Veteran thanks fellow vets and helps with healing

MEMBER COLUMN

by Man Cho

LW contributor

On the recent occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, I want to recognize that we have been blood allies for 70 years. The president of South Korea recently visited the president of the United States to commemorate that alliance.

At this late stage of my life, I would like to express my gratitude to the ones who helped me and apologize to the ones to whom I did wrong.

I served in the Korean Navy for three years as a medical officer and in the U.S. Army for eight years as a psychiatrist.

I was born in Busan, South Korea, a year before the end of World War II, in 1944, hearing the U.S. Air Force B29 fly in the sky.

Thanks to the assistance of the United Nations, led by the United States, Japan’s 36-year colonial rule and oppression over Korea finally came to an end, resulting in Korea’s liberation. However, on June 25, 1951, when North Korea invaded South Korea and threatened its existence, 16 countries of the United Nations (Great Britain, Canada, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Colombia, Ethiopia, South Africa, New Zealand, Türkiye, Greece, Thailand, Philippines and Luxembourg) participated in the war to save our country. I thank all of your fathers, brothers, sisters, and all the veterans who fought for our freedom.

I studied at the University of Connecticut and became a psychiatrist. From 1978-1983, I treated many PTSD patients who were Vietnam War veterans at the 121 U.S. military hospitals in Korea. After that, from 19861996, I treated many veterans and civilians who suffered from PTSD at the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. PTSD psychiatric diagnosis originated from Vietnam War victims.

During the 1992 L.A. Riots, 2,300 Korean-owned shops were burned, destroyed and robbed. My office treated more than 1,000 Korean Americans who had PTSD from the L.A. Riots. About 500 people with severe trauma symptoms were treated by five Korean-speaking psychiatrists. I have kept their psychiatric treatment records for 31 years in case they sue the government for psychological trauma. I can then be a witness of their illness and suffering. Some of them have gotten worse as they age. As a psychiatrist, about 30% of my time has been spent treating patients suffering from trauma such as war and riots.

I hold on to one meaningful and hopeful aspiration—that a prominent leader, such as the mayor and police chief of Los Angeles, governor of California or even a president, will acknowledge the tragedy suffered by the victims of the L.A. Riots 31 years ago, provide them with appropriate compensation and promise to support their treatment to help restore their well-being.

It would be similar to the U.S. government compensation to Japanese Americans who were sent to concentration camps during World War II.

In the human world, there is always a conflict between the strong and weak people. Also, there are people who are sick and traumatized.

However, I remind myself that caring for those who suffer is at the core of human nature and should be a fundamental part of being human.

Thank you again, fellow veterans.