Lost love

Charles Finucane needs your help. Once upon a time in 1966 he was engaged to marry Han Kwang-soo. At the time Charles was in the US Army and stationed in South Korea. Today Mr. Finucane is asking for help in locating Ms. Han. He is even offering a $5,000 reward.

A sweet story, though the cynic in me based on my own military experience in Asia leaves me with these two points to make.

1- Why didn't Mr. Finucane fly back to Seoul after his service in the ROK was abruptly ended? Lost Nomad asks the same

2- I've seen or heard of other women stood up by their US servicmen boyfriends or husbands. Based on that experience, the sick father at the last minute story is a little fake sounding.

That's just my two bits. Good luck Charles.

Hat tip- Marmot's Hole where Robert calls this story dumb but touching.

has this guy bothered to consider the consequences of telling the world—including possibly her husband and kids—that she used to date a foreigner, and include her name, photo and last-known address to boot!

Or that Ms. Han may also resent being left at the alter 41 years ago.

Linked to- Blue Star, Cao, Jo, Morewhat, Samantha Burns,

In 1966, then-23-year-old U.S. soldier Charles Finucane found love in Korea. His beloved Han Kwang-soo, then 20, worked at a local food market in the village of Unchon-ni in Pocheon city, northeast of Seoul, which was adjacent to U.S. military base Camp Kaiser. The two planned to marry.



Everything looked just too good. They were deeply in love and had the blessing from their parents. As Finucane's tour of duty was nearing an end, she was planning to follow him to the United States and marry him there.

Then, a mischievous fate struck a cruel blow.

The very morning Han left for Seoul to get the paperwork for their marriage, Finucane was told by his commander that his father in the United States was in hospital in critical condition. In less than four hours, he was airborne on his way back to the United States.

Back in America, his tour of duty was over and he was told that even if he reenlisted, he was most likely to be sent to Vietnam, where a war was escalating, not back to Korea. For some time, the couple managed to keep the romance alive through letters.

"Over time I suspect something happened as the letters stopped coming and mine were returned so I lost track of her," Finucane said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Herald.

Since then he had carried on with his life in the United States, keeping to himself the memories of her and those unforgettable days in her country.

He built his own automotive business, repairing and reselling starters, alternators and radiators. He has retired in 2003.

He had married twice and has a son from the first marriage, which lasted 14 years. His second marriage ended with his wife's death.

So, why the search for Han now?

"In 2001, I woke out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night to an ominous foreboding feeling that something had happened to her, like she had died," he explained. "I had always thought of her since I left Korea but this was very disturbing and I determined to find her once again."

It was not that he did not make efforts to find her before the dream.

He went to the Korean Embassy in the United States, but no one there would give him any help. He has done bulk mailings, had an internet page, ran ads in the Korean community papers in the United States. He also regularly went to the Korean-American society of Cleveland, Ohio where he lives to solicit help.

"I have gotten my hopes up so many times only to see them fail and I must tell you I will continue to try because I don't want to die without seeing her or talking to her," he said.

"To this point I have gotten no tangible results other than unflinching support and empathy from friends" - many of them Koreans.

This time around, Finucane is trying a new tactic. He is offering a $5,000 reward to the person who can help him - legitimately - to reunite with his former fiancee.

The day they were separated, they were about to marry. If he finds her and the circumstances permit, he said, he would conduct what they were planning to do - a marriage.

Finucane can be reached at crusty1@alltel.net, or 440-298-3265, USA, by phone.


Han's last known address:

Miss Han Kwang-soo

c/o Lee Chil-soon

3 Ri, 12-ban

Unchon-ni, Yongbuk-myeon

Pocheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province