic of Korea and spoke to the many Koreans who attended the ceremony saying, "My beloved Korean brothers and sisters. The purpose of today's event is to search for brighter future by looking through the lens of heart-breaking history. What have we learned from the Korean War? Soldiers from 16 countries around the globe including the U.S. participated in the war to help out a small country they never knew and shed a lot of blood, all because they believed in the peace for humanity and preservation of liberty."

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