At 19, he joined the army and fought in Panama during the Noriega war in 1989. He was shot twice during combat and was awarded a Purple Heart for his bravery.
“I got shot in the spine with an AK-47, M16 my left lower back,“ he recalled. ”In my mind, I’m going, ‘Oh my god, I’m shot in the back. I can’t feel my legs. I must be paralyzed.’”
Miraculously, his dog tag deflected the bullet aimed for his spine, saving his life.
Park was honorably discharged and returned to his then-home in Los Angeles, where he suffered from severe PTSD. He turned to marijuana to cope with nightmares and sensitivity to loud noises and moved to Hawaii in 1995 for a better lifestyle. But he became addicted to crack cocaine and struggled for years to get clean.
“Drugs had a big control throughout my life and that’s what eventually got me into trouble with the law and everything,” he said.
In 2009, he was convicted for drug and bail offenses and served two and a half years in prison. When he was released, ICE agents detained him and revoked his green card.
He fought deportation in court and as a Purple Heart veteran was allowed to stay in the U.S. under deferred action, as long as he checked in each year and stayed clean and sober.
Park turned his life around — he became a loving father to his two children, now in their 20s, and cares for his aging parents and aunts, who are in their 80s.“These last 14 years have been great, like really proud of myself, proud of my kids, how I’ve been acting and how I’ve been living my life,” he said.
But this month, officials ended his deferred action status and told him he had to leave the country or be detained and forcibly deported. He was given an ankle monitor and three weeks to handle his affairs. He and his family were in shock.
“People were saying ‘You took two bullets for this country. Like you’re more American than most of the Americans living in America,’” he said.
U.S. Army Purple Heart veteran forced to self-deport from Hawaii