What Korean War Veterans Taught LaunchX Alum Heiryung Na About Entrepreneurship

Heiryung Na’s journey was an unexpected one, where family discovery of working closely with Korean War veterans around the world taught her some of her most important lessons about leadership, empathy, and entrepreneurship.

Heiryung grew up without knowing that her grandfather had served in the Korean War. It wasn't something he ever spoke about, and it wasn't until after he passed away that her family discovered a letter among his belongings from the Korean government thanking him for his service as a medic on the 70th anniversary of the war.

When she asked her grandmother about it, she finally understood why the subject had never come up. The experiences he carried from that time were simply too painful to revisit, so he chose not to.

The discovery left Heiryung with questions she had never thought to ask and sparked a curiosity that would eventually shape the course of her life. As she began speaking with veterans, family members, and others connected to the war, she found herself drawn not only to the history itself, but to the people behind it.

"I just listened," she says. "I didn't know what to say."

Over time, she realized she didn't need to have the perfect response. Being present, asking questions, and giving people the space to share their experiences often mattered more than anything she could have said. What started as a personal search for understanding soon evolved into a much deeper commitment to preserving the stories of Korean War veterans and ensuring that their experiences would not be forgotten.

When History Stops Feeling Distant

Like many students, Heiryung had learned about the Korean War through textbooks and classroom discussions. But it wasn't until she began spending time with veterans that she truly understood the human side of that history.

When she first became involved in programs supporting Korean War veterans, her motivations were not entirely selfless. "Honestly, when I first joined the veterans initiative, it was partly for my resume," she admits.

That perspective changed quickly once she began meeting the veterans. The stories she encountered were no longer abstract accounts of history but deeply personal experiences carried by people who had lived through them, and one conversation in particular has stayed with her ever since.

During a dinner in Utah, she found herself sitting beside a veteran who had once served as a combat pilot. Age had taken a visible toll on him. His hands trembled, walking was difficult, and family members helped him get around. Yet as soon as he saw Heiryung, he lit up and began sharing stories from his life.

Over the course of the evening, he spoke about surviving a plane crash, losing his father, and carrying memories that few people had ever asked him about. Moments like these transformed the way Heiryung understood the war. What had once felt like a distant historical event became something deeply personal, shaped by the experiences, sacrifices, and memories of the people sitting across from her.

"They seemed to hold so many stories," she says.

The more veterans she met, the more she realized that many of them were not simply looking for recognition. They wanted to be heard.

The Power of Showing Up

Another encounter reinforced that lesson in a way Heiryung never expected.

During one visit, she met a veteran who was living in a cardboard home. While the conditions were difficult, what stayed with her was not the poverty itself but the warmth with which he welcomed her.

Although they had never met before, he greeted her like family. He shared stories, memories, and pieces of his life with a level of openness that surprised her. As their conversation came to an end, she could see how much he wished she could stay longer. 

The experience changed the way she thought about service. He didn't see a volunteer completing community service hours or a student participating in a program. He saw someone who had taken the time to show up and listen.

"Once I understood that someone could feel that loved, that quickly, by someone who just showed up, I couldn't think about this work the same way again."

From that point on, her involvement stopped feeling like an extracurricular activity and began to feel like a responsibility. The work was no longer just about honoring veterans' contributions to history but about ensuring that they continued to feel seen, valued, and connected in the present.

What LaunchX Taught Her About Entrepreneurship

The lessons Heiryung learned from veterans eventually followed her into other areas of her life, including entrepreneurship.

When she joined LaunchX, she found herself surrounded by students from different backgrounds, countries, and experiences, all working together to build solutions to real-world problems. While the environment was very different from the veterans programs she had participated in, many of the lessons felt surprisingly familiar.

"Being surrounded by a team that brought the same passion, curiosity, and care to the table that I did showed me what leadership actually looks like in practice," she says.

Through her experience at LaunchX, Heiryung came to see entrepreneurship not as a process of having all the answers, but as a process of understanding people well enough to identify meaningful problems and create thoughtful solutions.

The strongest teams were not necessarily the ones with the loudest voices or the most confident speakers. They were the ones willing to listen, challenge one another's assumptions, and stay curious throughout the process.

In many ways, the skills she had developed while listening to veterans translated directly into entrepreneurship. Understanding someone's experience, asking better questions, and taking the time to genuinely listen proved just as valuable when building ideas as they were when preserving stories.

LaunchX gave her a new framework for thinking about impact and showed her how entrepreneurial thinking could be applied to challenges that extend far beyond business.

Looking Ahead

Today, Heiryung continues to think about how she can combine service, leadership, and entrepreneurship in ways that create meaningful change.

Whether through a nonprofit, a volunteer initiative, or an idea she has yet to imagine, she hopes to continue supporting the generation that helped shape the country she calls home. Too often, she believes, veterans' stories fade from public memory despite the sacrifices they made and the experiences they carry.

By taking the time to listen, document, and share those stories, she hopes to ensure that they are not forgotten. For Heiryung, entrepreneurship was never simply about building something new. It was about finding better ways to serve people and solve problems that matter.