BBC journalist Jose Carlos Cueto recently resurfaced the story of a Colombian who saved a boy’s life during the Korean War by putting him in a duffel bag and taking him back to Colombia.
This story has its beginning in 1951, when Colombian President Laureano Gomez sent close to 5,000 Colombian soldiers, Batallón Colombia, to fight alongside the United States and modern-day South Korea against the North’s troops which were backed by China and the USSR, in what is now commonly known as the first “hot war” of the Cold War.
Aureliano Gallon was a soldier of the Batallón Colombia, who, with the help of some of his fellow soldiers, brought the Korean boy whose name is now Carlos Arturo Gallon, to Colombia.
A 1964 interview reveals how Colombian Soldier Gallon saved the boy during the Korean War in his own words
According to the book El niño de la tula, written by Colombian journalist and writer Andres Sanin, the only testimony of how the Korean kid, formerly known as Yung Ucheol, was brought to Colombia came from Gallon himself, in a 1964 interview with local newspaper, El Espectador.
Gallon said: “I always kept quiet about a little Korean boy that, with the support of my comrades, I brought back to Colombia. During my daily rounds, I would pass by a place where they dumped the trash and useless things. One day, I noticed footprints in the snow, and the matter caught my attention. There, huddled together, were seven children.”
Gallon then realized that many of the discarded items were in their possession. Later, he learned that they got their food and clothing from there. Of all the little Koreans, I was drawn to one who was the most “clever.” Since he was unable to understand them, Gallon then decided to return to the camp and look for someone who could act as an interpreter.
“The Korean I brought back knew Spanish, and that helped a lot. He spoke with the children, and right then and there, I decided to take Yung Ucheol to the front line,” said Gallon. At the time, the child was 7 years old. In the months that followed, Gallon began to teach him Spanish.
After learning a few Spanish words, the kid said to Gallon, ‘Papasan, I want to go to Colombia’
In the interview with El Espectador, soldier Gallon revealed that a few months after Yung Ucheol went with him to the front lines, and he learned more Spanish, the child one day looked at him and said, “Papasan, I want to go to Colombia.” At the time, asking for permission to bring him to Colombia was very difficult. He determined it was pointless. So instead, Gallon made his decision to smuggle him into Colombia.
After he came to Colombia, Yung Ucheol’s name changed to Carlos Arturo Gallon. This story also knew its fair share of controversy, as many question whether the child was smuggled into Colombia against his will.
Sanin, who for his book interviewed many of the members of Batallon Colombia, has said that “The soldiers’ account is that yes, the boy was in favor of leaving. They offered it to him when the armistice was signed, but the level of consent is complicated, considering he was a minor whose exact age was unknown, malnourished, undocumented, and had no idea what Colombia was or what he was getting into.”
From the Korean War to the war in Colombia
Like many of the soldiers from Batallon Colombia, Aureliano Gallon found himself in the middle of another war, but this time it was on his home soil. During this time, Colombia’s army fought against leftist guerrillas in the country.
Carlos Arturo, much like his adoptive father, also had a military career. He worked for Colombia’s Ministry of Defense archive, and married a Colombian woman from Boyaca. The pair had two kids. The love story, however, ended when his wife left him for the local butcher, taking one of his children with her.
His son, Yung, ended up being the reason why Carlos Arturo would end up flying back to Korea. He was able to set up a meeting between his father and Korean television, which wanted to make a documentary on his incredible story. Despite Carlos Arturo’s initial hesitation and reluctance, he ended up agreeing to fly to Korea, where he would, incredibly, reunite with one of his sisters 50 years after the war. Carlos Arturo Gallon died in Colombia in 2013, and the story of the Korean boy who was saved by a Colombian soldier during the war is largely preserved thanks to his adoptive son, Yung or Carlos Arturo.