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"It was like they were always part of the family. However, the reunion went better than Thomas could have ever thought. The twins themselves hadn't spoken to each other in 12 years when Thomas called, so their father was rightfully nervous about the reunion.
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Army vet long lost twins full#
However, after Thomas finally got to call his two long-lost children, the calls were full of emotions and tears. Well okay, where are my rights? I was told I had no rights." Now all of a sudden they got the American law. I want them to know that I have never stopped trying to get them,” Thomas shared prior to their reunion.Īccording to ABC, there was a huge challenge in terms of the legality around Thomas's rights to the children due to adoption law. I want to share our family health history with them because some of it is serious. "I just want to see my kids and know that they are okay. They were able to find the twins after laboriously searching. The post he made went viral, and soon the story got the attention of the media, and “ 20/20” reached out to help investigate. More time went by, and eventually in 2015, Thomas made a Facebook group to help in the search. Well okay, where are my rights? I was told I had no rights," Thomas said.
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When Thomas couldn’t go get his children, they were adopted by an American family. Their birthday would come along and dad would talk about, 'Well it's their birthday.'" We always knew about them and wondered about them. Speaking about the twins, Roberts told “20/20,” "It was like they were always part of the family. He adopted her kids, one of whom is Charlene Roberts. Two years later, Thomas got remarried to a woman named Polly Paquin, who already had two children. It was really hard, and there was just no way I could get over there," Thomas said. "At that time, I had just gone through bankruptcy. 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. Read on to learn the rest of the story of how this family was finally reunited in 2015.īe sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video :-) Years went by, and he heard nothing, so in 1973 he filed for divorce in absentia. 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.
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When his leave was over and he had to return, Thomas would not see his children again for over 40 years. By then, the relationship between him and Connie had disintegrated. A year went by before he was able to get a 30-day leave and go visit his family. While living in the US, Thomas regularly wrote letters to his family and sent money as well. 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. 10, 1967, when Thomas was just 20-years-old. Not long after meeting, Connie became pregnant, and twins James and Sandia, who are also called Jamie and Sandra, were born on Sept. After marrying, Thomas adopted Connie’s son from a previous relationship, a boy named Jae-Im. 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.
Army vet long lost twins series#
Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Thomas completely lost contact with his wife and their twins, James and Sandia. 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.
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