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Her name is Oak Ja in Korean but Japanese forced Koreans to change their names in Japanese, so her Japanese name was Damaco. 玉光
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Her oldest sister got married when she was 17 so that she wouldn't be sexual salvery to Japanese soldiers.
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Japanese stole brassware from Koreans home to make weapons. But Koreans were using brassware for daily use. Her family hide brassware under the ground but they found and stole it. Her family was very poor that they ate kudzu root.
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After 35 years of colony, Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule.
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Korean War started
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North Korea came to South, so her family went to mountain/woods for refuge. She was only 10 years old and she had to carry her nephew on her back while she was climbing on the mountain. During refuge, they didn't have any food so they ate wild fruit.
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She had to see her village bridge exploded by the South soilders to block North to come further. They dig a cave to hide themselves under the ground in the mountain during refuge.
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Armistice was declared and it is still continuing today. After the Korean war, most of the people starved, including her family. They picked mugwort from the yard and ate it for food.
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There was high school in Korea, but it was too far fo her to go so she couldn't go to high school for a year after graduating middle school. After high school was established in her village, she went to high school for a year but she could not continue her study in high school due to financial problem. (High school was not mendatory in Korea at that time)
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She got married when she was 22 years old.
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My grandmother named her first baby Hyun Joo Lee. She didn't go to hospital to give birth. She did at her house.
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My grandmother named her 2nd baby Kyung Mee Lee. She didn't go to hospital to give birth. She did at her house.
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My grandmother named her 3rd baby Joo Young Lee
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My grandmother named her 4th baby (my mom) Ji Young Lee. My grandmother kept making baby to get a son but she gave up after the 4th daughter. Her mother in law was very mean to her, treated her really badly, and even asked my grandfather to marry another girl for a grand-son. But, my grandfather rejected.
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She declared bankrptcy to people she borrowed money. She started her own business by selling clothes. At night, she went to the capital (seoul) to buy clothes, and came back in the morning to sell clothes in her town. (300km one way)
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After her daughters got married, she lived as a housewife
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My grand parents named her Hyun Kyung (Me)
