By I received a special request via email from a former Korean orphan Kori Lynn Addamo (Kim Choon-ja) who is trying to locate any of the soldiers that used to visit with the children at her orphanage. Below is the story along with contact information for anyone that may be able to help Ms. Addamo out:
My name is Kori Lynn Addamo and I am looking for assistance in seeking several soldiers who served in the United States army in the 2nd Division, 2nd Infantry, 1965-1966 in Bong Il Chun post in Korea. Just today, I found out that one soldier’s name was Captain Clark.
I was in the Hwa Saeng orphanage in Ko Yong Kun (my name was Kim Choon Ja) at the time and these soldiers were the orphanage’s primary sponsors. The soldiers would come to the orphanage and bring us all sorts of treats, such as bazooka bubble gum, chunky chocolate squares, bananas, oranges, strawberry ice cream, and sometimes hot dogs for lunch. I remember one particular soldier named Mr. “Mark” or Mr. “Mike.” The enclosed photo has picture of the person I am trying to locate. Mr. “Mark” was special to me because I think he wanted to help me by adopting me. On special holidays like Christmas, They would pick us up in their army trucks and take us to the Bong Il Chun post for a dinner feast which would consist of turkey, gravy, stuffing, and vegetables. While the director said grace we would put all the food that was on our plate into our plastic bags to bring it back to the orphanage to savor our food and make it last longer. We would also hide all of the center piece fruits and nuts into our pockets as well. By the time grace was finished, the table would be completely cleared of all the food. Then, the soldiers would play games with us. My favorite game was called toss the ring to the prizes such as an entire bag of soft marshmallow type of candy in shape of peanuts that were orange in color. Other prizes consist of toys and coloring books with crayon. Often, we would color the pages in perfect line and tear out the colored pages and sell them to the non orphan children at the KO young elementary school.
Other times, the soldiers would escort us to the field trip day on children’s day and meet us at the destination and bring us their C-ration lunches for us orphans to eat for lunch. How wonderful those memories are to this day…My favorite C-ration was the one with can of peanut butter and hot chocolate instant mix. We used to eat the hot chocolate mix as if it were candy. If it had cheese, we would either give it to non orphan children or sell them to other kids by telling them that it was peanut butter. On Easter Sundays, the soldiers would come to our orphanage and hide the Easter eggs and if the egg had gold wrapping paper on it ….it contained a real American solid chocolate…that would be the real prize of the day.
I also remember when the soldiers came and built a brand new swing set and the tallest slide to slide down on. On some Sunday afternoons, they would just come to the orphanage to keep us company and we would hum a song of “London bridge is falling down” and at the end of the song the soldiers would try to catch one of us and we would try to run as fast as we could. Other days they would take us to the post and show us black and white movie and give us pop corn while watching the movie. I have great memories of these soldiers spending their quality time with us and they always gave us hope and joy. Certainly they cared and loved us so much that they gave us real meaning of life, love, hope, gentleness, patience, kindness, and peace.
I want to find Mr. Mark so that I can personally thank him for all the wonderful gifts, thoughts, generosity, kindness, and most of all for caring about the orphan children so many years ago. He was truly a blessing sent from above and I am most thankful and grateful for his help in or around 1965 at the Hwa Saeng Won orphanage. It would be a dream come true to meet my guardian angel Mr. Mark …
Sincerely,
Kori Lynn Addamo (Kim Choon Ja)
Bethany Lutheran Church
3701 W. Slaughter Lane
Austin, TX 78749
US soldiers have a long history in aiding orphans in Korea which is a tradition that continues to this day. If anyone can help Ms. Addamo out please contact her or leave a comment here with any suggestions in helping her to locate any of the soldiers that used to visit her orphanage. Hopefully one of the great ROK Drop readers out there can be able to help her out.
6:44 pm on July 23rd, 2008 1
Good luck in your search Kori Lynn!
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1:00 am on July 24th, 2008 2
GI: You’ve done some great work in providing history and background on former and current 2ID posts. Any idea what camp is/was near Bong Il Chun or Ko Yong Gun? Once folks know the camp, we can probably figure out what units may have been involved and harness the power of the internet to hopefully produce a really good story.
My own involvement with orphanages in Korea as a young captain had a lasting impression on me as well so I found Ms. Addamo’s letter to be very touching. My wife and I eventually adopted from China 12 years ago and that desire to adopt was obviously fostered during those many visits to Korean orphanages.
The role American GIs have played in helping Korean children since the Korean War is a story that will probably never be fully and honestly told but there are literally thousands of Kori Addamos out there whose lives have been touched by the kindness and generosity of soldiers just as those soldiers’ lives have been touched by the innocence and affection shown by the Korean orphans – for many soldiers, I’m sure those Sundays at the orphanage represents some of their best memories of Korea.
