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| With the assistance of Rev. John V. Moore, retired missionary to Korea, Rev. HaeRyang Yoo Kim, Executive Director of the Choong Hyun Babies Home, Gwangju, Korea, discovered in June 2005 at the Presbyterian Historical Foundation, Montreat, North Carolina, that those who helped Mrs. Park Soon le to raise her 45 orphans on the Presbyterian mission compound in Gwangju were these six missionaries |
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| Robert Manton Wilson, M. D. (missionary years 1905-1948), began to care for crippled orphans and lepers in 1909 in Gwangju. Mrs. Park Ae Sin, Park Soon le's mother, was a seamstress for the Wilson Family until 1926, when Dr. Wilson moved to develop a leper colony between Soonchun and Yosu, where the lepers found solace, faith in Jesus Christ, and a cure. |
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| His house in Gwangju was the first home for Mrs. Parks Soon le's 45 children from 1949-1952. He and his wife, Bess (Knox) Wilson, had seven children : Elizabeth, James, Mary Stuart, Robert, John, Edwin and Joseph. |
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| Rev. Robert Knox (1906-1952), an evangelist, hired Park Soon le's mother, Mrs. Park Ae Sin, in 1926 to assist him, his wife, Maie (Borden) Knox, and their daughter, Betty Virginia. |
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| Herbert Augustus Codington Jr. M. D. (1947-1974), came to Gwangju to cure those with tuberculosis. He directed the Gwangju Christian Hospital and is revered today for his compassionate care to any Korean in need. He came to Mrs. Park Soon le's Choong Hyun Babies' Home twice a week to provide medical care for her children. He and his wife, Mary Littlepage 'Page'(Lancaster) Codington had six children : Herbert, Julie, Mary Page, David, Lewis and Philip. |
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| Rev. Bruce Cumming(1925-1958) was an evangelist, who planted churches and trained Korean pastors and laity. His wife, Virginia (Kerr) Cumming, R. N. was a hospital nurse and conducted village clinics. She wrote the story in 1953 of Mrs. Park Soon le's saving the lives of the street children in Gwangju and of her vow at their baptism to raise them as Christians. Her son was James Kerr, and their daughters are Virginia and Mary Bruce. |
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| Virginia wrote of Mrs. Park Soon le, "She took care of those children, throughout many a night. These children were never a problem for the missionaries in their work. We heard the laughter of angels all the time." She raised happy children. |
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| Florence Root (1925-1978), a 1914 graduate of Smith College, was an evangelist and educator, who rode horseback into the mountain villages to share the Gospel. She had been Principal of the Speer Girls' High School. Mrs. Park Soon le valued the older youth from Speer Girls High School sent to her by Miss Root when she was the principal. She is esteemed for being the only missionary who refused to leave Korea during the Koran War. She was taken to the mountains and hidden by Christian friends for 76 days until UN forces re-secured Gwangju. |
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| She and Virginia Cumming led the effort to raise funds for the first permanent residence for ChoongHyun Babies Home. She frequently visited with the children in their home, often with gifts and always with Bible stories to keep them enthralled. In retirement she led Bible studies beyond her 100th birthday. |
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| Dick Nieusma, D. D. S, (1963-1984) provided compassionate and diligent dental care to the orphans of ChoongHyun Babies Home. He and his wife, Ruth, have two children : Paul and Mary. Dr. and Mrs. Nieusma, now retired in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are the only surviving missionaries of those who assisted Mrs. Park Soon le.. |
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| Mrs. Park Soon le learned what to do as a Christian through the witness and influence of these six missionary families. She said in 1979, "I am doing this work in answer to God's call on my life, hoping to give these children some hope and dreams until the last minute of my life." She died in 1995. |
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| US missionaries encouraged the people and leaders of Korea during the difficult 35-year period of Japanese occupation, 1910-1945, and after 1945 these missionaries continued to help lay a spiritual, medical and educational foundation that has allowed Korea to become one of the leading nations of the world. |
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| Western medicine brought a cure for leprosy and tuberculosis. They introduced the idea of educating all children - not just the aristocratic boys - of Korea. Schools for girls and boys were begun in the 1890s. In Gwangju they were established in 1908. |
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| Choong Hyun Babies Home in Gwangju plans to create a museum to tell the story of the US military and missionary compassion for orphans during and after the Korean War. CBH is being restoring the old orphange buildings as historical Korean-experience places for Korean orphans from around the world to help them to be reconnected to their cultural roots. |
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| Their wish is to have veterans and missionaries' families to kindly donate their precious artifacts from before, during and after the Korean War. Rev. Yoo Kim said, "We would display them with care and remember the love of people who gave God's love of humanity for the next generation." |
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| 500,000 Korean children died - from disease, malnutrition or aggression - during the Korean War. A large percentage of the 200,000 Korean War orphans were adopted by American families after the 1953 Armistice. |
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| US military throughout Korea saved the lives of over 10,000 orphans during the Korean War. Their financial support of food, clothing, blankets, medicines and school supplies were sustaining another 40,000 of the 50,936 children in 429 approved orphanages throughout the Republic of Korea in June 1954. Rev. Bruce Cumming was a chaplain to P. O. W. s during the Korean War. |
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