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Find Race Reed

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Race Reed, who teaches English in South Korea, disappeared at sea Oct 13, the night after a surfing festival in Yangyang-gun. His wife Hoyeon Ryu and I, his mother, have exhausted our efforts to recover his body by working with the South Korean police. We want to hire private divers to search in places the police have not been able to look. The SK police are very limited in their resources and cannot afford to rent an ROV camera or get divers to search for long periods of time. It costs $5,000 for one day of diving, plus if the company finds the body, a $5,000 bounty is charged. I am asking for two diving days.
This is Race's story. The evening it happened, his friends and he were cooking on the beach about midnight after enjoying watching the surfing competition. The water was getting rough since the outer edge of Typhoon Hagabis, which was hitting the east coast of Japan, was just starting to impact the bay at Yangyang-ban. Race had stepped into the water to cool off, met the first wave with a body surf and stepped forward to meet the second wave. He did not realize that strong currents from Typhoon Hagibis had gouged out a trough in the sand.  He stepped into that trough.  When the current grabbed him, he was swept out to sea. Korean Military captured video of his desparate attempt to swim with the current, but neither they nor the local police attempted a rescue until four days later after the typhoon had passed.  The South Korean police have limited resources.  Race's beloved wife, Chloe Hoyeon Ryu, his brother, Mikell Reed, his two sisters Amy Reed Weller and Lisha Keith Mendez,  and I are heart-broken. His extended family and friends are bereft.  He was a brilliant 36-year old man, kind, generous,  adventurous, athletic, and funny.  He spoke three languages fluently, and he enjoyed meeting people throughout the world and learning about other cultures. He was truly a powerful unofficial diplomat for America as he left people feeling that this man was truly the best kind of American. On his back, he had a map of the world tattooed, marked with all the marvelous places he had been. The map wrapped around his side and where his heart was there was America, with a heart etched where Georgia was,  his home state and where his heart always remained.
It will mean a great deal to me to be able to recover his body. I know it is only a body, and his magnificient spirit has gone to his final repose. But I would be comforted to know that he did not wash up on the North Korean shores, half drowned and taken into their custody.  His wife needs to prove his death because in Korea, it takes five years to have a person declared dead when there is no body. Please give what you can to help recover his body and other costs associated with his death.
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Donations 

  • Dustin Levien
    • $50 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer

Liz Carson Keith
Organizer
Dahlonega, GA

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