Steel Helmet: War Diary and Memoirs of a Korean Boy Soldier

This autobiography relates the life story of Myung Park, MD. The story begins with his life growing up in North Korea under Japanese and then the oppressive communist North Korean rule. The story continues with the advent of the Korean War, when he was swept up into the turmoil of the conflict, joining the South Korean Army during a time the allies had advanced north beyond his village. As a sixteen-year old Private First Class he wore the steel helmet with the symbol of a blue star, the ensign of the Sixth Infantry Division of the South Korean Army, shown on the front cover.

The large middle section of the book contains the diary kept by the young soldier, motivated by the strong Confucian influence in Korea at the time to demonstrate his achieving adulthood. It is a contemporaneous account, covering twenty months, from the viewpoint of a boy of his activities at the front and behind the lines after receiving a gunshot wound in action. The War Diary serves as the backbone of the book and is the source of the title.

The book continues with an accounting of Dr. Park's life following discharge from the army as a wounded veteran, a refugee without parents or other significant monetary support, documenting his perseverance and ultimate academic success following self-study, entry into the prestigious Seoul University, and graduation from medical school ranked first in his class and a Presidential Gold Medalist. This account is a vivid personal history of Korea in the middle of the twentieth century.

The book concludes with his move to the USA for advanced training, a change requiring adjustment to a very different culture, language and legal system. He eventually becomes a citizen, a husband and father of three sons, and a world-renowned pediatric cardiologist at a major US medical school, publishing original scientific works and several textbooks on pediatric cardiology, some of which have been translated into several languages.