Sae Joon Park, a decorated U.S. Army veteran wounded in combat and awarded the Purple Heart, boarded a plane to South Korea after choosing to self-deport in response to an ICE warning, ending nearly 50 years in a country he once risked his life to defend.
Park arrived in the U.S. from South Korea at age 7 and grew up in Los Angeles, according to NPR. He enlisted in the Army after high school and was later deployed to Panama. During Operation Just Cause in 1989, Park was shot in the back by enemy fire, an injury that earned him an honorable discharge and a Purple Heart.
