SEOUL - Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward completed an emotional return to his native Korea by attending a ceremony in downtown Seoul honoring the service of Colonel Henry Blake, a United States Army doctor who led a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the first two seasons of the Korean War. Colonel Blake died in a plane crash over the Sea of Japan in 1972 when his plane spun in too low. There were no survivors.
Ward was joined at the ceremony by his mother and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. In opening remarks, President Moo-hyun thanked Colonel Blake for his commitment to the Korean people. “Henry Blake was a doctor who dispensed the best kind of medicine: laughter. Without his rapier wit, wielded with a surgeon’s precision, we never would have fought the North Koreans to a stalemate.”
At the conclusion of the speech, Ward broke from the crowd and caught the wreath thrown to him by the President. High-stepping towards the memorial, Ward spiked the wreath at the base of the statue and performed a celebratory dance.
Colonel Blake left the Korean War after two seasons following a dispute with his superiors over compensation and a desire to guest-host the Tonight Show. Many believe that, had he lived, Blake would have starred in several failed sitcoms and enjoyed a lucrative career as a celebrity panelist on numerous television game shows. Ward said Blake was an inspiration, and he lamented his passing. “I know how difficult contract negotiations can get. It’s just too bad his holdout ended in death.”
