Pacific Stars and Stripes,
Nov. 9, 1953
NAVY HQ, YOKOSUKA, Japan, Nov. 3- A Navy chief's
pleading with immigration officialdom ended yesterday when his adopted
Korean son was granted a visa to enter the U.S.
Lee Kyong Soo, 4, found shivering on the streets
of Inchon, Korea, last winter by Chief Boatswain's Mate Vincent T.
Paladino, was issued the visa at 1:30 p.m. at the American Embassy
in Tokyo. For Paladino, it was the windup of a 10,000-mile struggle
which had stretched from Inchon back to Tokyo.
The Navy said Paladino and his son will depart
today for the U.S. aboard a Navy plane. Paladino will be reassigned
to Norfolk, Va., where he plans to enroll Lee in school.
Halted in Hawaii
Immigration officials at Honolulu
stopped Lee from entering the U.S. two weeks ago. With Navy permission,
Paladino flew back to Tokyo last week to get the necessary entry visa.
Paladino, 35, a bachelor from New Rochelle, N.Y.,
found Lee 11 months ago wandering through the wintry streets of Inchon.
He took him to his quarters and fed and clothed him. Later,
when attempts to find Lee's parents failed, he adopted him.
The father and son arrived in Honolulu two weeks
ago on their way to the States and Paladino's new assignment.
But immigration authorities ruled that Lee could not enter the U.S.
because he did not have the proper papers. Paladino had applied
for a visa for the boy but it never had arrived.
PSS-153
