Peacetime – a very simple word. According to Merriam-Webster, peacetime is defined as “a period of time during which a country is not fighting a war.” But is it really that simple? Just because a war isn’t recorded in a history book, does that mean a country isn’t fighting other battles? During his time in Korea, Shorty Rhodes learned otherwise.
On July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, technically ending the three-year Korean War. Back in the U.S., the economy was growing, and the Baby Boom generation was in full swing. The army bases in Korea had slightly different issues. Although the war was over, another struggle raged on.
Shorty Rhodes was a handsome 19-year-old soldier. “I wouldn’t trade my time over there for the world,” he said. He would often play poker with the other men, which he enjoyed – but in Korea, the stakes of the game were higher than he was used to.
“This [Korean] fella put down a piece of paper to make a bet,” he explained. “Other fellas that he trusted assured me that it was worth say around twenty dollars.” Shorty laid down his hand. He had won, but he did not get the cash payout he expected. He had won his opponent’s daughter.
“I couldn’t do nothin’ with her,” Shorty said. “What was I supposed to do?” He turned to Sergeant Kim, who knew enough English to have a basic conversation. He filled him in on the Korean customs, religions, and cultural practices that American didn’t understand. The simple solution would be to just give the young woman back. However, Sergeant Kim explained, if Shorty did this, her father would kill her.
Shorty could hear the man’s cold voice ringing in his ears: “My daughter isn’t good enough for you?”
Shorty definitely didn’t want to put her life in jeopardy. However, if he accepted responsibility for her, there was nowhere for her to go. The army base was strictly for men. No women, under any circumstance, were allowed. Shorty viewed this woman through an American’s eyes. She was not property; she was a person. He wouldn’t exploit her as her father had.
Human trafficking has been occurring for years. Throughout history, people have owned each other. At that time, families in Korea hoped for a boy, who would be capable of work. Girls often ended up as sex slaves. Or they were simply sold as slaves.
“Having a baby girl was nothing to be proud of at the time,” said Shorty. Girls were used as a form of payment. If a father had a debt he needed to settle, he would pay with his daughter. Once the debt was paid off, the girl was free to return to her family, in most situations only to be sold again.
This wasn’t Shorty’s first exposure to the plight of women in Korea. Soldiers were assigned to details, temporary military units. Shorty dreaded the military unit they called “baby detail.” Some soldiers even refused to do it. As a result of prostitution, many babies were born to mothers who had no means of supporting them. They would often leave the infants outside, wrapped in thin blankets. Very early in the morning, the soldiers would drive through the villages and pick up the babies. They would then deliver them to an orphanage, where Korean Christian nuns would take care of the babies. “I often wonder how many survived,” Shorty pondered. “It was nice when the truck would be empty and you could laugh.”
The young Korean woman awaited her fate. Her dark hair hung over her face but could not conceal the fear in her eyes. Knowing no English, she listened to foreign voices discussing her future.
There Shorty was, holding a paper with Korean writing on it declaring him the owner of a slave. He thought back to his childhood, how he’d been taught to hold doors for women, pull out their chairs, and listen to what they had to say. In America, women were treated with respect. And now, he could turn around and sell this woman for $30.
How do I give someone back to themselves? Shorty wondered. He didn’t have his own place to house her. Luckily, a friend who was married to a Korean woman offered to take her in temporarily. The young woman stayed with the couple long enough for Shorty to award her legal ownership of herself.
Shorty explained the heartbreaking emotions he has felt to this day: “When things go against your morals, you feel terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time and wouldn’t trade it for the world. But this experience has bothered me my whole life. How can people think so little of their children? We just had to be callous ourselves since nothing around us would change.”
In the end, Shorty contradicts his own statement. He didn’t become hardened to the situation; he did something about it. Of course, the issue still exists, but what Shorty did for that woman certainly changed her life. F