The son of a US Marine combat photographer who documented the Korean War is searching for a Korean boy who lived and worked alongside his father and became one of his closest companions during the conflict.
According to South Korea's Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Robert P. Mosier, the son of the late photographer Robert H. Mosier, sought help from the Korean Embassy with his search after rediscovering the close bond between his father and the Korean boy through a 1953 National Geographic article co-authored by his father.
According to the ministry and the younger Mosier, Robert H. Mosier, then 28, met the boy, surnamed Kim, at a refugee camp near Changdo-ri, Gangwon Province, an area that is now part of North Korea, while covering the front line in 1951.
Kim, believed to have been about 15 years old at the time, had lost his father and his home had been destroyed in the war. His full name is not known.
He became a domestic worker for a group of US Marines stationed at Camp Rotation in present-day Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. The soldiers and Robert H. Mosier provided him with food, clothing and an opportunity to learn. Kim also accompanied Mosier on photography assignments and dreamed of becoming a photographer himself.
When Mosier returned to the United States in 1952 following his unit’s withdrawal, he considered adopting Kim but ultimately decided he should remain in Korea with his extended family as the country rebuilt.
In a video uploaded to the Korean ministry’s YouTube channel, Robert P. Mosier described his search as a way to learn more about his father, whom he never got to know as an adult. Robert H. Mosier died when his son was 17.
The younger Mosier said he has long wondered what became of Kim after the US Marines left Korea and hopes to learn more about their wartime bond from Kim’s perspective.
Fighting back tears as he imagined speaking directly to Kim, he said, “Whether you realize it or not, we're brothers in a sense. Even if you're Korean and I'm an American, we share so much in common.”
Believing Kim would now be in his mid-to-late 80s, the junior Mosier said he hopes to reconnect with him or his family.
“I would just ask anyone who happens to see this information to reach out,” he said.
The Veterans Ministry asked anyone who may know Kim or have information about him to contact the ministry through its website, by phone or via its YouTube channel.
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