Vet Who Searched For Nearly Half A Century Is Finally Reunited With His Kids

Dec 04, 2021 by apost team

An army veteran named Allen Thomas was forced to leave his family in South Korea after his wife and adopted son were unable to go with him when his deployment ended. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Thomas completely lost contact with his wife and their twins, James and Sandia.

When Thomas enlisted in the army he was 18, and soon after living in South Korea, he fell in love and got married to a woman named Pae Seong-Kuem, who is also called Connie. After marrying, Thomas adopted Connie’s son from a previous relationship, a boy named Jae-Im. Not long after meeting, Connie became pregnant, and twins James and Sandia, who are also called Jamie and Sandra, were born on Sept. 10, 1967, when Thomas was just 20-years-old. 

When his tour in South Korea was over in 1969, Thomas was forced to leave his family behind due to issues with securing passports for Connie and Jae-Im. While living in the US, Thomas regularly wrote letters to his family and sent money as well. A year went by before he was able to get a 30-day leave and go visit his family. By then, the relationship between him and Connie had disintegrated. When his leave was over and he had to return, Thomas would not see his children again for over 40 years. 

Thomas still sent letters and money after he got back to work, but eventually they were returned to sender, and the father lost contact with his family completely. Years went by, and he heard nothing, so in 1973 he filed for divorce in absentia. Read on to learn the rest of the story of how this family was finally reunited in 2015.

In 1974, Connie finally contacted Thomas and said he could take the twins home if he was able to fly to Korea and get them. "At that time, I had just gone through bankruptcy. It was really hard, and there was just no way I could get over there," Thomas said.

Two years later, Thomas got remarried to a woman named Polly Paquin, who already had two children. He adopted her kids, one of whom is Charlene Roberts. 

Speaking about the twins, Roberts told “20/20,” "It was like they were always part of the family. It was never a secret. We always knew about them and wondered about them. Their birthday would come along and dad would talk about, 'Well it's their birthday.'"

When Thomas couldn’t go get his children, they were adopted by an American family. "I was caught between two worlds. They were adopted under Korean law. Now all of a sudden they got the American law. Well okay, where are my rights? I was told I had no rights," Thomas said.

More time went by, and eventually in 2015, Thomas made a Facebook group to help in the search. The post he made went viral, and soon the story got the attention of the media, and “20/20” reached out to help investigate. They were able to find the twins after laboriously searching.  

"I just want to see my kids and know that they are okay. I want to let them know I love them. I want to share our family health history with them because some of it is serious. I want them to know that I have never stopped trying to get them,” Thomas shared prior to their reunion.

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According to ABC, there was a huge challenge in terms of the legality around Thomas's rights to the children due to adoption law. Thomas told ABC:

"I was caught between two worlds. They were adopted under Korean law. Now all of a sudden they got the American law. Well okay, where are my rights? I was told I had no rights."

However, after Thomas finally got to call his two long-lost children, the calls were full of emotions and tears. The twins themselves hadn't spoken to each other in 12 years when Thomas called, so their father was rightfully nervous about the reunion. However, the reunion went better than Thomas could have ever thought. Thomas said:

"It was like they were always part of the family. It was never a secret. We always knew about them and wondered about them."

One of the twins, Tim, was simply relieved to find out his father was alive as he told talked on the phone with Thomas:

"I just can’t believe this is my actual father. I’m just very happy that you found me, and I’m happy I’m talking to you."

According to ABC, Thomas replied:

"You've always had a father. We never forgot you. You've always been a member of this family. You didn't know it but you always have been and always will be." 

When Thomas called Tim's sister Sandra separately, he said:

"I've been looking for you for quite a while."

When they all finally met in person, Tim said:

"I just can't believe you're my actual father. I'm standing right here looking at you. You don’t know what I'm feeling—I'm going through right now."

To which Thomas simply replied:

"I've been looking for a long time." 

Thomas was finally able to see his children again after 41 years. What do you think of this moving reunion? Let us know, and feel free to pass this along to your loved ones.