By Yoon Sojung and Anais Faure
Photos = Jeon Han
Video = Lee Jun Young
Seoul | June 28, 2022
Antonio Lozano Bustos, a Mexican veteran of the Korean War, on June 28 recalled his experience in the conflict.
“Winter in Korea was hard to bear and sometimes the cold was our worst enemy,” he said. “The memories I have from that time are very heavy. But I’ve never regretted volunteering to fight in the war.”
At the opening ceremony for an exhibition of Mexican and Mexican American veterans of the war titled “The Forgotten Soldiers of the Korean War” at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District, Lozano said, “I’ve always felt proud of that moment in my life.”
In early 1953, he was dispatched to Korea and served three years. He also witnessed the signing of the armistice that led to a cease-fire on July 27, 1953.
Lozano was one of three Mexican veterans invited to the exhibition, where he donated a note he wrote on his experience in the war.
“This is my first time back in Korea since the war. I have no words to describe this visit,” he said. “I never expected to be back here to see how beautiful Korea has become. It’s like a dream to be here.”
At the ceremony, Lozano shared an emotional reunion with Lt. Col. Kim Yoon Joo of the Republic of Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
While serving at the Korean Embassy in Mexico City as defense attache from August 2017 to August last year, Kim searched for Mexican veterans last year under an embassy campaign. Both the campaign and the help of Mexican civilians led to the finding of five surviving veterans and 10 veterans’ families, including those of deceased veterans.
In his emotional reunion with Lozano in Seoul, a teary-eyed Kim said, “Before returning to Korea, I truly wished to see them in Korea. And today is that day.”
An exhibition of Mexican and Mexican American veterans of the Korean War titled “The Forgotten Soldiers of the Korean War” was opened on June 28 at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District. At the opening ceremony for the event, Lt. Col. Kim Yoon Joo of the Republic of Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff (left) and Mexican veteran Antonio Lozano Bustos share an emotional reunion.
This exhibition is being jointly hosted by the Mexican Embassy in Seoul and War Memorial of Korea to commemorate the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations this year. To run from June 28 to Sept. 25, the event sheds new light on veterans of Mexican origin who fought in the war with U.S. armed forces under the flag of the United Nations, spreading awareness of their contributions and reflecting on their sacrifice and devotion.
Visitors can learn more about such veterans and their stories through displays of many records including letters, scripts, telegrams written by veterans, rosaries of the Virgin of Guadalupe and pictures they drew about the war.
Mexico did not officially deploy combat forces during the war, but did send humanitarian assistance such as food and medicines. Soldiers of Mexican origin mainly comprised Mexican immigrants to the U.S. who settled in California or Texas in the early 20th century to escape from the violence of the Mexican Revolution (1910-20).
They were also from the families of Mexican workers who moved to the U.S. in the mid-20th century under the Bracero Program, a series of laws and diplomatic agreements between Washington and Mexico City.
Through the military agreement Mexico-U.S. Exchange of Notes Regarding Military Service of Nationals, many Mexican immigrants from 1943 volunteered for the American military and participated in the Korean War. Yet Mexico was not an official participatory country in the conflict and the U.S. paid no attention to Mexican veterans of the conflict because they left America. Thus the contributions of such veterans to the war were forgotten for more than 70 years.
The Mexican Embassy in Seoul said an estimated 100,000 of the 180,000 Korean War veterans from Latin America were of Mexican origin. In addition, 555 soldiers of Mexican descent received medals from the U.S. for their contributions to the war, according to the War Memorial of Korea.
Under a campaign to search for Mexican veterans of the conflict, the Korean Embassy to Mexico City found five surviving veterans all in their 90s. One of them, Jose Villarreal, was elected in April this year the first chairman of the Korean War Veterans’ Association but died a week after taking office at age 91. Thus just four veterans in Mexico remain alive.
Mexican veteran Antonio Lozano Bustos on June 28 is buried in thought while looking at the notes he donated to the exhibition on Mexican and Mexican American veterans of the Korean War, “The Forgotten Soldiers of the Korean War,” at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District.
The opening ceremony was attended by another Mexican veteran, Alberto Jesus Fernandez Almada, and the families of deceased veterans to add more significance to the exhibition.
Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Minshik said, “This is the first time that we’ve invited Mexican veterans to Korea,” adding, “On behalf of the government and people of the Republic of Korea, I extend my deepest respect and sincere gratitude to veterans who threw themselves into the fierce front line to protect people they had never met before on the Korean Peninsula.”
“We will do our best to invite more (United Nations) veterans, including those from Mexico, to Korea to show them our gratitude and teach future generations of their humanitarianism.”
Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Minshik on June 28 delivers a congratulatory speech at the opening ceremony for the exhibition “The Forgotten Soldiers of the Korean War” honoring Mexican and Mexican American veterans of the conflict at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District.
Mexican veterans on June 28 pose for photos with people attending the opening ceremony before cutting the ribbon to officially open the exhibition “The Forgotten Soldiers of the Korean War” at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan-gu District.
arete@korea.kr
