Acknowledgments

Plagued with recurring nightmares of the atrocious events of my youth (1935 -- 1955), I have placed my memories before you, in the hope that these recollections will ease that part of my subconscious.

• First, there was the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945
• Second, the Soviet Army occupation of N. Korea from 1945 to 1948:
• Third, the American occupation of N. Korea in 1950; and
• Lastly, the Korean War and its aftermath from 1950 to 1955.

These events happened many years ago, and maybe they should belong in history archives and be forgotten.

I have found that most of the history books have been written by those authors bent on proving their pre-conceived notions by skipping over facts that are not in their favor and embellishing those that are. Recent declassification of secret documents from Russia and US shed new light and the history books are being rewritten.

I have also learned much about the injustice inflicted upon the Korean people from Korea: The Unknown War by Jon Halliday and Bruce Cumings - the first American authors who have attempted to see the war from Korean perspectives. Korea: The Untold Story of the War by Joseph C. Goulden is the Pentagon papers on the Korean War. It reveals hitherto secret and unknown information on how the war was conducted by the American leaders. Goulden's revelations are supported by A General's Life by Gen. Omar N. Bradley and Clay Blair: Gen. Bradley was the top US military man during the War.

Most photos on the Korean War are available from the National Archives (US Army, Navy and Air Force photo series.) A bibliography is given at the end of this book and I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the authors of the books and documents from which I have made numerous quotations.

I am grateful to the above authors and acknowledge numerous references to their publications. Above all, I thank my brother, Ung Sik Kim, for sharing his memoirs of the early years (1930-1955).

I dedicate this book to the memory of those of my generation who have suffered through the foreign invasions from 1935 to 1953 and who remain voiceless.