Member-only story
A wartime army camp is no place for a little girl. It’s no place for any child, but it didn’t stop the children from coming.
Rudy arrived in Seoul, having disembarked from the HMCS Huron as part of the 1st Commonwealth Division in June, 1953. With only a month or so left in the War, he and his fellow soldiers were fortunate not to see much actual combat.
The boys barely had a chance to settle into their modest accommodations before being swarmed by children. There had to be at least 20 of them, ranging in age from 2 to 13 or 14. They were all dressed in tattered clothes, the younger ones had tear-stained faces, and they were all visibly dirty, yet they all smiled widely. They grinned and batted their ravenous eyes, a strangely desperate form of seduction they, and tens of thousands like them, all over the Korean peninsula, had picked up as a means of survival. Western soldiers, they quickly learned, often had sweets, candy, gum, and other tasty treats and most were more than willing to share.
Rudy and half a dozen of his comrades quickly began emptying their pockets as the swarming youngsters pushed and shoved, each clamouring for a share in the bounty. The pathetic sight of these starving kids brought tears to his…
