This website was created and maintained from May 2020 to May 2021 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Stars and Stripes operations in the Pacific.
It will no longer be updated, but we encourage you to explore the site and view content we felt best illustrated Stars and Stripes' continued support of the Pacific theater since 1945.
A Korean orphan and 55th MP Company
MP PEEWEE - M/Sgt. Yo-Yo (center) was not always the sharp soldier he is in the picture. No, as a matter of fact, the little Korean orphan was found freezing to death on the streets of Seoul two-months ago. He was brought in by the 55th MP Company there and is shown here with his buddies Cpt. Carl Wilson (left), Lubbock, Texas, and Sgt. Billy Graves, Lorado, West Virginia.
By Frank Praytor | Stars and Stripes March 29, 1953
7-year old Korean War orphan Yo-Yo was 'adopted' as the unit mascot of the 55th Military Police Company early 1953 after one of the unit's members found the little boy wandering the streets of Seoul.
During and right after the Korean War, stories of Korean orphans being "adopted" by various U.S. military units in South Korea filled the pages of Stars and Stripes.
Some of these stories had follow ups when the children would get adopted by one of the unit members and taken to their new American homes. The stories often describe the "Americanization" of the children, taking on American dress, customs and tastes (and sometimes the language) of the U.S. military men they live with. [cg]
