American “Halmoni” Honored

From the Stars and Stripes:

Harriet Hodges has a lot of heart — at least 3,017, not counting her own.

It started in the early 1970s when Hodges learned the daughter of the chef at the former golf course on Yongsan Garrison couldn’t get proper treatment here for a heart problem.

By the time she left South Korea in the mid-1990s, Hodges had convinced major air carriers to give up seats, local nurses to serve as translators and escorts, and American cardiologists to book operating rooms for free — all for South Korean children who had little access to specialized health care here.

Last week, Hodges returned to Seoul for a visit, including reunions with the families of the children she helped. Many of them now have families and children of their own. On Oct. 22, Korean families from Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Seoul and other cities gathered to honor her.

“They said, ‘Look at what you have done,’ ” she recalled Thursday morning over coffee at the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan. “They all call me Halmonie” — the Korean word for grandmother.

She also received an award this week from Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, for her contributions during the past three decades.