Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 11, 1951
Inchon (UP)- It's not cold
anymore for the 45 Korean war waifs who were found huddled in a shell-marked
building on a tiny island off Inchon. The cruiser St. Paul is seeing
to that.
The starving orphans were found on the island
by a shore party from the big Navy warship which went ashore to investigate
a light which had gone out.
Led by Lt. Edward H. Bahr, of Long Beach, Calif.,
the men found the children with two women and a man in the only building
on the island that still had a roof.
There was no heat. The food had given out. And
the tattered rags the children wore were little help in the cold.
Bahr went back to the cruiser, told the story
and gathered armfuls of woolen clothing, gloves, stockings, food,
candy, soap and other gifts from the crewmen.
Next morning one of the St. Paul's whaleboats
docked at the island. A ship's doctor Lt. Francis J. Linehan examined
the orphans while the supplies were doled out to the tots, who accepted
each gift with bows and shy "thank-you's" in Korean.
Later, working parties from the St. Paul brought
hammers and saws from the ship and repaired the orphanage. Foraging
parties went into Inchon and returned with a pot bellied stove which
they set up in the building.
A work party cleared up a badly polluted well
where the children had been getting water. And the ship's doctors
keep a running check on the health of their solemn-faced charges.
While the St. Paul rocks at anchor in the harbor
hurling shells inland at communist troops, her crew is keeping a steady
flow of food and clothing going to the youngsters of Fusshi-to.
PSS-069
