Korean War veterans return to a South Korea they hardly recognize

SEOUL, South Korea — Seventy-three years after fighting in a devastated South Korea, Marine veteran Patrick Finn returned this month to a country he could hardly have imagined while exhausted, dirty and frightened on the battlefield.

Finn, of Minneapolis, served as a corporal with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines during the 1950-53 Korean War.

“I couldn’t put a lot of things together until later,” he told Stars and Stripes in a Sept. 18 interview at the Ambassador Seoul hotel. “We were exhausted. We were tired, dirty, and I was scared.”

Finn was among six American Korean War veterans who toured South Korea from Sept. 14 to 19, visiting U.S. military installations and taking part in events commemorating the alliance between the two countries.

Three former commanders of U.S. Forces Korea — retired Army Gens. Robert Abrams, Paul LaCamera and Burwell Bell — also participated.

The group visited Osan Air Base and Camp Humphreys on Sept. 16 and 17. Humphreys is headquarters for USFK, United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command.

Korean War veteran Patrick Finn receives his Korea Revisit Ambassador medal at the Ambassador hotel in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 18, 2026. (Alejandro Carrasquel/Stars and Stripes)

On Sept. 18, the veterans attended a U.S.-South Korea alliance conference and appreciation dinner in Seoul as part of events marking the United States’ 250th anniversary.

Finn said he could not have imagined at the time what South Korea would become in the decades after the fighting ended.

Fellow veteran Richard Hopkins expressed a similar sense of disbelief at the transformation.

The Michigan native served as an Army corporal with the 424th Field Artillery Battalion and manned 8-inch howitzers from January 1953 until the armistice was signed July 27 of that year.

He recalled that even after the agreement halted the fighting, his unit remained prepared for combat to resume.

“We had to be ready to fire if the armistice would break,” he told Stars and Stripes on Sept. 18.

Returning more than seven decades later, Hopkins contrasted modern South Korea with the “complete war zone” he remembered.

“I just have amazement and respect for what the South Koreans have done,” he said. “I lived in a tent for seven months, and now that I came here, I am living in the Ambassador hotel … quite a difference.”

Former U.S. Forces Korea commander Robert Abrams, a retired U.S. Army general, speaks to Stars and Stripes at the Westin Josun Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 15, 2026. (Yoojin Lee/Stars and Stripes)

Abrams said the veterans’ visit underscored the importance of maintaining the partnership that emerged from the war.

The U.S.-South Korea alliance should not be taken for granted and requires constant communication and attention, he told Stars and Stripes during a Sept. 15 interview at the Westin Josun Seoul Hotel.

Its role as the “basis for the security of [South Korea] and the Korean people” must be recognized, he said.

The security environment has continued to evolve since Abrams left command of USFK in 2021, particularly as North Korea has improved its military capabilities, Abrams said.

“It’s a much different North Korean military than it was when I left here five years ago,” he said. “Much different, much improved, with different capabilities.”