Our Korean War Guest

Pak3.jpg (21873 bytes)  We had on board with us this cruise, a Republic of Korea Navel Officer, Ensign Park Nae Um.  Mr. Park came aboard on the 18th of October, 1952, upon his graduation from ROK Naval Academy.  Mr. Park underwent extensive training. Engineering, sonar, CIC and bridge watches are just a few of the various phases of ship's work  participated in by our Korean Naval Officer.
Of all the training he seemed to enjoy engineering most.

Ensign Park enjoyed visiting the many 'ports of call' made by the Hopewell.  Although he had been to Sasebo before, he listed Sasebo, along with Yokosuka, as his favorites. 

Before his entry into the Republic of Korea Naval Academy,

Pak2.jpg (24697 bytes)
Pak1.jpg (17863 bytes) Mr. Park graduated from Chyong Ju Commercial High School.   He completed his three years course in August of 1949.  In order to qualify for the cruise on Hopewell it was necessary for the Korean Ensign to maintain high marks at the ROK Naval Academy.  When we pulled into Yokusaka for the last time, the ROK Naval Officer left us, and reported to Destroyer Division 92 for additional training.   When asked his reaction to the officers and men of Hopewell, Mr. Park said "I think you behave gentle and kind. I like your cleanness and respect for good manners."
Follow-up;

As webmaster I felt it would be great to find Mr. Park.  I searched the internet in English and even Korean pages which I could not read.  I used Yahoo and Infobell.com to find a phone number.

Through these efforts I fount the assistance of Mr. Tae Kim who gave us this discovery;

*****

I located Mr. "Pak" and talked with him on phone this morning. He lives in his retirement in Pusan. He said he remembered some of the officers' names, but yours did not ring the bell. Anyway, he appreciated you very much for your effort to find him. I gave him the information of the Hopewell reunion. You might be wondering how I located him. Here is the route I went through for the search; - I used an internet search engine for ROK Navy Academy, 

- Found the Academy in Korean, 

- Went to ROK Navy Academy Alumni Association, 

- Got the name and phone number of the Class 51 Alumni President, 

- Made an oversee long distant call to the president and explained to him about "Ensign Pak Nae Um", 

- He said, "There is no such name (Pak Nae Um) either in the Class 51 or in the Class 52. But, I see Park Nae Ung." 

- I requested the latter's phone number and made a call to him. Bingo! 

Anyway, here is his information, 

Name:      Park Nae Ung 

Address:  Pusan City Korea 

Have wonderful day.

Regards,

Tae

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