Posted on 07/03/2003 6:45:45 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
Title: "US Soldier Brings Heart to Korean Children"
By Byun Duk-kun
Staff Reporter (KOREA TIMES, SEOUL, KOREA)
Michael Schardinger, 28, 2nd Lt., U.S. Army 168 Medical Battalion stationed in Taegu, S. Korea, has an interesting resume. Two years ago when he left Korea after a four-year tour, he was a noncommissioned officer and military nurse.
In April, he came back for his second Korean tour as an Army officer. This time, he is not a nurse, but a hospital manager at the same unit he served on his previous stint here.
But what’s unique about him is that he is the only American soldier who volunteers to work at New Life Welfare Corporation, a Korean charity group for children with heart problems in Taegu. Through the opportunity, he is able to not only engage in charitable work, but also become more familiar with Korea and its people.
``When (Korean high school girls) Hyo-soon and Mi-sun were accidentally killed last year, both South Koreans and Americans moaned,’’ Schardinger said during an interview with The Korea Times.
However, he added that they moaned separately because American soldiers held their memorial service only on post.
The two South Korean schoolgirls, Shin Hyo-soon and Shim Mi-sun, died in an accident by a U.S. armored vehicle last year, and the deaths aroused a series of candlelight vigils and anti-American movements across (South Korea).
``We need to get out, and this is also in line with USFK (United States Forces Korea) Commander Gen. Leon LaPorte’s Good Neighbor Policy,’’ Schardinger said.
``Most American soldiers don’t get out of their base (in S. Korea) because they are afraid they won’t be able to communicate, but I communicate just fine with my church members although I don’t speak the language,’’ he said. Schardinger goes to a Korean church in Taegu every Sunday with his Korean wife and two-year-old son.
Schardinger and the South Korean charity organization are planning a walkathon in Taegu to help raise people’s awareness of the upcoming Universiade Games, which is held in the city in August, and raise funds for children with heart problems at the same time.
``We cannot bring back those two schoolgirls, but we can save these lives,’’ he added.
The walkathon will be held in Taegu on Sunday, and the American serviceman is hoping other U.S. soldiers including Gen. LaPorte would take part in the event.
Tens of thousands of people will participate in the fourth such event to help children in urgent need, and Schardinger hopes more help will be extended from the American side which will also help build a better relationship between the two.
``They (the organization) came to me and asked to participate in the general's Good Neighbor Policy. They want to bring our communities closer together, and I hope I can be a vital piece of the puzzle that brings us together,’’ he said.
Although this is Schardinger’s second trip to the country as a serviceman, he has only recently started to find out the true side of the nation as he started to ``get out,’’ according to Schardinger.
``I have been a volunteer all my life, but these people just give and give and give without ever asking for anything. In fact, when people give back, they use those gifts to help others,’’ he said.
Schardinger is also working with a group of his church members in Taegu to support the 2003 Universiade Games.
benjamine@koreatimes.co.kr
Thankfully, this counterbalances some of the numbskulls straight from the 'hood or the trailer park shipped to S. Korea whose sole enjoyment in S. Korea seems to be blaring radios, reckless driving, public drunkenness, fistfights with locals and/or procuring whores.
A Good story for a Good nation on this July 4, 2003. This man is a Good American. I know he must not be in the minority.
That's probably a good point. OTOH, I do know one 15-minute stroll down a certain nameless piece of real estate in Yonsgan-gu Ward in Seoul might make anyone feel a bit 'anti-American'. It is an embarrassing yet often hidden image of my country overseas that sometimes I regret and resent, and that needs to be worked on and cleaned up IMHO.
It is still there, but nowadays with somewhat of a reversal of fortunes, sailors and GIs can hardly afford anything off base, and more likely than not, it will be a young, thrill seeking Japanese FEMALE who will be the one buying a American boy for the night, not vice-versa like 40 years ago.
I did see one mama san there about 10 years ago, in the doorway to one cheap bar, hiking her skirt and saying "hey baby, how 'bout a beer'. My female companion strolling w/ me at the time look in awe, speechless, and then could not contain her laughter. This wrinkled, perfumed bar-woman must have been about 72 years of age in a short short miniskirt with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. You could tell this one had been through many, many swabbies since 1945 Occupation days. Sad yet somewhat amusing in a historical and pop cultural sense.
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