(May 16, 2016, (Addis Ababa))--More than 60 years ago, Kostle flew thousands of kilometers away from his homeland to fight in the Korean War while serving as a young bodyguard of then Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.
Until he passed away a year ago after suffering a stroke, he vividly remembered the snowy winter during which the whole world turned sheer white, and how he had developed skills to fix telephone lines amid the chaos. In one heartwarming episode recounted to his son, he gave his rations to other hungry soldiers.
“He used to tell me that in the middle of snow, it was completely white and there was nothing you could see except the snow,” the son recalled. “The other thing was that there was food he couldn’t eat because he was a religious person, so he gave it to Koreans who were carrying them and they were very happy.”
Kostle was lucky enough to avoid serious injury during the conflict. Albeit not in the snow-white season, he had the chance to see Seoul again in 2010 as part of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs’ “Revisit Korea” program for overseas veterans to mark the 60th anniversary of the war.
His son, the 26-year-old Fitsum, is currently receiving mechanic education at a vocational school jointly set up in Addis Ababa by the Korea International Cooperation Agency and the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Read more from The Korean Herald »
Until he passed away a year ago after suffering a stroke, he vividly remembered the snowy winter during which the whole world turned sheer white, and how he had developed skills to fix telephone lines amid the chaos. In one heartwarming episode recounted to his son, he gave his rations to other hungry soldiers.
“He used to tell me that in the middle of snow, it was completely white and there was nothing you could see except the snow,” the son recalled. “The other thing was that there was food he couldn’t eat because he was a religious person, so he gave it to Koreans who were carrying them and they were very happy.”
Kostle was lucky enough to avoid serious injury during the conflict. Albeit not in the snow-white season, he had the chance to see Seoul again in 2010 as part of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs’ “Revisit Korea” program for overseas veterans to mark the 60th anniversary of the war.
His son, the 26-year-old Fitsum, is currently receiving mechanic education at a vocational school jointly set up in Addis Ababa by the Korea International Cooperation Agency and the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Read more from The Korean Herald »
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