Pacific Stars and Stripes,
Jan. 19, 1951
WITH 25TH INF DIV IN KOREA- Here's
a new twist to the old story of kind-hearted GIs adopting Korean waifs.
Some 25th Division engineers picked up one at Suwon,
and it turned out to be a girl.
Cpl. Thomas C. Davis, driver for the engineer battalion
commander and self-appointed guardian of the youngster, said: "It sure
surprised me. Looked exactly like a boy, short hair and everything.
We didn't find out she was a gal until...."
The Monticello, Miss., native flushed slightly.
Then he continued: "Well, there's only one sure way of finding out.
We gave her a bath!"
The four-year-old was left with Davis by two Korean
women at the Suwon Airport. The Koreans, who also mistook the child's
sex and referred to it as "he," brought the tot to the fire Davis had
burning.
"They told me he (she) didn't
belong to them, and they didn't have room in the crowded refugee truck
for him (her)," Davis related.
So the young engineer took her under his care when
he moved out that night.
"She was freezing cold," he said.
"No hat, a ragged old sweater and nothing but shreds of an old GI blanket
wrapped around her feet for shoes."
Back at the new command post, after discovering
he had acquired a feminine mascot, Davis got another surprise when the
tiny Korean started chattering.
"I understand enough Korean to
catch some of the things she says," he said. "She told me her mother
left while she was asleep and never came back, and that policemen took
her father away."
She also told Davis she was five years old, but
he figures she's closer to four, judging by the way Koreans calculate
age.
The engineers now have the orphan warmly clothed,
and keep her appetite satisfied. "She ate so much the first time we
fed her that she got sick," Davis said.
PSS-043
