Take Me to the Rice Paddies: Prelude

In May of 1965, after completing eight weeks of Army MP basic training at Camp Gordon in Georgia (now Fort Gordon), my father was sent to Camp Humphreys in South Korea. He met my mother just a few months later.

I love this clipping, nearly 50 years old, from the long-defunct Liberty Register. What leaves me wondering the most, though, is just how my grandparents managed to host 100 people in their little pink house!

My father was sent to the Company B 728th Military Police Battalion at Camp Humphreys in May of 1965 and would meet my mom later that year.

Despite being sent to finish his two-year military obligation as a guard at Fort Leavenworth and months of separation, my father returned to South Korea to marry my mom in the spring of 1967.

After waiting months for her visa to be processed, my mother moved to my father's hometown, Liberty, NY, in the fall of that same year. She often talks about arriving in Upstate New York just as the fall foliage was at its peak.

My parents officially married at the US Embassy at the end of May, but within a week would have a ceremonial wedding Daejon, South Korea, an event unique enough at the time to be covered in the local Korean newspaper.

I owe a debt of gratitude to one of my friends and colleagues in Washington, DC (and his father) for helping me with the translation:

A Love Story of A Blue-Eyed American: Even Different Nationalities Can’t Deter Their Romance

Mr. [LaPolt] from U.S.A. and Miss Kwon hold a wedding ceremony at Taejeon.

For the first time for this region in Korea, at 1 pm of 6th this month, a wedding ceremony was held for a couple who have overcome their different nationalities.

The ceremony, which took place at Lycar Wedding Hall, was attended by a large group of well-wishers, including many US military personnel.

The bridegroom was Mr. John [LaPolt] (24 years old) of New York State and the bride was Miss We [Saeng] Kwon (26 years old). The wedding was presided over by Dr. Oh Bong Kang, an owner of a hospital that specializes in gynecology.

The bridegroom John [LaPolt] met the bride in 1965 when he was stationed in Taejeon as a U.S. Army military police officer. After a stint of 13 months, Mr. [LaPolt] retired from military service and returned to the United States. But after returning home, he realized that he loved that beautiful Korean woman he had met and came back to Korea to marry her.

Mr. [LaPolt] is the third son (sic: actually 2nd of 3) from a family of five brothers and sisters. He currently works for a transportation company in New York.

Miss Kwon is a lecturer at Daegu-Cheongu Institute for Typing after graduating from Daegusabum, a national institute for training elementary school teachers.

The newly-married couple will go to Man Nyun Jang Hotel in Yusung for their honeymoon and, in early July, they will move to the United States, where they will make their permanent home.