1. Young-Oak Kim was a United States Army officer during World War II and the Korean War and a civic leader and humanitarian.
41 Facts About Young-Oak Kim
1. 2.
Young-Oak Kim was a member of the US 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and a combat leader in Italy and France during World War II.
3.
Young-Oak Kim was awarded 19 medals, including the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Medal of Military Valor, a Legion d'honneur, a Croix de Guerre, and the Korean Taeguk Cordon of the Order of Military Merit.
4.
Young-Oak Kim's parents were Soon Kwon Kim and Nora Koh.
5.
Young-Oak Kim had three brothers, two sisters, and one adopted brother, Andy Kil.
6.
Young-Oak Kim's father was a member of Daehanin-dongjihwe, the group Syngman Rhee established in Hawaii to help liberate Korea from Japan.
7.
Young-Oak Kim grew up in Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California, where his parents operated a grocery store at the intersection of Temple Street and Figueroa Street.
8.
Young-Oak Kim graduated from Belmont High School and proceeded to Los Angeles City College.
9.
Young-Oak Kim dropped out after a year to support his family.
10.
Young-Oak Kim tried various jobs, but racial discrimination prevented him from staying long at any job.
11.
Young-Oak Kim entered service on January 31,1941, three months before his father died.
12.
Young Oak Young-Oak Kim was then promoted to first lieutenant and participated in the Battle of Monte Cassino as part of the US attempt to liberate Rome from German control.
13.
Young-Oak Kim led elements of the 100th Battalion in battles at Belvedere and Pisa, which helped break the Gothic Line.
14.
Young-Oak Kim fought in battles that liberated the towns of Bruyeres and Biffontaine.
15.
Young-Oak Kim sustained severe wounds from enemy fire in Biffontaine, and later spent a six-month leave in Los Angeles in late 1944.
16.
Germany surrendered shortly before he was to return to the European Theater of Operations, and Captain Young-Oak Kim was consequently honorably discharged from the US Army.
17.
Young-Oak Kim started a self-service laundry, which was quite rare at the time.
18.
The business was very successful; Young-Oak Kim's earnings were five times his salary as an Army captain.
19.
Young-Oak Kim was assigned to the 31st Infantry of the 7th Infantry Division in April 1951 as the intelligence officer, under Lieutenant General William J McCaffrey, who scouted him.
20.
Young-Oak Kim worked not only as an intelligence officer, but virtually as an operations officer at the request of McCaffrey.
21.
Young-Oak Kim rescued many US and South Korean army troops in several battles.
22.
Young-Oak Kim was saved by doctors from Johns Hopkins University, who were in Tokyo.
23.
Young-Oak Kim made it back to Korea after two months of recuperation.
24.
Major Young-Oak Kim became the first minority officer to command an Army battalion on the battlefield in US history.
25.
Young-Oak Kim then served in Germany as a staff officer and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1959, and became an instructor at the US Army Command and General Staff College.
26.
Young-Oak Kim returned to Korea in the early 1960s as a US military advisor to the South Korean army, during which he was promoted to the rank of colonel.
27.
Young-Oak Kim attended California State University Dominguez Hills to study history, but left after a year because he wanted to focus his energy on a greater cause.
28.
Young-Oak Kim felt that it was time for him to use his leadership skills to serve his community in Los Angeles.
29.
Young-Oak Kim decided to begin a new chapter of his life as an advocate for racial equality, youth, the elderly, and the poor.
30.
George Nishinaka, the head of SSG at the time, helped Young-Oak Kim become more involved with community service by nominating him to be a board member of United Way.
31.
Young-Oak Kim was the first Asian American person to serve on the United Way board for a total of 10 years.
32.
Young-Oak Kim recognized the underserved ethnic communities in Los Angeles and worked to provide them with linguistically and culturally competent services.
33.
When Young-Oak Kim joined the board, the Chinatown Service Center was the only United Way Asian Center.
34.
Young-Oak Kim added the Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Korean American Centers to United Way.
35.
Young-Oak Kim continued to be an active member of the Asian American community and beyond.
36.
Young-Oak Kim further served the Korean American community, as a founding member of the Korean American Coalition from 1985 to 2005.
37.
In 1986, Young-Oak Kim co-founded the Korean Health, Education, Information, and Research Center to provide new, uninformed immigrants with the health care information and services that they are entitled to receive by law in America.
38.
Young-Oak Kim died from cancer on December 29,2005, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and rests at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
39.
Young-Oak Kim has three stepsons, one sister, and two brothers.
40.
Young-Oak Kim's sister Willa Kim was a well known American costume designer.
41.
The Young Oak Young-Oak Kim Center has published many books discussing the history of the Korean American community, and has dedicated a biography to Young Oak Young-Oak Kim's life in the military after his military service.