Ninth Memorial Ceremony Held for Former Air Force Chief of Staff Kim Shin, Second Son of Kim Koo

Participated in the Korean War...
Led the Victory in the "Sinho-ri Railway Bridge Interdiction Operation"

The ninth memorial ceremony for the late General Kim Shin, who served as the sixth Chief of Staff of the Air Force, was held.

According to the Air Force on the 19th, the ninth memorial service for the late General Kim Shin was held at the Baekbeom Memorial Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, organized by the Kim Shin General Memorial Association. The late General Kim Shin was the second son of the independence activist Kim Koo and one of the founding members of the Air Force.

The ceremony was attended by Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Youngsu, former Air Force Chiefs of Staff, Kim Duman, president of the Kim Shin General Memorial Association (11th Chief of Staff of the Air Force), Jeon Jongho, head of the Seoul Regional Office of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and others. Representing the family were his eldest daughter Kim Mi, director of the Kim Koo Memorial Hall, and his son-in-law Kim Hoyoun, chairman of Binggrae Co., Ltd. (chairman of the Air Force History Foundation).

Born in 1922 in Shanghai, China, as the second son of Kim Koo, General Kim Shin completed basic military training at the Chinese Air Force Academy in 1944. From 1946, he received formal flight training for one year at Randolph Air Force Base in the United States and became a pilot. After Korea’s liberation, he was commissioned as a cadet in the second class of the Air Force Academy in 1948 and contributed to the founding of the Air Force in 1949.

When the Korean War broke out, General Kim Shin participated as a combat pilot, completing a total of 19 combat sorties, including the Jirisan anti-guerilla air operation and the Republic of Korea Air Force’s independent sortie operation. In particular, he played a major role in the Sinho-ri Railway Bridge interdiction operation in January 1952, known as one of the Air Force’s three major victories. As the operation commander, General Kim Shin implemented a new attack tactic called “low-altitude penetration flight,” which enabled the Air Force to succeed in the operation after only three sorties.

After the war, the late General Kim Shin held key positions such as commander of the 10th Fighter Wing and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, before being appointed as the sixth Chief of Staff of the Air Force. During his tenure, he was credited with significantly enhancing the Air Force’s operational capabilities, including establishing the Air Force Operations Command. After his retirement, he served as Minister of Transportation, a member of the 9th National Assembly, and the inaugural chairman of the Independence Hall of Korea. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 93. His funeral was held with Air Force honors, and he was buried at the Daejeon National Cemetery.

Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Youngsu stated, “The noble spiritual legacy of General Kim Shin, who was a true soldier devoted solely to the nation and its people, continues to be passed down in the Republic of Korea Air Force. All Air Force personnel, including myself, will uphold the general’s will and faithfully fulfill our solemn mission to defend our nation’s airspace.”