Pacific Stars and Stripes, Feb. 5, 1951
By S/Sgt. Mike Shutak, Combat
Correspondent
WITH 1ST MARINE DIV IN KOREA- PFC Willard E. Gavin,
Richland Center, Wis., took pity on the young Korean orphan, and gave
him part of his rations-he knew the look-he had been an orphan himself.
That was back when UN forces drove the Communists
out of Inchon. Since then, Gavin and Kim have traveled Korea together.
Now Gavin and his wife are trying to adopt the boy so he can return
with the leatherneck to the U.S.
Young Kim was smuggled on an LST when the Marines
left Inchon. He rode in Gavin's truck during the landing at Wonsan and
journeys to Koto and Hagaru. On one trip the native orphan was sent
back by jeep to avoid an ambush area ahead. But the jeep got ambushed
and Kim suffered multiple wounds.
He was evacuated to a hospital in South Korea, and
didn't see his foster-father for a long time. Finally, when the Marines
moved to their rest and training area in the south, the two orphans
met again.
Request for adoption was turned down by the U.S.
Senate. Now they have written to the President, and if that won't help,
they plan to move to Honolulu and raise the Korean lad there.
When nine-year-old Kim is asked his name and address,
he beams "Me Jimmy Gavin of Wisconsin, U.S.A."
PSS-046
