HOLLAND, Mich. — With the push of a button, Rami Hyun remembers those that so many other people often forget about.
“Before it’s too late, I just want to collect their portrait, collect their story to deliver [to the] next generation,” said Hyun.
In 2013, the South Korean photographer started Project Soldier KWV, a nonprofit organization that aims to tell the stories of Korean War Veterans through interviews and pictures. He says a conversation with a Republic of Korea (ROK) soldier inspired him to begin the effort.
“The reason my mother [and] father [are] still alive is them [Korean War veterans],” said Hyun. “I didn’t know that. Korean education, they never teach that kind of truth, but whenever I met a Korean War veteran and they told me about their story, I understood freedom is not free.”
Over the past decade, Hyun has travelled the world to take portraits of more than 2,700 Korean War veterans. Last year, he began a tour of the United States to record their memories of battle too.
On Wednesday, Hyun met Jim Willard, who splits his time between Holland and Ada.
“I think I learned to appreciate what we have here in the United States compared to what was going on over there at the time,” said Willard.
At the age of 20, Willard deployed to South Korea as a special security officer for the U.S. Army. He was there for more than a year and was tasked with intercepting and decoding messages sent by those in North Korea.
Willard looks back on his service fondly, but some Korean War veterans feel left behind since the war ended in an armistice. He hopes Project Soldier KWV changes that stigma.
“I think people should learn from what we've been doing and what we did over there, that freedom is not free and so you have to have help sometimes to get through what's happening in the world and hopefully, you can be of some use to do that,” said Willard.
Hyun wants that too and says he will continue Project Soldier KWV until all of the soldiers not remembers are honored.
“They have a little bit of a bad feeling because they survived, but when they see their portrait, they realize pictures are not just taking the outside, pictures take the inside too,” said Hyun. “They realize they are not cowards, they are heroes.”
Project Soldier KWV will make a stop at Hahn-in Christian Reformed Church from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The organization encourages any Korean War veteran to attend.
