Posted on: Saturday, December 18, 2004
Citizenship granted two months after death
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
U.S. Army Pvt. Jeungjin "Nikky" Kim, 23, killed in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, was remembered at his funeral in Nu'uanu two months ago by more than 200 family members and friends.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser Kim's widow, A-Young Kim, accepted a certificate of posthumous citizenship, which was granted after her husband died in a roadside bomb and small-arms attack on Oct. 6.
"He would have said, 'Finally,' " said A-Young Kim. "He would have been happy ... We talked about this for a long time."
Posthumous U.S. citizenship has been issued to 36 service members around the country stemming from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
David Gulick, district director for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Honolulu, said that to his knowledge, Kim's was the first such citizenship to be granted in Hawai'i.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser Degidio, who returned from Afghanistan about five weeks ago, added that Kim "made the ultimate sacrifice for his fellow soldiers, his wife, his newborn son, his family, and yes, his newly beloved country — the United States of America."
When Kim moved here from South Korea seven years ago, he fell in love with all things Hawai'i.
The people. The food. He had a souped-up Hyundai Tiburon, and was well known in the online gaming community.
A-Young and Nikky Kim both joined the Army — Nikky Kim in part to get the one piece of life in America he didn't have: citizenship.
"To get his citizenship, it would have been easier," A-Young Kim, 23, said at the citizenship and immigration offices on Ala Moana. " ... Better life for our family that we're going to start, and the whole thing of protecting and serving."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser "The (Army) recruiter just explained it really well to him ... this is the best way to protect and serve," his wife said.
Kim, who had been in Iraq since early September, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery of the 2nd Infantry Division from Camp Hovey, South Korea.
The 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Division has suffered serious losses in the Ramadi area. At least 29 soldiers have been killed.
Kim was buried Oct. 21 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
For Kim, citizenship meant the ability to effect political change, something he expressed to his wife while he was away.
"He really wanted to be able to vote, but he wasn't able to get his citizenship in time for this election," A-Young Kim said.
The soldier had asked his wife to vote for John Kerry, believing that he might get to come home sooner.
A-Young said her husband's 24th birthday would have been last Saturday. A private first class who was based at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, A-Young Kim moved to Fort Shafter to be closer to her family.
"I miss him more than anything," she said. "There's so much I want to tell him about our son, everything our son does. I wish my husband could see."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
Yesterday, in an official ceremony, he received the embrace of a grateful nation in the form of citizenship.
A-Young Kim, the widow of U.S. Army Pvt. Jeungjin "Nikky" Kim yesterday accepted a certificate declaring her husband, who was killed in a roadside blast in Iraq, an American citizen, on Oct. 6, the day that he died. Kim said her husband joined the Army partly to attain U.S. citizenship.
Lt. Col. Don Degidio, chief of staff for the 25th Infantry Division (Light), said at yesterday's ceremony that "Jeungjin was an individual who stood by the very principles by which this country was founded and a soldier who wanted to protect our freedoms and serve our nation — he was an unselfish and caring man."
Lt. Col. Don Degidio of the 25th Infantry Division (Light), who read a citation in Pvt. Jeungjin Kim's honor, shakes hands with A-Young Kim.
He met A-Young, a 1999 Hawaiian Mission Academy graduate, the couple married in 2001, and a son he never had the chance to hold, Apollo Ikaika, was born Sept. 7.
Jeungjin Kim
Nikky Kim wanted to join the Honolulu Police Department.
Holding the certificate declaring her late husband, Jeungjin Kim, a U.S. citizen, A-Young Kim recalled the words of an Army recruiter who said joining the Army "is the best way to protect and serve."
