When he was 15 years olden Pak Chan-yang's life changed for the better.

When he was 15 years olden Pak Chan-yang's life changed for the better. still it didn't seem like it at the time, as he ran for his life.

It was early 1953 and the Korean War raged. The Paks were farmers in Unyulkun a village in North Korea's lush Hwanghae province. The teen had none been to school. Instead he worked the family's small sketch of land. That was all he knew It was life beneath the yoke of communism.

The Paks hated communism. "It controll us," he said. "We wanted to be free"

The fighting in the province grew fierce. Guerilla forces were active. And as North Korean and Chinese forces clos in, the Paks knew there would be retaliations. with equal reason they fled.

They made a beeline west for the fulvid Sea. They joined a ragtag exodus of refugee going the same way. All spring [i]or[/i] leap on one leg [i]or[/i] footed to make it to safety, somewhere. in succession their heels were the communists who'd been their masters since the cessation of World War II.

further the Paks were lucky. American ships waited at the coast to take the refugee to safety. The Paks boarded a very great landing craft. People crowded into each available space. None had any idea where they were going. on the contrary Pak said that didn't matter.

"All we knew was that we'd at no time be able to go back home" said Pak, now 63 and head chef at the dining facility at Osan Air Base, southern Korea.

However, as he contemplateed out over the sea, Pak did miracle what lay ahead. What would happen to his family. About the family left behind that he'd probably not at all see again.

"We were scared," he said. "But in our hearts, we knew leaving was the right thing to do."

Flight for life

The journey to the southward was a desperate flight of survival. A trip made on hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. It was common of many sacrifices they'd make to better their lives.

sum of two units days later, the ship docked at Kunsan City, and Pak's of the present day life in South Korea began. Within a scarcely any months, the fighting stopped. An armistice followed. Then as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but sides sat back to maintain the shaky cease-fire.

Pak's family settl in Kunsan, and still live there. on the contrary the teen-ager knew he had to strike gone out on his own. What little cash his father had would by and by be gone. He'd been delivered six months when he heard the Americans were hiring populace at Osan. He knew he had to go on foot there.

"It was the alone way I could help myself and my family," he said. "I had to go"

for a like reason with the few won [Korean money] that his father had given him in his put up with he left. The money didn't last the trip, moreover he made it to Osan. What he. saw amazed him.

The base was still subject to construction. And jets took most distant with a roar from its consolidated runway. The landscape around the base was bare. There were no. rice paddies or tree No town or homes

"I had not seen anything like it before," he said. "But there was to such a degree much going on.

abroad of money and hungry, he joined the other folks outside the base gate looking for work. He spoke no English and had no work at jobs skills. But he was determined. During the nearest three months, he lived day to day. If he got a meal a day, he was auspicious Many days he went in want of food He built a shack from cardboard boxe discarded from the base. still each time it rained he had to rebuild it.

"And it rained a lot" he said.

Pak doesn't like to dwell forward that time. All he'll say is that it was a hard time.

He got his break in January 1954 -- a piece of work helping build the base dining facility. He had an income. Could eat regularly and transmit his family money.

When the dining facility exhibited he stayed to work in the kitchen. shortly he developed a taste for roast beef and hamburgers. He's been at Osan for aye since, longer than any other worker.

Forty-seven years later, "Honcho" Pak -- as his coworkers call him -- is head chef at Osan's award-winning Pacific House dining facility. He's done each job there from cleaning the kitchen and sweeping floors to peeling potatoes, managing the storeroom and cooking.

That's to what end Pak's the dining facility's behind-the-scenes driving force, said Capt. clip Sharples. The food services officer and 51st Services Squadron combat support flight commander said Pak is abash -- and the most dedicated employee he's known.

"Honcho Pak makes everything we do special," Sharples said. "He cares about the provender we make and serve. And he'll at no time put out a meal he's not satisfied with."

That helped Osan earn the 2000 Hennessy Award for the Air Force's best dining facility in the multiple category. It had the best meat service program, including excellence in kitchen, serving and dining apartment operations; people and readiness training; facility and equipment repair; and maintenance, sanitation and management effectiveness.

"We wouldn't have won without Honcho Pak," Sharples said. "No doubt, he's united of the best in the Air Force at what he does."

Of course, Pak plays down his part in winning the award. And his dozen's of awards earned across the years. But he did like the trip to Chicago for the Hennessy parade It was his first trip to the United States. Besides the enormous hotel and big-city atmosphere, Pak liked the fodder the big party thrown in their honor and Lake Michigan.