The USS Taylor was in the 7th Fleet. One day we were ordered to go look for a plane that went down in the Sea of Japan. The reason we were sent is because we were the fastest ship in the fleet. We were not able to locate the plane or pilot. On the way back to the fleet we spotted a san-pan floating in the water with 5 North Korean kids in it. They told us their village was attacked and their entire families were wiped out and they were fleeing North Korea. They went to a Christian school that gave them Korean Bibles and taught them about Christianity.

They got in this small boat and went fishing for food. While they were out a storm came and blew them further out to sea. We found them after 5 days at sea. The only possessions they had with them were their Bibles. We took them aboard and gave them showers, then offered them food in the chow hall. Before they would eat they blessed the food. It was astonishing they would pause to do the blessing when they hadn’t ate in 5 days. Don’t remember how long they stayed with us, about one to two weeks. Then the U.S. government made us give them back to North Korea. It was a sad day for all of us. Kids and sailors alike cried as we placed them in the Bosun’s chair and lifted them to a bigger boat where they were handed back.

I always wondered what happened to those kids. The official Navy photo has Batterton with one of the boys in his arms (see the official article).