Re: slang

[<DGill11331@aol.com>]

<<any list member>>

<<Good question, Abe - 
I joined an anti-Communist partisan one year before the war started - at age 14. I doubt if any list member here can fathom what it was like being a partisan fighter in North Korea. American GIs had it good in Korea compared to our lot. 
Another recurring theme on this list: Korean Nationalism = Communism?>> 

Please tell us what it was like to be a partisan fighter in North Korea so we can compare "how good the American GIs had it."      


<<Oh - I forgot to add - 
Today in Korea, some of the partisans have surfaced and are demanding official recognition of their contributions and compensation. They are getting louder and more aggressive. As we speak, an elderly woman is staging a sit-in at a Korean SF HQ demanding info on her son (a partisan - MIA). 
The Seoul Gov seems to be leaning toward taking care of their partisans - but those of us who worked for the Americans are still left out in cold. The Seoul gov won't deal with us saying we should talk to the US gov. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. Some of us are not happy campers. I am sure you would feel the same way if you were in our shoes. 
If you can help us in any way, please let me know. 
Young>>

I'm confused with your use of the word "partisan."  Where you a South Korean who enlisted/joined to be a "partisan" in North Korea, or were you a North Korean who joined an "anti-Communist" partisan group in North Korea? If you were a South Korean, did the US recruit you?
     
The Korean War was a Korean civil war. South Korea and all the other countries fighting against North Korea were serving under a United Nations' Resolution. I assumed that if you "worked" (what kind of work?) directly for the US you were paid.  I don't know of any United Nations' personnel including Americans who freed Korea from Japan and fought for South Korea against North Korea, who were compensated by either South Korea or the United Nations. Please don't come to the US looking for compensation that you feel you deserve.  Recognition "yes," compensation "no." If your government (I haven't figured that out yet) won't honor you go to the UN. Please remember Americans returning in one piece from combat in Korea were not "compensated" by anyone, not South Korea, not the UN and not the US Government.  If you were disabled while in the serve of your country, no matter who you were assigned to, that is the obligation of your country.  If you were a North Korean partisan fighting against North Korea, I think you may have a problem.  D Gill