its headquarters to Los Angeles in 1929 .
Church and Independence Movement
The early Korean community in the U . S . evolved around Church and the independence movement . In fact , church and the independence movement were inseparable as the Korean immigrant church was the center of independence movement activities . Despite economic hardship and racial discrimination , Korean immigrants supported and actively participated in the independence movement by voluntarily paying a “ duty fund .” One Korean American , Park Yong Man , went as far as establishing a youth military school in Hastings , Nebraska and later in Hawaii to prepare for armed resistance against Japan .
With new hope and motivation after the March 1 , 1919 Mansei movement , a group of visionary Koreans , aided by the newly established Korean Provisional Government , set forth on an endeavor to form a combat pilot training school in Willows , CA – it became the Willows Korean Aviation School / Corps . Thus , sometime in March 1920 , the Willows Korean Aviation School Corps was established . For about one year the school trained Korean American men in the art of flying airplanes . Classes were structured like a military school . Under the direction of the Korean Aviation Board which received its blessing from the Korean Provisional Government , the school admitted about 25 students to start . Several dozen students trained at the Willows Korean Aviation School / Corps . At some point , plans to train up to 100 pilots were made . But , misfortune and bad weather would change the tide of the school ’ s fate . Today , the school is regarded as the origin of the Korean Air Force .
From the 1920s to the early 1940s the Korean American population grew very slowly . Korean Americans found work throughout the U . S . as farmers , house servants , bakers , cooks , coal miners , and various other hard labor occupations . Some even opened stores and shops , selling fruits and vegetables . The Korean American population never gave up on their mother country and strived to support the independence movement . Many Korean Americans joined the Korean National Association , Comrade ' s Association ( Dongji-hoe ), other independence organizations and donated money , and held meetings to support the cause .
WW II and Korean War
With the United States now firmly entrenched in the violence and chaos of World War II , Korean Americans saw an opportunity to fight the Japanese ; this was their chance to help the Korean independence movement . Even though Korean immigrants were not eligible to become naturalized American citizens until 1952 , they still felt the call to arms . More than 200 Korean Americans were able to enlist or were drafted by the US military . Many Korean Americans viewed enlisting in the US military was beneficial to the independence of Korea .
The most famous of Korean American military war heroes who served during World War II was Col . Young Oak Kim . He would then be assigned to the 100 th Infantry Battalion . This battalion would become the famed Nisei Unit of the US Army . The mostly-Japanese American men did not trust Kim at first . When Kim arrived in Hawaii to take command of this fledgling unit , his
252
245