This week the 30 K-pop Academy students were shown the film ’71: into the fire’ with a guest present, Brigadier Brian Parrit CBE.
71: Into the fire, is a Korean film based on real life events. It is about 71 Student soldiers, most who have never held a gun in their life who protect a school which is acting as a military base. These student soldiers were valiant, when the North Koreans attacked the student soldiers refused to surrender. The 71 students were able to hold off the North Korean attack long enough for back up to arrive which helped to end the Korean war.
The film also stars T.O.P of Bigbang. I’d recommend the film to anyone who hasn’t yet seen it. At the end of the screening, many of the student’s were in tears, if not at least close to tears.
After watching the film, we took a small break in which the KCC had prepared Korean snacks and even made rice balls for each of us. (They were delicious!). Then a few students were interviewed on how they felt about the film and the war.
Brian who had served in the Korean War during 1952 – 1953 as a Gunner Officer, shared his experiences of the War with K-pop Academy students. The Brigadier explained that the border between the two Koreas also known as the 38th parallel, was drawn up by two men in hawaii and had nothing to do with the Korean people. He shared pictures of his experiences with us, there were some of him from 1952/1953 and others of the Korean civilians and soldiers. The last picture was of the top of the trench, a place where soldiers hadn’t been able to walk freely until the end of the battle. At the end of the war the chinese lit off fireworks.
The brigadier then showed us something special. It was a map he had held during his time in the Korean war, he had framed it. He said that his grandchildren always said ‘Ew granddad’s blood’ whenever they looked at the map. He told us this was due to being injured during the war. The Brigadier had obviously been through a lot in his life, and helped to make an impact on the outcome of the war. After this students were able to ask any questions they had to Brian.
Many lives were lost during the war, a common question is ‘was it worth it’. To which the Brigadier would respond ‘Of course, we fought for the people of South Korea’s freedom!’.
*Please note that this article has come from my personal blog: http://hellosujin.wordpress.com
