Asturian-American Migration Forum

Corsino ayer me acordé de Uds. porqué en el canal de televisión Discovery dieron un reportaje de los niños evacuados a distintas ciudades de Europa y entre ellas eran a Rusia,Inglaterra y Mejico, qué tristeza me dió ver aquellas imagenes de los niños despidiendose de sús padres,aunque algunos volvieron, otros sé quedaron en sus paises de acojida.

Jomaguca

Well, as you may know, 40 of us were brought to the U.S. in two boats in 1942.
We have been trying to locate where they are now. We've found about 20 still in the U.S. It's possible that some of the rest may have returned to live in Spain, but of the 20 we've found, most have visited Spain to find/see relatives.

Since we were born in different parts of Spain, and were in different parts of France, we are compiling our stories into a small booklet so that we may know each other's experiences.

Corsino.

A little more progress.
In our search for the missing refugees, we have been able to locate two more: The sisters Josefa (Pepa) and Encarnacion Rios., who now live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In the search for relatives of the three Diaz brothers, Argimiro, Benjamin, and Luis in Sama, a sister of one of our group (Luis Galan ) lives in Pineres and is planning on going to Sama to see if she can find out anything.
Too bad that there are so many people named Diaz in Langreo. Actually, I would think that the local La Nueva Espana reporter might be interested in writing an article in the paper and it might be noticed by the correct Diaz family. There can't be that many Diaz families that had three boys leave as refugees.

Corsino.

Corsino, it sounds as though there's been a shift in your thinking. In the beginning you seemed to think that you'd be lucky to find a few of the other "children." Now reconnecting with (or at least finding out about) each of your friends seems possible! I'm both impressed by your perseverance and huge success. Saludos!

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Corsino, me parece como si hubiera un cambio en su pensamiento. Al principio pareciste pensar que tendrías suerte para encontrar unos pocos de los otros "niños". ¡Ahora conectando de nuevo con sus amigos (o al menos averiguando sobre sus historias) parece posible! Soy impresionado por tu perseverancia y por tu éxito tan enorme. ¡Saludos!

Art -

Well, it's true that in the beginning, Donna Sweeney was more optimistic than I was. But as long as there are some missing "children", I won't give up. It just takes longer and longer to find new ones. But I'm still young.

Corsino.

Corsino, like Art says, it's amazing what you've achieved so far and how scepticism has turned to optimism. It's great that you have someone looking around in Sama.

In addition to my suggestion about going to the Savings & Loan branch (Caja de Ahorros de Asturias) which pays out all retirement pensions, you could check the social club for senior citizens, as they are likely to remember who were the kids that were exiled:

Centro Social de Personas Mayores
Calle Dorado 11
33900 Sama de Langreo
Tel.& Fax number: 34-985-680116

Luckily, Argimiro and Bejamín are not very common names and the moment you mention them together with Luis, those who know them will identify them immediately.

Another good place to ask is at the miners' union SOMA-UGT, which organized the evacuation of the children back then. I don't know if 40 years of Franco regime left them any archives, though I doubt it, because everything was confiscated and the labour unions dissolved and banned.

SOMA-UGT
Plaza de la Salve 14
33900 Sama de Langreo
Tel. 34-985-678771

If there's anything I can do, let me know.

Teresa

Thanks Terechu,

I e-mailed those suggestions and addreses to Luis Galan so that he may pass them on to his sister in Pineres. If for some reason she can't go to Sama, then I may try writing them a letter.

I also suggested that she obtain their birth certificates in Sama, and find their mother's name, to narrow the search down.

Corsino.

Some time ago Carlos, of this forum, provided an e-mail address of an Evilio Palacio of La Nueva Espana.
As an additional try in our search for the Diaz brothers, I have e-mailed La Nueva Espana to see if they would be interested in publishing an article, in the hope that a Diaz in Sama would read it.
We'll see if LNE responds................

Corsino.

Well, we have definitely located one more:

Antonio Ruiz, brother of Juan and Jose Ruiz, in Wallingford, Connecticut. Even his brothers had lost track of him.

That leaves 18 out of the 40 still "missing".

I did send an e-mail to La Nueva Espana, but no answer from them.

Corsino.

La Nueva Espana...

For those in Asturias that may be interested in reading it, Saul Fernandez, the reporter for La Nueva Espana, e-mailed me to say that the article about our refugee group is in today's LNE Sunday newspaper.


He wanted so much information, that I have no idea what he actually wrote, but he's going to mail me a copy.

Corsino.

Corsino, I've been trying to find the article online, but it must be in the Culture section of LNE and it's not available today.
So please, if and when you get your email copy, I would love to have a look at it.

Cheers
Terechu

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Corsino, he estado buscando el artículo en Internet, pero debe de estar en la sección de cultura de LNE y hoy no está disponible.
Así que, por favor, cuando recibas tu copia por correo electrónico, me encantaría echarle un vistazo.

Terechu,

I doubt that he'll e-mail me a copy. He asked for my regular mail address, so he'll probably send it by regular mail.

But if he does e-mail it, I'll forward it.

Corsino.

Hi, Corsino

I have seeing the article in La Nueva España, because this is my preferred asturian newspaper (and the one that reaches the main difussion in the whole Asturias). It is placed in the Sunday special pages, in a central separata.

Saul Fernández tells all your history to full page, in two pages, with your current photography and both ancient photos of you with other children, in France and in New York. Also he speaks about your book and about www.asturianus.org. Your relatives in Asturias appear in the text. And finally, also there is in an out-standing frame the complete list of all the persons whom you managed to locate and different those for whom you look still.

Since LNE is the most well-read newspaper in Asturias, it is possible that someone who knows who were these persons or are known by them personally, relatives or friends, they end up by reading the article, and probably contact you or the newspaper. Sincerely, a magnificent work on the part of Saul Fernandez and a very generous effort on the part of La Nueva España.

Regards.

Thanks Carlos, for telling me about the article.

I'm glad that it lists the people that we are still looking for. That was the main information that I was hoping Saul would write about.

Corsino.

Corsino, en unos días recibirás la copia del artículo que escribí sobre tu peripecia y sobre aquellos a los que buscas, no te mando la copia por mail porque en www.lne.es el suplemento dominical no aparece y porque la que yo poseo difiere un poco respecto de la editada. Espero de verdad que estés conforme. Me gustaría que tuviera respuesta. Un saludo avilesino, Saúl Fernández