From the Miami Herald

Too many memories," sobbed a overwhelmed Ileana Manico on Friday. She was standing in the middle of 14th Street in Florida City trying to figure out exactly which apartment she had shared with other "Pedro Pan" kids.

Three bus loads of now aging Cuban exiles -- nearly 200 of them -- toured the camps that housed them between 1960 and 1962. Many had flown in for the gathering to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first refugee children escaping Fidel Castro's Communist regime.

The Catholic Church, U.S. Government, and Cuban families organized the flights that ferried the children out of Cuba. Between 1960 and 1962, when program ended, 14,000 Cuban kids made the trip, settling first in Miami before being sent to foster homes and orphanages in states far from South Florida.

Eventually, most were reunited with family -- but some never were.

It was painful," Mancio said, "but they gave us love and I am thankful for the United States and the Catholic Charities for taking us all in."

Mancio and her fellow former Pedro Pans came from across the United States and around the world for the reunion, some with Southern sccents.

"Married an American from Alabama," said one lady with a Spanish-accented drawl.

They studied black and white photos provided by organizers of the gathering. Standing in the street, they matched the photos to the building and remembered the exact apartments where they spent their first nights of freedom so far from their families.

"Lets go find the house," said Angelita Rodriguez. She and Maria Sanchez had not lost their sense of direction after fifty years. They quickly found Apartment #4 in a row of aging complexes along 14th Street. They approached the door. Took pictures, teared up a bit, and then along came Paul.

Paul lives in Apartment #4. He looked a little bewildered. HisCaribbean-accented English was not too good, but the women got their story across. Paul jumped at the door and ushered the ladies in. For both Angelita and Maria, it was a step back in time.

"It is so small, I lived upstairs, there were bunk beds," said the overwhelmed Pedro Pan Kids. "I lived here too," said another lady who walked in with husband in tow. He had spent his time in Camp Metecumbe near what is now the Tamiami Airport.

Paul the apartment dweller was thanked over and over again by the one-time residents. "This means so much to her," said one of the husbands.

Paul understood, and so did other residents of the neighborhood.

"I head that's why they call this part of town 'The Cuban Village,'" said a young woman peering out of her door.

The area now populated with African Americans and Caribbean immigrants. They had head stories about the Cuban kids that had come there so long ago, now they were meeting them face-to-face. One resident named Georgiana was enthralled

"It is so nice they can come back and share their memories with everybody." She and her buddies went into the street and started checking out the old photos, matching them with the neighborhood they knew so well, and then giving directions to some of the visitors who weren't sure about where they had stayed so long ago.

It was a wonderful day in Florida City, memories basking the group like the warm Florida sun. Lots of pictures, lots of laughs and more than a few tears, the Pedro Pan kids were back.