Pacific Stars and Stripes,
Nov. 23, 1953
By Kenneth Anderson
OMAHA, Neb., Nov. 23 (INS)-
An overjoyed 5-year-old Korean boy nicknamed Jimmy, was reunited today
with his wartime buddy, and ex-soldier from Huron, S.D. who has adopted
him in an unprecedented legal action.
Pay Raynor, a former Army sergeant, sprinted the
full length of a train in Omaha's Union Station to swing the child
into his arms. Jimmy had arrived from Oakland, Cal., on a trip which
began in Seoul - where, as Choi Hyung Hyun, he never knew a home.
The 24-year-old Raynor, who is giving Jimmy a
home, exclaimed: "Boy, he sure looks good."
Army Sgt. Werner Krenzer, returning to his home
in Rego Park, N.Y. on rotation, has cared for Jimmy on the train trip.
He said the Korean was intrigued by coin-operated vending machines.
The New Yorker, whom Jimmy called "Smiley," added the boy was an avid
reader and swapper of comic books.
Chasing Bus
Jimmy was one of the untold bands of Korean children
- refugees at an age when they should be in kindergarten - when Sgt.
Raynor spied him chasing after a troop bus.
Raynor located the waif's mother through the Korean
Salvation Army. Jimmy, he learned, was born of a tragic romance between
the mother and a soldier who later departed. The mother, after a 25-minute
conversation, agreed to surrender her rights to the child.
When Raynor - a bachelor - was discharged he secured
papers for the unique adoption. South Dakota Atty. Gen. Ralph A. Dunham
said he "took the position that no state law prohibits the adoption"
and if Korean law was satisfied, so was he.
Raynor plans to enter South Dakota State College
at Brookings, S.D. while his mother at Huron cares for Jimmy. Raynor
said: "I have no immediate plans for marriage."
PSS-102
