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A memorial plaque honoring Springfield pilot and animal rescuer Seuk Kim disappeared from a Fairfax County dog park after an anonymous online post threatened to remove it.
Kim, 49, died Nov. 24, 2024, when his plane crashed into a Catskills mountain during a Pilots N Paws mission. He had planned to fly three homeless dogs from Manassas Regional Airport to Albany International Airport in New York. One of the dogs also died in the crash.
A former financial and marketing executive, Kim earned his private pilot’s license and began flying animal rescue missions about four years before his death. At times, he completed as many as three flights a week, moving dogs to shelters with available space so they could find homes and avoid euthanasia.
Rebecca Lynn Randell, a veterinary student who works with rescue dogs and helped connect animals with Kim’s flights, said he never turned down requests for help. She recalled him enduring long flights and landing on snow-covered runways to give animals another chance.
Kim’s death resonated throughout the animal rescue community. Pilots and volunteers inspired by his work formed Seuk’s Army, a Piedmont, South Carolina-based organization that continues transporting animals on dedicated flights. The group also hopes to create a pet food pantry and mobile spay-and-neuter clinic.
For National Puppy Day, Seuk’s Army transported 64 dogs and nine cats to shelters with room to receive them.
Students at Lincoln Memorial University also raised money to honor Kim. Unable to travel to a memorial gathering, members of the university’s Shelter Medicine Club used proceeds from their twice-yearly sales of LMU-logo sweaters, along with donations from students who had never met Kim, to sponsor a bench and plaque.
The memorial was installed through a Fairfax County Park Foundation program at the newly created dog park in Monticello Park in Braddock.
But when the bench was later visited, the plaque was gone. A Fairfax County Park Authority sign at the site asked for its return.
In early March, an anonymous person had posted online that the plaque was unauthorized and threatened to take it down within three days if it was not removed. The plaque subsequently disappeared. An unofficial foundation spokesperson said the organization was shocked and angered by the act.
A replacement plaque has been ordered and is expected to be installed soon.
Randell said the veterinary students share Kim’s commitment to helping shelters find places for animals. His work, she said, will be remembered regardless of whether a plaque marks the bench.