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The unveiling ceremony for a monument to commemorate the French Army¡¯s participation in the Korean War in Yang-goo district, Gangwon Province on Sept. 18./Yonhap
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A French two-time veteran of the Korean War will soon have his dying wish granted -- to have his ashes scattered across the former battlegrounds he fought on.
Navarre, who died at age 79 in 2004, asked his family just before his death to scatter his ashes on Hill 931 where many of his fellow soldiers were slain.
Hill 931 together with Hill 851 and Hill 894 constituted the area that became known in wartime as Heartbreak Ridge. Several bloody battles were fought to take and hold the hills in Yanggu, Gangwon Province, at the cost of 3,700 UN soldiers and 25,000 North Korean soldiers wounded or dead.
Navarre joined the war in February 1951 as a private first class and his battalion was attached to the U.S. Second Army Division. From Sept. 13 to 23, he took part in a major UN offensive in the "iron triangle" of Cheolwon, Gimhwa and Pyonggang.
An estimated 300,000 shells were fired at Heartbreak Ridge for 23 days during the offensive, enough to transfigure the topography of the ridge.
On Oct. 12, Navarre was struck by a bullet during a night offensive on Hill 851, the enemy's last line of resistance, and returned to France in February 1952. In March 1953 he came back to Korea and joined the war again.
Navarre's family delivered his will to the Embassy of France in Korea and asked for help. The Korean Army had planned to scatter the veteran's ashes during a Sept. 18 ceremony at Heartbreak Ridge to unveil a monument to commemorate France's participation in the war, but postponed the plan because of rain.
An army official said Navarre's ashes are currently being kept by the 21st Army Division and they will be scattered by air when it can be arranged.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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