Soldier killed in Iraq hoped to join HPD
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Jeungjin Kim's adult life was just beginning to unfold.
The 23-year-old had been going to Hawai'i Pacific University before he joined the Army in April 2003, but his goal remained the same: to join the Honolulu Police Department.
Kim
Moving to Hawai'i seven years ago, the native of South Korea loved the food and the people. His wife had a baby on Sept. 7, a boy they named Apollo Ikaika.
Kim had a souped-up Hyundai Tiburon, but having a baby made him consider getting an SUV — and he kept his eye on his career goal.
"He didn't always want to be a soldier, but he did want to serve and protect," said his wife, A Young-Kim. "He looked ahead to when he was going to get out, and he already had looked through all the stuff, the procedures to get into HPD."
Instead, Pvt. 2 Jeungjin Kim became the second soldier in as many weeks with Hawai'i ties to die of injuries in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, an insurgent stronghold 70 miles west of Baghdad in the Sunni Triangle.
Kim was killed last Wednesday when his patrol was attacked in a roadside bomb and small arms fire attack, his family and the Pentagon said. He is the 15th soldier with Hawai'i ties killed since the war in Iraq started in March 2003.
That number includes seven Schofield Barracks soldiers killed in Iraq since the 25th Infantry Division (Light) deployed early this year. Another four have died in Afghanistan.
Kim never got to see his son. His body arrives back today from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for burial next week at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
"I love him. So many people loved him," said his 23-year-old wife, who followed her husband into the Army. "But I can't be sad because my husband loved me so well in life, and I loved him so well. I'm sad only that I couldn't do more for my husband in the future. We were always in competition who could do better for each other."
Kim, who had been in Iraq since early September, was assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery of the 2nd Infantry Division from Camp Hovey, South Korea.
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On Sept. 29, Pfc. Joshua K. "Buzz" Titcomb, 20, who grew up in Wai'anae, was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Ar Ramadi. He died the next day. Titcomb also was with the 2nd Infantry Division out of South Korea, but was based at Camp Casey.
A Young-Kim holds up a photo of her husband, Jeungjin Kim, at her mother's apartment on Punahou Street in Honolulu yesterday evening. Her husband was killed in Iraq in a roadside attack Wednesday.
Visitation for Titcomb is today from 9:30 a.m. until noon at Sacred Hearts Church in Wai'anae. Services for Kim will be at 10 a.m. next Wednesday at Central Seventh Day Adventist Church in Nu'uanu, and burial will be at 1 p.m. at Punchbowl, A Young-Kim said.
Young-Kim, a private first class stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, is on maternity leave and staying with her mother in Makiki. She's supposed to return to her unit on Nov. 9.
"But right now, we have absolutely no idea what's going to happen," said Young-Kim, who graduated from Hawai'i Mission Academy in 1999. "I just had a baby, so my body isn't doing too good."
Asked how's she's coping with the loss of her husband, Young-Kim said: "The truth — terrible. But I have my son and my husband was always insistent — 'Babe, you cannot cry in front of Apollo.' I like to keep doing what he told me, 'Don't ever cry in front of him, and make sure you smile in front of him.'
"He was one of those boys with, you know, just choke aloha," said Young-Kim. He was tall — about 5 feet 10, "not skinny at all," and loved the food in Hawai'i.
He joined the Army "because he was really into history and the Korean War and all that stuff," said his wife. "It was his dream to protect and serve with a weapon."
Straight out of basic training he went to South Korea. In early August, he deployed to Kuwait, trained for a month in the desert, and then went to Iraq. He had just made it to Iraq when his son was born.
"He said that the only reason he didn't want to go was because of me and my son," Young-Kim said. "If he didn't have us, he'd have been really excited because that's the kind of soldier he is — hooah, blow (stuff) up kind of soldier. Just really into his job."
Young-Kim said the Army told her U.S. citizenship would be bestowed on her husband posthumously. His parents are in South Korea.
Although Punchbowl is full for casketed burials, an opening came about when another family with a reserved site decided to have remains scattered at sea. Prior to 1973, when the U.S. Army ran the cemetery, two plots were set aside per family. Seven or eight times in the last 10 years, about 10 families have given up a reserved plot, said director Gene Castagnetti.
Young-Kim said she and her husband used to talk half-heartedly about where they wanted to be buried.
"He just told me, no matter what, he wants to be here," she said. "That was just stupid talk, but now that it did happen, I'm going to bring him here."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459. Advertiser Staff Writer Mike Gordon contributed to this report.
