Cattleya Orchid
Inside this capsule: a seed of Cattleya Orchid — and a story of friendship that began in 1950. Drag the capsule to face its label; the QR code is real.
The flower of Colombia
Photo: Arne Larsen (?) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Colombia's national flower, the May flower — an orchid from the country with more orchid species than any other on Earth.
Flower meaning
The Cattleya orchid — Colombia's May flower — blooms rare and high in the cloud forest: devotion where it is hardest to grow.
Growing your seed
Free the seed from its compostable kraft shell, then give it what cattleya orchid asks for:
Watch it grow
Manuel Antonio Gaitan Briceño served in the Colombian infantry and went to Korea in February 1954 after the signing of the Armistice. He was born to illiterate parents and achieved the rank of Second Corporal in the military. Manuel Antonio Gaitan Briceño served in Korea after the Armistice when peace was tenuous. Upon returning to…
A voice from Colombia’s service in Korea · More on Korean War Legacy Foundation
Colombia's veterans crossed the widest ocean of any sending state in the Americas save one. Their service seeded a friendship Korea still honors — this orchid grows in its colors.
“We Remember. We Grow Together.”
Voices from the archive
Stories from veterans, families and participants that carry the same values as the cattleya orchid — retold from the record, never invented.
Colombia was the only Latin American nation to send forces — the Batallón Colombia and the frigate Almirante Padilla. Its veterans returned to found a proud association, and Korea's gratitude reaches Bogotá to this day. (TODO: verify association history)
Source: Batallón Colombia veterans' tradition
Help this archive grow
Did someone in your family serve with Colombia in Korea — or were they healed, taught or befriended by those who did? Every entry is reviewed and verified with you before publication.
Share a story1950 – 1953
Colombia was the only Latin American nation to send forces to Korea, contributing the Batallón Colombia and the frigate ARC Almirante Padilla. Colombian infantry fought in the hard positional battles of the war's later years, including at Old Baldy in 1953.
Historical passages are written with care and without invented figures; details still under review are marked for verification before print.
Colombia's landscapes climb from two oceans through coffee slopes to Andean peaks, and its culture carries that range — exuberant and resilient at once. The orchid, thriving in the cloud forest's thin air, blooms where survival seems least likely.
Why the Cattleya Orchid
Colombia's national flower, the May flower — an orchid from the country with more orchid species than any other on Earth.