MANILA, Philippines – Former President Fidel Ramos has accepted the invitation of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to lead the delegation of veterans from the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) to commemorate this September the landing of allied forces during the Korean War 60 years ago.
Ramos will fly to Inchon in South Korea on Sept.14 for the year-long observance of the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. He will be in South Korea until Sept. 19, the date of his arrival in Korea in 1950 as a young West Point graduate with the second batch of PEFTOK troopers who joined the United Nations-led coalition.
“We Koreans and myself in particular look forward to welcoming you. We hope that you will see what you made possible and hope that your families will feel renewed pride in what you did for us many years ago,” President Lee wrote Ramos. The South Korean leader sent the invitation to Ramos in a letter dated June 1, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR.
“Please accept, once again, our warmest gratitude and deepest respect. You will always remain our true Heroes and we assure you that we will continue to do our best to make you proud in what you did for us many years ago,” the letter further stated.
President Lee said the South Korean government has been inviting Korean War veterans every year since 1975 as part of its Revisit Korea Program. For this year, he disclosed, they will be inviting 2,400 Korean War veterans and their families.
Ramos, now 81 years old, was among the 7,420 Filipino soldiers who fought in the Korean War under the UN Command headed by American Gen. Douglas McArthur. One battalion combat team from the Philippines arrived in an American warship that landed them on the frontlines on Sept. 19, 1950. The Philippines was the eighth country to send combat troops among the 21 countries that participated in the UN-led coalition in the Korean War.
President Lee’s letter was preceded by an invitation first sent on May 24 to Ramos by Yang Kim, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs of South Korea.
Col. Martin Pinto, the current Philippine defense attaché to South Korea, informed Ramos he would lead the PEFTOK veterans in the reenactment of the Incheon landing being organized by the South Korean government.
The ex-president will lead the turnover of donations to the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul and the UN Memorial Cemetery of Korea in Busan of the PEFTOK uniforms and war photos of 1st Lt. Ramos and the late Col. Nicanor Jimenez, who later became Philippine ambassador to South Korea.
Ramos would also inaugurate the newly renovated PEFTOK Shrine in Yultong in Yeoncheon City which is the sister-city of Imus in Cavite. Ramos will also lead the wreath-laying rites at the renovated PEFTOK Monument in Goyang City.