Talk:Yang Kyoungjong

Not a Hoax but there are serious problems: Where did his name come from?

This issue relates to this article and cited information from this "SBS Korean Documentary".. Click the blue box to play the documentary. Although it is in Korean, vital timestamps (listed below) are in English and crucial to the overall article.

QUESTION: Where is there proof in Stephen Ambrose's book that he died in Illinois in 1992? I literally read his book because of this. The only passage where Stephen Ambrose mentions the Korean soldiers (there were 4 Koreans apparently) is on page 34. There is NO MENTION OF HIS NAME. LT Robert Brewer captured them and assumed they were sent back to Korea where they would end up "fighting [...] against the US Army, or with it" (p. 34). The SBS Documentary goes to New Orleans where his recordings of the 101ABN/506PIR soldiers are kept. LT Brewer's cassette tape is conspicuously missing. The exact moment when this is revealed and the curator's response is in English. 6:06 of the of the Korean SBS documentary.

In the second episode of the documentary they discover the original photo at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) building at College Park, MD. The records following this picture is an Official US Coast Guard Public Relations Department with the description: "Jap in Nazi Uniform Captured". Needless to say it is easily understandable why an Asian soldier in a Nazi uniform could be described as being Japanese. This can also be seen and understood by any English speaker at exactly 30:55 of the documentary (episode 2).

These references to Illinois and his death have become a merry-go-round of misinformation based on non-primary sources (i.e. huffpost and other online media outlets). There is a findagrave memorial listing that was created in 2013. Findagrave is not even a primary source. I seriously need to know this because these continuous popups of his existence in the United States, let alone his name, is all brought into serious questioning. I really want to work with someone to verify this story and watch the documentary (it is in Korean) because it makes some serious arguments to the legitimacy of this person's identity. I'm not trying to say this soldier doesn't exist. Obviously he does and the picture hangs in a museum in Normandy, France and the original kept at NARA. I love a good story but there is some misinformation here.

UPDATE: So the information that he was at a British POW Camp and later moved to the US is a statement made by author/historian Antony Beevor in his book "The Second Word War" (published 2012) on page 1. He literally starts the book with the photograph of the soldier and his dramatic tale. Yet in the Index at the end of the book he lists absolutely no citations for Yang's entire story. His first references for page 1 starts from the paragraph after Yang's story (p. 788). Seriously what is going on? The first and original primary source never had a NAME for these 4 Korean soldiers. The 1992 Illinois death claim comes from Antony Beevor's book with no sources and one-year later someone creates a findagrave memorial for this soldier.

TL;DR WHERE DID ILLINOIS COME FROM? WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM? WHERE DID ANTONY BEEVER GET HIS STORY FROM? WHY DID HE NOT HAVE ANY PRIMARY SOURCES?

Hoax?

Korean wiki says this is a fictional character, a kind of urban legend. Sealle (talk) 15:05, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

The Korean Wikipedia article is a complete mess, and is full of original research and uncited statements. One of the references the Korean article uses even refers to geocities webpages and internet forum posts for "source information". The other reference used by the Korean Wikipedia doesn't even mention this person by name at all. That Korean Wikipedia article is also full of speculation and personal analysis ("It could be possible that... it is likely that...") Per WP:OR, please do not introduce information translated from the Korean Wikipedia. I noticed in the Russian Wikipedia users have included information about children - this is completely unsourced and original research, as is the date of birth. There are currently no reliable sources about his date of birth. I will be reverting User:Sealle's unverifiable date of birth additions to this enwiki article for this very reason, please do not re-add the date of birth. -- 李博杰  | —Talk contribs email 15:39, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

The first reference(dkbnews) says that the name "양경종"(Yang Kyoungjong) appears first in an internet forum in 2004. And the reporter says that the name is doubtful. (No reliable source.). The second reference(hankooki) is just an introduction of Ambrose's book, "D-Day". As you know, there is no name "Yang Kyoungjoong" in "D-Day". -- ChongDae (talk) 01:57, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

• You may feel free to trust english language sources, but please keep in mind that:
  1. Prior to 1941 the Koreans could not be drafted into the imperial army on par with the Japanese, they can only serve in auxiliary divisions. Since 1941 it was allowed to call Korean volunteers into the imperial army. In 1944, due to a shortage of recruits, it was decided to call selected Koreans into the Japanese army.
  2. There's no any evidence, that POW, not being a USSR citizen, could be drafted into the Red Army. Sealle (talk) 09:22, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
     1. In 1938, at the age of eighteen, Yang had been forcibly conscripted by the Japanese into their Kwantung Army in Manchuria. / by Antony Beevor + "On July 2, 1937... Japanese troops stationed in Korea (called the Korean Troop) recommended setting up "a system requiring Korean men to voluntary enlist for military service" in response to an inquiry from the Ministry of the Army (An Opinion on Korean Enlistment, the Korean Troop's Headquarters secret documents). Accordingly, the Japanese military, assuming conscription would be introduced in the decades to follow, set up an enlistment system for Koreans on April 3, 1938 (The Army Ordinance for Special Enlistment System)"[1]
     2. Probably, there are some evidences in the 2005 movie by SBS.--Fastboy (talk) 17:28, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

We could try inserting all of the English RSes first, then asking users on the Korea WikiProject here and on the Embassy on the Korean Wikipedia for help with sources. Also flag this article on the Korean Wikipedia and explain all of the problems. WhisperToMe (talk) 19:06, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

The embassy is at ko:위키백과:대사관 WhisperToMe (talk) 16:08, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

If this person is not a hoax, then he should be not "some random soldier" but "Private K.Y. of Army X, Battalion Y, Command Z" or alike. Then official archives could be queried where the proson with those names was in the army lists. 85.90.120.180 (talk) 10:03, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

2011 South Korean movie My Way

Added back in the article with the sources. --Fastboy (talk) 17:22, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

• It looks like user Benlisquare behaves like the owner of this page and deserves a WP:EW notice. Sealle (talk) 06:34, 1 November 2012 (UTC)
  • I'm sorry? The source presently provided does not mention this individual by name. It reads that the story of Koreans being captured in Normandy is the influence of the film, however there have been multiple cases of Koreans in Normandy being found. The lack of specificity casts a shadow of uncertainty, and in my opinion it would be better not to make guesses. Furthermore, there's also WP:TRIVIA. -- 李博杰  | —Talk contribs email 06:39, 1 November 2012 (UTC)
    • So what? Only Beevor identifies this person as Yang Kyoungjong. The source I given provides the same foto as it's shown in the infobox. --Fastboy (talk) 20:26, 1 November 2012 (UTC)
      • Never mind. I retract my earlier comments. -- 李博杰  | —Talk contribs email 02:16, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

In Manchuria before the war?

The article states, "Yang was in Manchuria when he was conscripted into the Kwantung Army." This reads as if he was already in Manchuria (as a civilian) when he was drafted. Is that correct? Or was he drafted (while still in Korea) and then deployed to Manchuria?

Axeman (talk) 15:12, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Manchukuo was a Japanese client state from 1932 onwards (the Manchurian region was occupied by Japan since late 1931). The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, and the border clashes with the Soviet Union took place between 1932 and 1945, with Khalkhin Gol taking place in 1939. --benlisquare_T•C•E 15:29, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Although cremated, He as an entry at find a grave.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=104354380