National Cemetery

The Korean National Cemetery is a pretty amazing place! Founded in 1955 and covering around 343 acres of land, there are over 160,000 soliders and patriots buried on the hallowed grounds. I would compare it in some aspects to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. The weather was pretty nice for still being winter time. The sun was out and shining and I've longed to get back outside and enjoy the fresh air. As I've said before one thing I love about living here is that I can go do a day trip like this for like 5,000 Won. I rode the subway from Cheonan to Dongjak Station for 2,500 Won. The walk from the station over to the cemetery was only about 5 minutes. There are numerous statues around the cemetery honoring different military units and patriots that have fought and died over the years for Korea's independence. The tombs of the late presidents Syngman Rhee and Park Chunghee, as well as the leaders of the Shanghai provisional government and other patriotic leaders are also there. About 104,000 memorial tablets have been enshrined inside a monument to honor the spirits of soldiers whose bodies have not been found.

When the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, a great number of young students from all over the country volunteered to fight. These volunteer student soldiers fought bravely with the army and police, and many of them died a young, but heroic death. However, most of their remains were never found, so there is a monument for the "Unknown Soldiers" too.

It was very touching to go there and think of all the 1000's of Koreans that have died over the years fighting for independence against not only North Korea and Russia, but of course the Japanese. I have been reading a history book about Korea and the relations they had (or were forced to have) with some of the other countries in Asia. It must have been a tremendously difficult time to be alive and always having to fight just to be free.

After touring the grounds, I walked down to the Han River and took some pictures across to the Namsan Tower. Koreans are very active and love to get out and bike, run, and walk...so there is a nice path along the river and there were a lot of people out and about.

I swear I must have walked 4 or 5 miles Saturday...my hips are actually a little sore even today, I guess another sign that I'm getting old! So sad.

Oh yeah...I adjusted the settings on my camera after talking to my friend and for some reason I had the camera set on lower pixels, so I changed that and I think the pictures are much more clear and bright now. I wish I would have had it changed when I went to NZ, but oh well. Hopefully I can catch all the beautiful colors in the spring.