Evening star., 1952-03-27
By IsobeIIe Shelton

Ny USOOSblS SuGttOU
There's q little boy named
Humpy who lives in a place called
Happy Mountain in Pusan, Korea.
Humpy is an orphan, as are
the 900 other children at Happy
Mountain. He was given his name
by an American Army captain who
found him, more dead than alive,
lying on the street in Pusan, with
a back injury that gave him a
strange. bumped appearance. He
is five or six, but looks about three,
with tiny, wasted arms and legs.
The story Of Humpy and more
than 100000 Korean orphans like
him, who have lost their parents
in the Korean war. was told here
this week by Nine. Yang, wife of
the Korean Ambassador, who just
recently returned from q visit to
her beleaguered country.
First Trip to Country
AS a matter of fact, 1t was the
first time the ambassadress had
ever been to Korea. Ambassador
You Chan Yang and his wife both
are children of Korean parents,
but both were born and grew up
in Hawaii. The ambassador, how
ever-who had been q successful
physician in Honolulu before his
appointment to Washington last
June-had made several trips to
Korea.
Happy Mountain. where Mime.
Yang spent a good deal of time
during her visit, was founded in
October, 1850, by Army Capt.
Clifford g. McKeon. of Perth AM
boy. N. j. The captain went out
in the dark streets of the city one
night and began picking up the
limp forms of little children.
Some were wounded. all were half
starved. With the help of an
other serviceman the captain
established the children in an
abandoned warehouse. The two
spent their own money for food,
persuaded Army and Navy doc
tors to care for the wounded in
their free hours.
Word spread about the kindly
captain who fed little children,
and hungry children walked to
the warehouse from miles around.
News also spread to GIS in the
field. many of whom had adopted
an orphaned child to be mascot
of their unit. AS the units pre-
pared to move to the front lines
they were ordered by the Army
to leave their child mascots safely
in the rear.
Order Protested
At this, such a clamor went up
from both the GIs and their
young charges, many of whom
had become very attached to each
other. that the Army. in order
to restore calm, agreed to fly the
youngsters to Pusan and turn
them over to Capt. McKeon.
Money began coming in from
the GIs, to care for their former
mascots, and the captain moved
his expanded group to larger
quarters, in an abandoned house
behind the home of Korean Presi-
dent Syngman Rhee. The cap
tain. who disliked the word or
phanage, told his charges this
was their new home" The
youngsters, from heaven knows
where, dreamed up the name
Happy Mountain"
Life is still pretty spartan at
Happy Mountain. Some native
teachers try to keep the children
occupied during the day, but text
books and other equipment for
learning are appalingly meager.
The main food is still a Cruel Of
skim milk and barley.
At that, because of the interest
and contributions from GIS, chill
dren at Happy Mountain probably |
are better cared for than those
at Korea's 200 other orphanages,
and the hundreds of thousands
more among the 100000 Korean
refugees in 1,700 camps.
Need Is Great
Those children need "every-
thing. simply everything"-as, in
fact, do the adult refugees, too,
Nine. Yang reported. Clothing.
powdered milk, and money to buy
drugs and pay teachers are the
primary needs. especially for the
children.
The American Relief for Korea
Committee, which conducted a
rapid-fire emergency clothing |
drive last fall may conduct an
other one this spring, Nine. Yang |
said. Meanwhile, any one wishing |
to contribute clothing may send |