If these graves could speak

There is nothing casual about occupying a weaker nation and killing women and children. What do I remember on Memorial Day? I remember soldiers who gave their lives in the name of democracy and freedom in the war to end all wars. I also remember the aftermath of each war.

One walk through a graveyard in South Korea can give you a deep grasp of history in just a matter of minutes. I guess we can start around 1884. The Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan had similar interests in Korea known as Joseon. Japan started an uprising in Joseon with the intent of eliminating the yangban (aristocratic) class. At that time China sent soldiers in to crush the rebellion and the coup failed and the people behind it fled to Japan.

As a result of the Sino-French War, both China and Japan signed the Tientsin agreement (天津条約) in 1885. Both nations agreed to pull out their forces from Joseon. This made Joseon a co-protectorate of both China and Japan. Still they didn't stay out of Joseon. There just escalated a Sino-Japenese War from 1885-1894.

John Heron 1909

It is said that in finishing his medical degree John Herod had been offered the hand of marriage of his professor's daughter but he had a great desire to go to Joseon and work with Alan in the first Western medicine clinic opening the way to serve the court of Joseon.

John Heron came to Korea in as court physician in 1885 and died in Seoul five years later. He was only 34 years old and the first foreigner to be buried in Korea.

The second to be buried in Korea is this child who died in 1905.

Mary Fletcher Benton Scranton
Willing, Jennie Fowler ,1910, Public Domain

Mary Fletcher Benton Scranton

The third is Mary Fletcher Benton. She was born in 1832 and died in 1909 in Seoul, Korea. She was the first Methodist woman Missionary and the founder of the Ewha Girls School (Pear Blossom Academy) under Emperor Gojong. During the short time she lived in Korea there were a lot of changes.

From 1905 Japan began to occupy the Korean peninsula. From 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan after years of war and considered a colony of Japan until 1945.

Beatrice Aurora Jenkins

I looked around the cemetery at graves around that time. The most striking is Beatrice Aurora Jenkins from North Carolina. She died in Seoul in 1927. Do you see the bullet shot in her tombstone? There is a story behind that.

In 1927 the Singanhoe Independence movement of Korea was established to inspire nationalism and support freedom of the press and youth and women movements. The result is they were mostly stomped on by the Japanese authorities and killed or arrested.

Veterans

Even though they were not drafted by any army in the world they stayed in Korea because they chose to stay. They became friends with the Korean people and stood by their cause as a unique people with a special culture and purpose.

One of them was my friend and neighbor Horace Grant Underwood. He was born in Korea in 1917 and his Father and his grandfather were missionaries. He wanted his grave stone written in Korean and a verse quoted from Philippians 4:8

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.

He always had a great sense of humor. He would make jokes about how his grandfather would turn over in his grave if he saw how they managed the university he had founded. He risked his life to stay in Korea during the war and joined the U.S. forces in translation work.

He said he was compelled to stay because these were his people. He was a Korean War Veteran but I saw only a very happy man who was even more happy to serve his country. People like Horace could communicate in Korean and English and knew the land and people well so he stayed during the entire war. Korea was his home.

My neighbor and friend

Rest

Some soldiers stayed after the war and found Korea to be their home and resting place. I don't know the story behind all of them. Most of them I don't even know personally. They were foreigners and strangers on earth.

They were looking for a country of their own. They were not thinking of returning to Palm beach to play golf. They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. They were longing for a country of their own, a city whose architect and builder is God.

Go Rest On That Mountain

Brother

American Heart