JEONGSEON, South Korea \u2014 Lindsey Vonn came to South Korea with the goal of taking home an Olympic medal and leaving behind something even more special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She did both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The American ski great said Thursday she recently scattered some of the ashes of her grandfather , who served during the Korean War, on a rock near the mountain where the downhill races were run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know that it would mean a lot to him to be back here, a part of him is in South Korea always,\u201d said Vonn, who shared her story with The Associated Press and the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vonn said she sprayed parts of Don Kildow\u2019s ashes \u201cjust a few days ago\u201d on a rock that she was told was special when she visited South Korea last year to be named a Pyeongchang Olympic ambassador. She described the location as \u201cright by the men\u2019s downhill start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vonn burst into tears when she was asked about her grandfather during a news conference in Pyeongchang this month before the Olympics. He lived in Milton, Wisconsin, and died in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI miss him so much,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s been such a big part of my life. And I really had hoped that he would be alive to see me (at this year\u2019s Olympics). But I know he\u2019s watching, and I know that he\u2019s going to help me and I\u2019m going to win for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vonn won a bronze medal in the downhill , but skied out of Thursday\u2019s slalom leg of the Alpine combined in what was likely her last Olympic race. Later in the day, a group of elderly South Korean men gave her family some gifts and a letter of thanks to mark her grandfather\u2019s service during the 1950-53 Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo be able to race for him in these Olympics was very special for me. And I tried everything I could to win for him,\u201d Vonn said. \u201cI got a bronze, which, you know, to me was very special. And I think he would be proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During Thursday\u2019s brief meeting with seven elderly South Korean men, Vonn nodded a greeting several times and repeated \u201cthank you so much\u201d to them. In their letter of appreciation, the South Korean men said they expressed their thanks for what they call her grandfather\u2019s contribution for the freedom of South Korea. They also gave her traditional Korean fashion accessories and gloves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kildow served two years in South Korea in the Army Corps of Engineers in areas near Jeongseon, one of the three Olympic venues. He never had a chance to return to South Korea, but he had talked about the country in a \u201cvery favorable\u201d way, according to his son, Alan Kildow, who attended Thursday\u2019s event with his two other daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alan Kildow broke into tears while talking about his father\u2019s memories of South Korea during the war. He said he separately scattered parts of his father\u2019s ashes in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Olympics, Vonn plans to go home to get ready for the World Cup finals. She said she\u2019s \u201cenjoying the last remaining days of the Olympics\u201d with her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Vonn won gold in the downhill and bronze in the super-G. She missed the 2014 Sochi Games because of injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elderly South Koreans are from a fraternal society in Seoul called Yongsan Club, named after a neighborhood in the capital where the U.S. military command is headquartered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 37,000 U.S. troops were killed during the war, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, technically leaving the Korean Peninsula in a state of war. The United States still stations about 28,000 soldiers in South Korea to deter potential aggression from North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its military presence and cultural influence have been a long-running source of anti-American sentiments among many South Koreans who want greater footing in relations with Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Yongsan Club members were about 7 or 8 years old during the war but still vividly recall the devastation, saying South Korea could not have defended itself without the American-led U.N. forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were starving and we truly suffered lots of difficulties,\u201d club member Kim Soung Soo said. \u201cGiven that South Korea\u2019s economic prosperity wouldn\u2019t be possible without the support from the United States and other U.N. member states, we determined we must hold this kind of event to express our gratitude toward them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n