Staff Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho of South Korea was a former student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Yoon attended Southern for one semester in 2004 before returning to his native country to enter the military out of a sense of national duty joining the South Korean army's Special Warfare Command as a translator in June 2005. He was dispatched to Afghanistan in September 2006.
The youngest of three children, he attended elementary school in Seoul and after traveling to the United States by himself he received secondary education in New York. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with an undergraduate degree in business in 2003 and started attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in early 2004. He earned most of his own school expenses by finding part-time jobs.
He didn't have to go into military service, but he just felt by himself that it was kind of a national duty. So he joined the military in 2005. He planned to return to Southern in the fall and study to become a youth minister. Yoon was very quiet, and he was very artistic. He liked drawing and playing music. He was a very faithful guy as well.
A member of the South Korean Army's Dasan Engineering Unit, Yoon volunteered to serve in Afghanistan though he had opportunities to be deployed elsewhere. Yoon had a passion to develop international churches where people of many nationalities could come and worship together. He had a vision for an internationalized church, not just one language or denomination. He was the youngest guy in a group of Korean students, and many of the students considered him a younger brother.
He became the first South Korean soldier since the Vietnam War to die in a foreign conflict when he was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. His death occurred just a few months before his tour in Afghanistan was scheduled to end. His funeral was attended by several government officials including the senior presidential secretary for security policy, the defense minister and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yoon's parents, Yoon Hee-cheol and Lee Chang-hee, are strong Christians and trust in God despite their son's death. He was promoted to staff sergeant and received the Inheon Order of Military Merit and the Bronze Star posthumously. Yoon was 27.
The youngest of three children, he attended elementary school in Seoul and after traveling to the United States by himself he received secondary education in New York. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with an undergraduate degree in business in 2003 and started attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in early 2004. He earned most of his own school expenses by finding part-time jobs.
He didn't have to go into military service, but he just felt by himself that it was kind of a national duty. So he joined the military in 2005. He planned to return to Southern in the fall and study to become a youth minister. Yoon was very quiet, and he was very artistic. He liked drawing and playing music. He was a very faithful guy as well.
A member of the South Korean Army's Dasan Engineering Unit, Yoon volunteered to serve in Afghanistan though he had opportunities to be deployed elsewhere. Yoon had a passion to develop international churches where people of many nationalities could come and worship together. He had a vision for an internationalized church, not just one language or denomination. He was the youngest guy in a group of Korean students, and many of the students considered him a younger brother.
He became the first South Korean soldier since the Vietnam War to die in a foreign conflict when he was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. His death occurred just a few months before his tour in Afghanistan was scheduled to end. His funeral was attended by several government officials including the senior presidential secretary for security policy, the defense minister and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yoon's parents, Yoon Hee-cheol and Lee Chang-hee, are strong Christians and trust in God despite their son's death. He was promoted to staff sergeant and received the Inheon Order of Military Merit and the Bronze Star posthumously. Yoon was 27.
Staff Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho of South Korea was a former student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Yoon attended Southern for one semester in 2004 before returning to his native country to enter the military out of a sense of national duty joining the South Korean army's Special Warfare Command as a translator in June 2005. He was dispatched to Afghanistan in September 2006.
The youngest of three children, he attended elementary school in Seoul and after traveling to the United States by himself he received secondary education in New York. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with an undergraduate degree in business in 2003 and started attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in early 2004. He earned most of his own school expenses by finding part-time jobs.
He didn't have to go into military service, but he just felt by himself that it was kind of a national duty. So he joined the military in 2005. He planned to return to Southern in the fall and study to become a youth minister. Yoon was very quiet, and he was very artistic. He liked drawing and playing music. He was a very faithful guy as well.
A member of the South Korean Army's Dasan Engineering Unit, Yoon volunteered to serve in Afghanistan though he had opportunities to be deployed elsewhere. Yoon had a passion to develop international churches where people of many nationalities could come and worship together. He had a vision for an internationalized church, not just one language or denomination. He was the youngest guy in a group of Korean students, and many of the students considered him a younger brother.
He became the first South Korean soldier since the Vietnam War to die in a foreign conflict when he was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. His death occurred just a few months before his tour in Afghanistan was scheduled to end. His funeral was attended by several government officials including the senior presidential secretary for security policy, the defense minister and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yoon's parents, Yoon Hee-cheol and Lee Chang-hee, are strong Christians and trust in God despite their son's death. He was promoted to staff sergeant and received the Inheon Order of Military Merit and the Bronze Star posthumously. Yoon was 27.
The youngest of three children, he attended elementary school in Seoul and after traveling to the United States by himself he received secondary education in New York. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with an undergraduate degree in business in 2003 and started attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in early 2004. He earned most of his own school expenses by finding part-time jobs.
He didn't have to go into military service, but he just felt by himself that it was kind of a national duty. So he joined the military in 2005. He planned to return to Southern in the fall and study to become a youth minister. Yoon was very quiet, and he was very artistic. He liked drawing and playing music. He was a very faithful guy as well.
A member of the South Korean Army's Dasan Engineering Unit, Yoon volunteered to serve in Afghanistan though he had opportunities to be deployed elsewhere. Yoon had a passion to develop international churches where people of many nationalities could come and worship together. He had a vision for an internationalized church, not just one language or denomination. He was the youngest guy in a group of Korean students, and many of the students considered him a younger brother.
He became the first South Korean soldier since the Vietnam War to die in a foreign conflict when he was killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. His death occurred just a few months before his tour in Afghanistan was scheduled to end. His funeral was attended by several government officials including the senior presidential secretary for security policy, the defense minister and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yoon's parents, Yoon Hee-cheol and Lee Chang-hee, are strong Christians and trust in God despite their son's death. He was promoted to staff sergeant and received the Inheon Order of Military Merit and the Bronze Star posthumously. Yoon was 27.
