Friday, November 17, 2006
Local soldier killed in Iraq

A private first class dies from injuries after an explosion.

By SUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN, ELLYN PAK and ADAM TOWNSEND
The Orange County Register

PLACENTIA – Jang Ho Kim never wanted his family to worry.

When his parents called him from their home in Placentia and asked where he was, he would never say he was in Baghdad, a war-torn city.

The private first class always told them he was just outside Baghdad.

"He always worried about his parents worrying," one of Kim's pastors, David Gyusik Song, said Thursday night.

The day before, the parents had heard the worst possible news.

Kim – a member of the Army's 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division – died Monday from injuries suffered when a homemade bomb exploded near his vehicle during a combat operation in Baghdad.

He was 20.

The blast also killed another U.S. soldier, Pfc. Daniel J. Allman II, 20, of Canon, Ga.

"My heart is empty, but I'm consoled because our son, Jang Ho, believed in God," his mother, Sang Soon Kim, said in Korean in a brief telephone interview Thursday.

Kim joined the Army last year. He wanted a challenge. A year into Fullerton College, he believed enlisting in the military and going to war would give him direction, the pastor said in his office at Grace Korean Church in Fullerton.

"He wanted to find his life's way – his sort of vision," said Song, who had known Kim for years.

Church officials, who were saddened by the news of Kim's death, remembered him as a bright, kind, intelligent man.

"He's so calm," Song said. "He always had a smile, and he wanted to help everyone."

Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. The family immigrated to the U.S. in 1990 and lived in New York before moving to Orange County, The Korea Times reported.

His father, Seop Bae Kim, is a manager at a Samsung Electronics office in Irvine and an elder at Grace Korean Church. The soldier's mother is a church evangelist.

"When we heard the news, we wondered why us … and we felt resentment," his father told The Korea Times. "But we're proud that the blood that our son spilled will spread the Gospel in the Islamic nation."

Kim dreamed of designing computer games one day, Song said.

Kim, who attended Valencia High School in Placentia, joined the Army in June 2005.

He joked with his parents about his decision to be stationed in Iraq instead of Korea. He was sent to Iraq in August after a stint in Germany.

Her son called last week to tell her that he probably wouldn't be able to go on a along with his family on a trip to Korea in February.

There was probably something wrong, she thought.

CONTACT US: Register staff writer Jeff Rowe contributed to this report. 714-704-3796 or ssubramanian@ocregister.com Register s

Copyright 2006 The Orange County Register

FAITHFUL: Seop Bae Kim, left, and Sang Soon Kim said they were comforted because their son believed in God and proud because his death would spread Christianity.
COURTESY OF THE KOREA TIMES

DUTIFUL SON: Jang Ho Kim tried not to worry his parents, Seop Bae Kim, left, and Sang Soon Kim, of Placentia.
COURTESY OF THE KOREA TIMES

Photo Caption: Lost soldier 'still a baby'
Growing up: Button photos of a young Jang Ho Kim adorn the Kim family's piano in their Placentia home.
PHOTOS: ELLYN PAK, THE REGISTER

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Lost soldier 'still a baby'

Seop Kim describes his son as a young man who longed to forge his own path in life, one that took him to Baghdad.

By ELLYN PAK
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Jang Ho Kim was an energetic kid, often getting into mischief at Sunday school and hopping from one interest to another.

He later grew up to be a calm and brave young man, though he longed to forge his own path in life, his father, Seop Kim said Friday.

Just after a semester at Fullerton College, Kim pondered whether to complete his college education or to serve in the military.

He chose the latter, after weeks of praying and seeking advice from his family.

"He wanted to get momentum in his life because I think his character (was to be) active in his mind," his father said.

Two weeks after he made his decision to enlist, Kim left for basic training in June 2005.

"He (wanted) to go to battle, but as a father, I didn't want him to go to a dangerous area," Seop Kim said.

On the frontlines

After a stint in Germany, 20-year-old Kim was sent to Iraq in August. But he never told his parents that he was an infantryman on the frontlines in Baghdad.

They learned Monday, when two men in uniform appeared at their Placentia home.

Pfc. Kim, a member of the Army's 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, had died that day from injuries suffered when a homemade bomb exploded near his vehicle in Baghdad.

There have been 2,855 U.S. casualties in Iraq as of Friday, according to the Department of Defense Web site.

"In my heart, he's still a baby, he's still young," his father said. "I found that after his death, he was already grown up."

