Article Contributed on: 3/15/2006 11:45:32 AM
Excitement was running high when the Flying Tigers airplane landed at Portland, Oregon's airport from Korea. The precious cargo was unloaded and soon we had our Korean son that we had waited for so long. "
Kim Jerry" was the name he had been given when he was rescued from the steps of the city hall in Seoul. There were over 150 babies and toddlers on the plane.
Soon we were on our way back to Colorado with our son, now named
Ronald Mercier. He did not know what to think of us for a day ortwo but by the time we arrived home, he had decided that we were going to be okay!
Two years later, we went through the same experience when we adopted our second Korean son, "
Kim Man Ho", also left on the city hall steps. He is now named
Donald Mercier.
The orphans in Korea were often left at the city hall, the mothers knew that the orphanage truck would take them to a safe place. It was a great sacrifice for the mothers to give up their children but a neccesity. They had no way to feed and care for the kids, often the children of American servicemen who had gone home after the war.
A shy humble Oregon farmer named
Harry Holt had learned of the plight of the children left there. He and his wife adoptedeight Korean children and soon decided that more needed to be done. They started an adoption agency.
Seeing more of the needs of the children left in Korea, they built an orphanage and were soon caring for many children. Their work has now expanded to other countries, finding homes for thousands of children.
Harry and
Bertha Holt were real heroes. They have since died but the work they began continues as the Holt Family and Childrens Services in Eugene, Oregon.
My sons are such a blessing. God had to pick them out for me.
Not flesh of my flesh nor bone of my bone
Yet still mysteriously all my own
Never forget for a single minute
You weren't born under my heart, but in it.
( Author unknown)
Gladys Mercier