Jason Hong was just 23 when he left his home in South Korea
to join some 325,000 Korean soldiers who would fight as allies alongside
American troops throughout the Vietnam War.
By the time Hong and other members of his Blue Dragon
infantry marine division left the battlefield, in 1969, his hearing was damaged
by two years of listening to bombs explode a heartbeat away. And those hearing
problems have only worsened now that Hong is a 75-year-old American citizen
living in Cerritos.
Half a century later, Hong could get help with the
treatments and pricey hearing devices he needs if a new federal bill championed
by congress members from Southern California becomes law. U.S. House Rep. Gil
Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda, on Thursday introduced his Korean American Vietnam
Allies Long Overdue for Relief Act, also called the Korean American VALOR Act.
The bill would give the estimated 3,000 Korean immigrants
who fought in the Vietnam War and have become naturalized U.S. citizens access
to the same medical care that other American veterans receive through the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
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