It took awhile to believe, but an Army sergeant confirmed that Jang Ho had been killed during a combat operation in Baghdad.

Since learning of their son's death, Seop and his wife, Sang Soon, have held vigils at their home with fellow parishioners of Grace Korean Church, where the couple is active.

Funeral plans pending

Their living room, adorned with flower arrangements, is a central meeting place where daily prayers take place. Atop a fireplace mantel is an enlarged photo of a smiling soldier in camouflage, his face pockmarked by acne and his trademark, prominent ears revealed by a buzz cut.

The family immigrated to the United States from Seoul, South Korea, in 1990. Seop Kim's job transfer placed them in New York for a few years before they moved to Orange County.

The couple also has a 19-year-old daughter, Michelle Jang Mi Kim, a second-year student at UCLA.

Plans for a Nov. 27 funeral are pending. The family plans to bury Kim at Riverside National Cemetery.

CONTACT US: 714-704-3788 or epak@ocregister.com

Copyright 2006 The Orange County Register

MILITARY DEATHS
Army Pvt. Jang Ho Kim, 20, Placentia; killed by roadside bomb
By Peter Nicholas
Times Staff Writer

November 26, 2006

When Army Pvt. Jang Ho Kim told his parents earlier this year that he would be going to Iraq, they had one hope: that he would not be deployed to Baghdad, where so many U.S. soldiers have been attacked and killed.

Eager to reassure his anxious parents, Kim would call home over the summer and tell them that they didn't need to worry — he was not in Baghdad.

But he was.

Kim, 20, whose family lives in Placentia, was one of two soldiers killed Nov. 13 when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Baghdad.

His younger sister, remembering the brother who would tease her as a child, marveled at his transformation, underscored by the story he told to spare his family grief.

"My dad would ask him if he was in Baghdad and he would always say he wasn't," said Michelle Kim, 19, a student at UCLA. "When I found out he was in Baghdad, that just really showed the maturity that my brother had. Growing up with him, it took him a while to mature. I used to have so many fights with him — it was his hobby to bother me and annoy me. But finding out that he was in Baghdad showed his maturity, and that's something I'm so proud of him for."

Jang Kim enlisted in the Army last year, leaving Fullerton College. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany.

He wanted the discipline that the Army teaches, according to family members and his clergyman. His father, Seop Kim, had hoped that he would use his military service to strengthen his computer skills, but the young soldier wanted to see combat. His plan was to eventually join the elite Army Special Forces.

"He wanted harder training," his father said in an interview. "He joked to me: 'Let me capture Osama bin Laden.' "

Growing up, Kim had shown an aptitude for working with computers, his sister said, recalling how he enjoyed teaching himself how they work.

"He was the kind of guy who would go to sleep with hammers and screwdrivers in his hands," she said. "One of his hobbies was taking computers apart and putting them back together, figuring things out on his own. He had a talent."

Active in Grace Korean Church in Fullerton, Kim helped the church in setting up Web pages. He graduated from Valencia High School in Placentia, but struggled a bit academically and surprised his family when he said he wanted to enlist.

"One of the many reasons he joined the military was to start his life all over again in the sense that he wanted to get educated and be trained, and show his parents that he cared about his life and wanted to improve upon his life and be the person God wanted him to be," said Steve Rim, pastor at Grace Korean. "He wanted to go into the military to be a better man."

Kim's family came to the U.S. from South Korea in 1990. His father worked for Samsung and took a job with the company in the New York-New Jersey area, but the family eventually settled in Orange County.

The family heard about Kim's death from two military officers who showed up at their home. Seop Kim was at work at the time. His wife, who greeted the officers, knew something was terribly wrong and asked them to wait until her husband came home to say what it was. Seop Kim rushed back, and the couple learned of their son's death together.

After the tragedy became public, church members and neighbors paid visits to the home.

Michelle Kim tells of a stranger who also lost a son in Iraq, and who visited the family unannounced to offer comfort.

"She lost her son in the Army a couple of months back, and she knew what it felt like," she said. "She visited our house and was comforting my mom. It really struck me that people we don't even know would go out of their way so much in order to show their love and encourage us."

Asked how the family is coping with the loss, Seop Kim said it has been sustained through religious faith.

"Without faith, it would be very difficult," he said. "But with faith in God, we can stand it. We can be strong…. My son is in heaven right now."

In addition to his father and sister, Kim is survived by his mother, Sang Soon Kim; and four grandparents who live in South Korea.

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times