Raising Two Americans

Dong Yun Yoon speaks after losing four family members when a military plane crashed into his house on Tuesday.

Dong Yun Yoon lost everything on Monday.

As if the sky fell on them, his two daughters (two and 16 months old), his wife of three years and his mother-in-law were killed when a U.S. Marines F/A-18 slammed into his house in a quiet neighborhood near San Diego.

As a father of two young children, I have no idea how I would react. I’m not sure I could keep it together.

So it’s safe to say I was surprised … no, amazed … when I read about Yoon’s plea to the public in the hours following this tragedy. Having just lost his entire family, the Korean immigrant was concerned about … the pilot.

“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” Yoon said of the Marine who safely ejected. “… I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could.”

I’d like to think I was strong enough to be thinking of someone else after I had lost everything. I don’t know. And I hope I never have to find out.

Mr. Yoon, his family … and the pilot … are in my prayers. I hope they’re in yours, too.

This entry was posted on December 10, 2008 at 3:15 am and is filed under Family, Uncategorized with tags San Diego, U.S. Marines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.