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Cpl. Bumrok Lee,
U.S.M.C (KIA)
By May Chow, Staff Writer, Jun 18, 2004
Elis Lee often sent care packages to her brother, Marine Cpl. Bumrok Lee, filled with Korean snacks, goodies and candy — items that he said he missed in his e-mails to her. In one of her recent packages, Elis tucked a copy of Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World, which she read in high school, along with small reminders from home.
“I was always trying to get him to read that book when he was here in California, but he never would,” Elis, 23, said. “But he said in Iraq, often he would have free time so I sent him my copy of Sophie’s World and he loved it. He said he read it several times and even began discussing philosophy with the other Marines.”
Happy to hear that her baby brother enjoyed the book, Elis prepared another package, this time making sure to include more of his favorite snacks like dried squid and peanuts, enough so he could share them with the other soldiers as well. She was also excited to include more books for him to read. But Bumrok, or Bum as his sister would call him, never received the package.
On May 29, three weeks into his 21st birthday, Bumrok and several other Marines were en route to a raid in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq, when a car bomb exploded next to their Humvee. Bumrok’s family got the news over Memorial Day weekend that he had sustained injuries from the explosion and all his relatives could do was pray.
Then Marine officials arrived at his parents’ home in Santa Clara, Calif., delivering the devastating news that after the explosion, Bumrok was rushed to a military hospital in Baghdad where he remained unconscious until he died at 11:35 a.m. on June 2.
“He had called home a few days before May 29 and spoke to my mother, telling her not to worry, that ‘I’ll be home in three months,’” Elis said. “Even though he only had a 15-minute time limit and the reception was horrible, Bum would always find the time to call home. That was just who he was.”
Elis fondly remembers Bumrok as a loving brother, son, cousin and devoted friend, and a person on which others could depend. Quick to befriend people, classmates and friends recall Bumrok’s natural ability to get along with everybody. He maintained a strong nucleus of childhood friends, some of whom enlisted in the Marines with him.
“I grew up with Bum closely since my parents both worked, so I was a sister/mother [to] him,” Elis said. “I just remember learning things together, solving conflicts together. He was very well-rounded, and everybody loved him and loved to be around him. He was thoughtful, caring, likeable and funny.”
Born in Seoul, Korea on May 8, 1983, Bumrok immigrated to the United States with his parents and older sister in November 1987. He attended elementary and middle school in Sunnyvale, Calif., and graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, Calif., in 2001, where he was on the water polo team.
He made the decision senior year in high school to join the Marines, and enlisted a month after graduation. He was based in Camp Pendleton, Calif., for three years, during which time he rose through the ranks of Private First Class, Lance Corporal to Corporal in the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.
From January to June 2003, Bumrok was stationed overseas in Okinawa, Japan and was deployed to Iraq on President’s Day weekend in February 2004. He was scheduled to return to the United States in September and scheduled to leave active duty in May 2005.
“I want everybody to remember what Bum died for, what he believed in,” says Elis, whose family doesn’t agree with president Bush’s agenda but supports the service members who are serving in the Middle East. “Bum was fighting for our country and protecting us. He was a hero.”
Jin Whang, 27, said her cousin joined the Marines for its education incentives, and stressed that he had wanted to enlist before Sept. 11.
“Bum joined for the reason that many other young men join,” said Whang, who lives in Los Angeles. “Young boys grow up wanting to be heroes, and Bum and his friends wanted to do that. But his main incentive was the educational support that the military offered; he did not want to be a financial burden to his family. For many minorities whose families may not have enough resources for their children to attend college, the military is a good opportunity. I have cousins besides Bum who also enlisted for these reasons.”
Bumrok was eulogized on June 6 in Hayward, Calif., and laid to rest with full military honors at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno. He will be granted U.S. citizenship posthumously, and President Bush awarded Bumrok with the Purple Heart posthumously as well as the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.
“Bum was the kind of guy everyone got along with,” said Zheng Joe Chen, Bumrok’s childhood friend and fellow Marine. “The command trusted him and his capabilities so much that Bum was put in a billet much higher than his rank during much of his service. To wake up every day to go out patrolling for [improvised explosive devices] so that others may be safe takes unimaginable courage and mental fortitude.”
As of June 10, 827 U.S. service members have died since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in March 2003, according to the Department of Defense.