Hanover Welcomes a New Family

THE first Korean family to come to this country under the U.S. Refugee Relief Act of 1953, the Sungkook Chung family, arrived in Hanover on September 16. Warmly welcomed by the community and provided with a home and employment as a carpenter by the College, the 35-year-old father with his wife and three children could hardly believe that his fervent wish to start life anew in the United States had come true.

Chung had often spoken about this wish to his employer, Ambassador Ellis O. Briggs '21, for whom Chung worked as chauffeur and general handyman in Seoul. As an anti-Communist, Chung had suffered hardship and destruction in his village of Chulsan, 25 miles south of the Yalu River in Communist North Korea. Forced out of his native village eight years ago, after a succession of refugee wanderings he was assigned, three years ago, to work for the U.S. consulate officers. This made him more anxious than ever to raise his family in America. He also had the opportunity to learn to speak English.

Last June, Ambassador Briggs, on his way to Lima, Peru, where he is now United States envoy, stopped in Hanover to receive an honorary degree and attend a Class of '21 reunion. He spoke to college officials about Chung's hopes and his own inability to act as sponsor for the Korean in this country. Since Dartmouth as an institution could not serve in this capacity, Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College, offered to sponsor Chung, his wife Kim Ye Rock, their daughter Kyung Hi, 6, and two sons, Won Kun, 3, and Won Hyung, 1.

After much red tape had been unsnarled, Chung and his family embarked on the 5.5. Flying Scud in Pusan, with all their belongings in a single canvas carry-all. Their journey was sponsored by the American Korean Foundation, and representatives met them in San Francisco.

As soon as it became known in Hanover that the Korean family was really coming, a community project, started by the Hanover Women's Club, got vigorously under way. By the time the Chungs arrived, a two-bedroom, College-owned apartment had been simply but comfortably furnished, with curtains at the windows and rugs on the floor; pots and pans hanging in the kitchen, and the refrigerator stocked with a week's supply of food. There were blankets, sheets and towels and even money to buy the small items needed to start out in housekeeping.

Arriving at the White River Junction airport, after flying to New York from San Francisco the night before, the Chungs were met by Mr. and Mrs. Hayward and a Korean student now at Dartmouth. Their first day in America was almost too overwhelming, as the family was introduced to their new home, where the refrigerator and electric stove seemed unbelievable; to a supermarket, ice cream cones, college students, and their new friends and neighbors. To help break the strangeness, their first meal was prepared by Mrs. Jung Keum Kim, wife of a Korean doctor studying at the hospital.

On their own now, the Chungs are beginning to feel at home. Because they find that American meals are still considerably more expensive than their customary fare, they eat Korean dishes mostly. Chung has found no difficulty in adjusting himself to his work in the Department of Plant and Operations. He says that men in his country must work longer hours and harder to make up for the lack of machinery and tools.

One of the first things he did was to buy postcards of Hanover to send to his friends in Korea. Chung said, "People in Seoul told me I was crazy to think of going to America, that people there were not friendly to Orientals. Now I know that they were wrong. I shall write them so on the pictures that show this beautiful town."

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney C. Hayward '26, sponsors, greet the Chungs from Korea upon their arrival at the West Lebanon airport.

Sungkook Chung, who now has a job with the College as carpenter, shown with some of his fellow workmen during lunch hour.