70 Years Ago Baseball Players Held Guns Instead of Bats... 'Hakdobyeong Memorial' First Pitch Event in Daegu

Sangwongo High School Baseball Team Holds Ceremonial First Pitch to Honor Alumni Who Joined the War Instead of Keeping the Championship Cup

The photo shows Lee Seong-gu, President of the Daegu Medical Association, throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the season opener held at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on May 6.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] On the evening of the 25th at 6 PM, a ceremonial first pitch event honoring student soldiers from the baseball team will be held at the Samsung Lions Park professional baseball game, marking the 70th anniversary of the June 25 Korean War.

According to the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education on the 24th, this event was planned to commemorate the student soldiers who bravely rushed to the battlefield when the Korean War broke out 70 years ago, especially to honor the noble patriotic spirit of those who participated as student soldiers while playing as high school baseball players in the Daegu area and sacrificed their lives.

At the outbreak of the Korean War, about 2,000 students from 19 schools in Daegu joined as student volunteer soldiers, among whom 148 are known to have died in action.

On June 23, two days before the war broke out in 1950, Daegu Commercial Middle School (the predecessor of present-day Daegu Sangwon High School) won the Cheongnyonggi High School Baseball Tournament. However, the joy of victory was short-lived, as when the war broke out, the key players of the winning team, baseball players Seok Na-hong, Lee Moon-jo, and Park Sang-ho from Daegu Commercial Middle School, put down their baseballs and bats and took up guns to join as student soldiers.

They all died in the fierce Battle of Nakdong River. Like many student soldiers at the time, their sacrifice has only been briefly mentioned in Korean baseball history and has not been widely known to later generations, according to the Office of Education.

Ten baseball team students from Daegu Sangwon High School (Principal Lee Doo-hee) will participate in this ceremonial first pitch event. After a moment of silent tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in the June 25 War, the team captain, third-year student Lee Seung-hyun, will throw the ceremonial first pitch.

Daegu Superintendent of Education Kang Eun-hee emphasized, "The noble spirit of sacrifice of the student soldiers who participated in the June 25 War is our spiritual asset to be remembered for generations and a great heritage of the Republic of Korea," adding, "We must never forget that the Republic of Korea we enjoy today is thanks to their sacrifice."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.