MANILA - Filipino veterans of the Korean War were honored in Korea by the Korean government as well as Korean veterans, the Department of Foreign Affairs ssid Thursday.
Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Luis T. Cruz attended the wreath-laying ceremony in honor of Filipino soldiers who fought in the Korean War at the Philippine Monument in Goyang City last June 22.
The ceremony was organized by the Presbyterian Church under the South Korean Government’s Revisit Korea Program for war veterans, in coordination with the Philippine embassy, Goyang City officials, and the South Korean Army.
The event was attended by members of the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) Veterans Association Inc., including 11 surviving veterans and seven relatives of those who already passed away.
The Philippines was one of the first nations to respond to the United Nations’ call to defend South Korea from a communist invasion, which started on June 25, 1950.
Then President Elpidio R. Quirino uttered the following words as he sends the 7,500-strong PEFTOK contingent to war.
“What you will do will prove to all the world that this republic and all of you who are part of it have the will and power to survive… to make our own lives as we want them to be, and to keep them that way."
PEFTOK units distinguished themselves in several battles against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, particularly in the Battle of Hill Eerie and the Battle of Yultong Bridge, where they defeated a numerically superior communist force while sustaining minimal casualties.
One of the heroes of the Korean War, then Second Lieutenant Fidel V. Ramos eventually became the Philippines’ 12th President.
Last March 29, President Benigno S. Aquino III, son of the late Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., a young journalist who covered the Korean War, inaugurated the PEFTOK War Memorial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani to immortalize our men’s gallantry and serve as a fitting symbol of the enduring friendship between the Philippines and South Korea.-Interaksyon (July 05, 2012 11:35AM)
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