Former principal’s cultural journey at Seoul American Elementary School
Contributor: Kyung Lee
John Blom stands next to a dolphin statue in front of Seoul American Elementary School, where he used to be principal. / Courtesy of Yongsan…
Final handprints at SAES
Contributor: Quinten Russo
We are down to the last five days with children in our beautiful, perfect, legacy school. While bare shelves and walls are the norm any…
Yongsan Garrison schools to close in June after six decades of teaching military kids
Contributor: By KIM GAMEL for STARS AND STRIPES
The schools are part of a system established by the military shortly after World War II to ensure an American education for the children of troops deployed overseas. Then-named Seoul American High School opened in 1959 when classes were held in Quonset huts.
Topic: Education, Yongsan Legacy
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Building Bridges, a true story of Christopher Vaia (JD)
Contributor: Yongsan Legacy Team
Seoul City offers honorary citizenship to ‘Bridgebuilders.’, better known as: the Balloon Ajossi, due to his penchant for twisting small balloons into animal and heart shapes for young kids in memory of his deceased daughter
The construction of Namsan Tower brought us to Yongsan Garrison
Contributor: Michael Nicolay
On a school (SAHS) field-trip I walked into N. Korea … !
The beginning of SAHS, 1959-1960
Contributor: Yongsan Legacy Team
The history of the First Senior Class of the first American High School in Korea is brief. It began on September 8, 1959, with thirteen…
Seoul American alumni take trip down memory lane during Yongsan reunion
Contributor: KIM GAMEL | STARS AND STRIPES
By KIM GAMEL | STARS AND STRIPES Published: September 13, 2018 YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — Former Seoul American High School students remembered tear gas…
Sun Over Seoul
Contributor: Michael F. O'Brien
SUN OVER SEOUL has meant many things to many students…….. it helped Seoul American High School be awarded the “Excellence in Education” award for the school year ’84-’85
When magnolia and lilac blossom in New York City
Contributor: Kay Lee
It was in 1973 when I was a second grader at Sangmyeong school when you were with an American design firm named Trans-Asia Engineers (TAE) in Main Post of Yongsan Garrison. You had to pick me up at my school in Samkakji as my class ended about 2 p.m. While you had to stay with a large slanted drafting board until five in the afternoon, I walked around the offices peeking into here and there.
Topic: architecture, cultural exchange, Education, Engineering, History, Language, People, Yongsan Legacy
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My magical days in Yongsan Garrison 1970-1977
Contributor: Diane Dahnert
I have beautiful memories of Yongsan. I really do! My time there was magical; something I’ll always treasure and never forget. It may have been a military base, but I can assure you that my friends and I knew that something unique was going on there. It was a time when everyone got along, loved Korea and looked on people as friends. I wish the rest of the world could have had the same experience.
Yesterday’s enemy, tomorrow’s friend
Contributor: Nam SangSo
“If we knew each other. If we understood each other as a friend. This foolish war would never have happened. I sincerely hope that a day would come where everyone could overcome their differences through talking and not fighting. Finally, we are friends now,” the former Imperial Japanese Navy pilot who had dropped the first and only bomb onto the American soil, wrote in his diary.
Seoul American Elementary School
Contributor: John M Blom
“Over nearly 60 years, SAES has instructed thousands of students and allowed them to learn about the American and Korean cultures, building bridges between the two nations.”
Aigo, aigo!
Contributor: Chang Soon-hee
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to teach the most used Korean word to newly arriving U.S. military personnel in Korea?
“If I recognize this map?”
Contributor: Nam SangSo and Yongsan Legacy Team
The blue print showing the west area of the Main Post Yongsan Garrison was one of the hundreds of topographic maps plotted by the engineers and surveyors of Trans-Asia Engineering Associates, Inc. (TAE). It had been performed some time in late 1959 and early 1960.
Topic: architecture, construction, Education, Engineering, Landscape, Mapping, People, photography, Yongsan Legacy
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An English book store in Itaewon
Contributor: Nam Sang-so
“We sell, buy and exchange – since 1974” says the advertisement of foreign book store located at southern end of Itaewon township, near Line #6…