The Unforgotton War: Dust of the Streets

by Thomas Park Clement

Autobiography of a half and half Korean boy born in the middle of the Korean War found at age 5 on the streets of Seoul, post war, adopted into the U.S. who eventually grew up to be a medical device inventor with over two dozen U.S. medical patents.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adoption

139 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you need a break from books about parenting adopted children you would do well to read a book by an adoptee. Thomas Park Clement's The Unforgotten War (Dust of the Streets) is an excellent introduction to the adoptee experience. He answers the big question that I have been reluctant to ask my own adopted children, specifically, "What is like to be adopted?". (It isn't always necessary or appropriate to ask that question because the answer is evident at various stages in their lives. Sometimes they will answer in no uncertain terms without your even asking!) While I read this book looking for guidance as an adoptive parent, it became clear that it is really intended for adoptees to read. Park Clement provides encouragement and hope, as well as advice for adoptees struggling with identity and family. He does offer guidance for adoptive parents; I was relieved to read that my wife and I had already done everything he suggests.

[David Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the longer, updated edition published in 2012. Full title is "Dust of the Streets: The Journey of a Biracial Orphan of the Korean War." I received the book from Thomas Park Clement, whom I met recently and very much enjoyed speaking to, along with Wonsook Kim.

The book is Clement's life, or at least some of the lowlights and highlights. Born of a Korean mother and an American soldier he never met, Clement was shunned by fellow Koreans because he was biracial. After being abandoned, then living on the streets of Seoul for many years, he is adopted by a comfortable American family and raised in western Massachusetts and Indiana. Throughout the book he reveals the strains of poverty in Korea, then the strains of middle class life in the US, where he also is discriminated against because he is Asian.

Somehow he manages to get through school, lead house construction crews for several years, and bounce between majors in community college and then university. Throughout his life he invents. He seems to have a knack for it, whether from an innate inventive intelligence or one nurtured by the necessities of his difficult early life. Eventually he becomes a successful medical device inventor and CEO of his own company.

But he doesn't stop with success. He becomes a philanthropist, actively aiding Korean orphans and the poverty stricken. He works to provide medical supplies to hospitals and doctors in North Korea, traveling there many times to train and to supply.

The book is simply written. It provides a fascinating look into the life of a man who started out as an abandoned biracial child, survives discrimination both in Korea and the US, yet always strives forward into success. The book is both interesting and inspiring.

[J J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brave and extremely rare account of someone who goes from war to the streets to great heights, and then tells his story with both confidence and vulnerability for the good of others.

This book, particularly the first portion of it, was extremely helpful in trying to understand the things that my father went through as a street child of the Korean War era...things that I never thought to ask more about and am now trying to document and immortalize, also for the good of others.

Thank you, Thomas Park Clement, for existing, and for telling your story your way.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! It’s a moving true story of a biracial young child from Korea. He talks of what he remembers from Korea and his fortunate adoption by an American family. Growing up, education, jobs and friends. He becomes very successful but not always an easy path. Highly recommend.

[mike m · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid book, rather light. Author keeps everything very much on the surface, which is perhaps how he processed things, but i would've liked more insight into how things were affecting him, even though that could have felt too speculative. He delves into it only in the postscript.

[Matthew Korsmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed it!! Great book. Got to read it.