Jeju Island Marines

[Anchor Lead]

Marines from Jeju Island played a pivotal part in the Incheon landing operation, which turned around the tide of the Korean War. Those marines gathered once again ahead of the 66th anniversary of the momentous military operation.

[Pkg]

A transport ship carrying some 4,500 marines departed from Jeju Island. Most of them were young men from Jeju who had voluntarily enlisted to defend the country. The young marines sailed to Incheon with the allied forces and made a successful landing on September 15th, going on to recapture Seoul on the 28th. They also achieved significant feats during the January 4th retreat, earning them the honorable title of "invincible marines." Those war veterans gathered once again in celebration of their historic departure. The young men with fresh faces have now become silver-haired elderly veterans, but they still remember the time as vividly as if it happened yesterday.

[Soundbite] Song Chi-seon(Marine Veteran of Korean War) : "We weren't thinking when we were pulling the triggers. We just fired shots not to survive, but to save our country."

Women were no different from men when it came to saving their home country. That's how the first 126 female marines came to be.

[Soundbite] Koh Sun-deok(Marine Veteran of Korean War) : "We received all the training that the men did. We practiced first-aid and note-taking to be ready for the war."

Roughly 3,000 young people departed from Jeju Island to fight in the war, and 346 of them sacrificed their precious lives for their country.