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7:13 am on July 24th, 2008 3
I don;t care if it sounds fruity, I literally teared while reading this entry. GI please continue to keep up the good work and I hope her wish is fullfilled.
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11:03 am on July 24th, 2008 4
You surely have done a great job! As one of Korean citizens I thank you very much for your kind efforts exerted in promoting the amicable relationship between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea.
On thing I want to add here is the fact that still there are lots of South Koreans who remember the humane and great dedications that the American soldiers had done for Korean people even though some stupid foolish demonstrators out there shout “Out with Mad Cow U.S. Beef”.
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12:59 pm on July 24th, 2008 5
DMZDave, Bong Il Chon was where Camp Howze was located , at least from 1986 when I was stationed on the Z. At that time it was HQ for 3rd Bde. 2ID. 1/31st Inf was there. In that area you had 2/67 ADA
4/7 Cav, 2/17 FA, 702nd, 1/9 Inf, 2nd S&T, 2nd Engineers, 2nd Med and of course Yong Ju Gol.
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1:09 pm on July 24th, 2008 6
Camp roster.
Edwards East and west
Garryowen
Giant
Stanton
Pelham
RC4
Greaves
Howze
4P3
Warrior Base
Munsan
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9:57 am on July 25th, 2008 7
Dear ROKDrop.com readers:
Thank you for taking the time to read my story…Kori’s Story…Today is July 24th 2008 currently 6:32 pm central time zone. I was so overwhelmed with emotions when I read your readers responses to my letter. I just wanted to say Thank you for putting my story on your web-site. I want to say Thank you to all of your readers for their bravity and courage of serving our great country. As a Korean born American I always try to attend to the local Veterans Day Parade here in Austin Texas. Whenever I go to the V-Day parade I try to bring my home-made sign to show my full support for the Veterans who served in all wars. I always get teary-eyed whenever I see the Brave Soldiers carring the awesome flag of ours striped RED/ White full of wonderful stars looking at me filled with bold and beautiful sacrifices they made for me and I can’t help but cry out and say Thank You from the bottom of my heart. Thank You from Kori Lynn Addamo. I’ll sign off until we meet again. take care everyone…
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11:05 am on July 25th, 2008 8
Kori Lynn,
Let me tell you a true story. Mike Yi of Kunsan AB was able to find the man who dug him out of a snow bank in Seoul as the Chinese were descending on the city in Dec 50. I was blessed in having played a small part in bringing this together in 2002. It was a miracle.
But the key thing in finding his benefactor was Mike remembered the NUMERICAL DESIGNATOR of the unit and location though the rest was a bit scrambled. That numerical designator (even part of it), coupled with a location and time period, can make tracking down individuals a lot easier. Any scrap of information no matter how miniscule dealing with his job, the color of his patch/shape of his patch that you may think as insignificant, may be a clue that can help others help you in your search.
You can read of Mike’s story at: Mike Yi of Kunsan AB Miraculously Finds His Korean War Savior — Mike Yi of the Skill Development Center finds the GI who pulled him from the snowbank at Kimpo AB in Dec 50.
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11:08 am on July 25th, 2008 9
Whoops…I need to give a complete link
Mike Yi of Kunsan AB Miraculously Finds His Korean War Savior — Mike Yi of the Skill Development Center finds the GI who pulled him from the snowbank at Kimpo AB in Dec 50.
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9:06 pm on December 26th, 2008 10
Dear Kori Lynn,
I’m afraid I can’t help you with your search. But, I wanted to say that I would appreciate any information about the orphans I used to visit at Soldiers and Policemen’s Orphanage in Seoul during 1967-68.
I organized a singing and dance performance at the Yongsan military facility to garner support for the orphanage. When I left in August 1968, there was no soldier to carry on as liaison between the soldiers and the orphans. I have had no news since then.
I remember a Mormon soldier stationed near the DMZ during that time. He also frequented an orphanage. He was able to make an LP record for sale in which ‘his’ children sang.
Any help would be appreciated. The tape of the Yongsan performance is barely audible.
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4:42 pm on October 14th, 2009 11
Hello, Mrs. Kori Lynn Addamo my name is Willis Biggles and I hope you have had success with your search. I am a former military soldier but I was not even born at the time of your past experiences. I am currently a college student in San Diego, CA enrolled in an Asian American History class. We have studied and researched the Korean War and migration to America, mainly dealing with Korean orphans. I have a project that asks me to find a Korean orphan and do a research paper on them from the time of being an orphan to their present life. I hope you would be interested in doing an interview with myseld and who knows this could possibly spread the words since I do live in a city full of retired veterans. If you are interest I have my contact information posted but just in case my e-mail is bigglesiiwillis@yahoo.com.
Thank you,
Willis Biggles
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