PUSAN, May 22 (UP)-A scared
little Korean boy, clutching a suitcase and a ticket, walks through
the glistening door of a huge plane and into a new life tonight.
He will limp a little, but what can you expect
of a lad who has to walk on artificial feet?
THE DOOR THAT opened for Son Yong Cho, 11, culminates
a series of events that started in 1950, when the lad lost his parents
in the Communist invasion of Seoul.
Through the intercession of various Americans,
both here and in the United States, Son will be on his way to live
at Boys Town, Neb., the first Korean war orphan to be admitted to
the U.S. under the quota recently authorized by Congress.
The first friend, who found him painfully crawling
on the streets of Pusan after doctors amputated his frost-bitten feet,
was Sgt. Harold J. Douglas, Hattiesburg, Miss.
DOUGLAS, WHO has seven children of his own, took
the boy home, cleaned him up, fed him and gave him a place to sleep.
But Song was too proud to take charity. Each day he went out
with his shoeshine box, shuffling around on two bits of tire casing
that took the place of feet, and returned at night.
Then Douglas wondered if it might not be possible
to get the boy some artificial limbs. He contacted friends at
the Army's orthopedic laboratory, and Capt. James N. Calway, San Francisco,
and Sgt. Richard E. Gormanson, Tacoma, Wash., arranged for a new set
of feet.
Calway was so taken with the boy that when he
returned to the U.S. he wrote to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, asking if
the waif couldn't be admitted to Boys Town. Bishop Sheen relayed
the request to Msgr. Nicholas Wegner, director of the school, who
immediately approved it.
With this step accomplished, there was much paper
work to be taken care of, and Maj. John Butchkosky, Silver Springs,
Md., undertook to push it through. Final clearance came earlier
this month.
NOW EVERYTHING was in order except for the price
of the ticket, and this proved the smallest obstacle. American
servicemen, the Pusan Masonic club, civilians, and officials in short
order collected the $400 needed for a half-fare plane ticket.
To make certain he would travel in style, Maryknoll
Sisters in Pusan made Song a new suit. And for a final surprise,
Butchkosky, who is in charge of the orthopedic laboratory, present
Song with a new set of limbs.
PSS-176&177
