Maj. James S. LiCalzi, an explosive ordnance disposal officer with the 30th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squadron, sets up his reel-to-reel tape player as his wife Frances and daughter Pamela look on. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
This article first appeared in the Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, June 29, 1959. It is republished unedited in its original form.
A new community — American style, but with Korean overtones — is growing within the ancient walled city of Seoul.
It is the U.S. Korean Military Advisory Gp. (KMAG) housing compound at the Seoul Area Command.
Here, as fast as they arrive, American “settlers” — newly arrived KMAG dependent families — are busy getting up housekeeping in 88 modern, Western-looking, tile-roofed houses. American children play in the yards, and late model American automobiles are parked outside the houses on broad, paved streets. Nearby is a recently constructed school for dependent children.
The families started getting settled in June, one of the first to arrive being that of Maj. James S. LiCalzi, explosive ordnance disposal officer, 30th Ordnance Bomb Disposal. Maj. LiCalzi, who started his tour of duty in Korea late in 1958, was joined by his wife Frances and three children, Alan, 12, Pamela, 10, and James Jr., 7.
Pamela LiCalzi, 10, and Frances LiCalzi, the daughter and wife of Maj. James S. LiCalzi, an explosive ordnance disposal officer with the 30th Ordnance Bomb Disposal, do the dishes at home. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
Pamela LiCalzi plays with her hoop on the sidewalk outside of her family home in the new U.S. Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) housing compound . (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
Frances LiCalzi, wife of Maj. James S. LiCalzi, stands in front of a painting of the New York skyline which she hung in the family's combination dining and living room of her new home to stave off homesickness. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
Mrs. LiCalzi and the children started their trip to Korea from Bristol, England, crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth and traveled the rest of the way by air.
“It was a wonderful trip,” she said, pausing as she packed away some family linens. “Good weather all the way.”
“Our new home out here,” she added, “is well planned and I feel that we shall be really happy. The boys have already made friends. You may have noticed – they’ve disappeared.”
Meanwhile, Pamela was busy whirling a hoop in the front yard. Ma. LiCalzi was making adjustments on his tape recording machine.
Their home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and a large combination dining and living room with fireplace. Concrete block constructions, besides making the house sturdy, helps keep the place cool in the summertime.
Russel (Russ) Plaskow (right), 10, son of Lt. Col. Eli P. Plaskow, his dog Moxie and his friend Dick Dillor play on the lawn outside of the Plaskow residence. Lt. Col. Plaskow and his family recently moved into the KMAG compound in Seoul, and Moxie, a dachshund, has the distinction of being the first dependent dog to have arrived in Korea. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
One of the 88 houses in the new U.S. Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) housing compound at the Seoul Area Command. The compound was designed to look like an American suburb with broad paved streets and lush lawns. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
Meanwhile, a short distance away, the newly arrived family of Lt. Col. Eli P. Plaskow, programming supplies officer, was getting settled in a similar house. Mrs. Plaskow, of Philadelphia, had arrived by air the previous day. With her came her son russell, 10, and Moxie, the family dachshund. Moxie has the distinction of being the first KMAG dependent dog to arrive in Korea.
“I like our house,” said Mrs. Plaskow, “and we have already had a look at Seoul. I expect we will like it here very much.”
Maj. Joseph H. Anderson, KMAG dependent affairs officer, said 206 new houses have been made available for KMAG dependents, 88 o the total being in Seoul, 80 in Taegu and 38 in Pusan.
Additional homes are available for Provisional Military Advisory Groups and MAG elements of the U.S. Air Force and Navy.
