Under the title heading of "United Nations Prisoners" the story is a joint tale including the final separation, which took place in April and May of 1952. After the separation, the stories of their life are given separately to permit the reader to compare more adequately the differences in their reactions under exactly identical circumstances.
What I relate took place while I was for more than two years an officer of the American Army in Korea. I worked with Chinese prisoners at the front lines at the point of capture; I assisted in the program of separation of Communist and anti-Communist prisoners and I lived both at Koje and Cheju islands with inmates of both camps for several months. I ate their food, administered to their needs and had full opportunity to observe their activities and their respective ways of life.
It is this story that I wish to tell honestly without distortion and sensationalism.
United Nations Prisoners
The time was April, 1951; the location near the 38th parallel just south of the Huachon reservoir. The combined forces of the so-called Chinese Peoples' Volunteer Army and the North Korean Communist Army began a desperate offensive against established United Nations positions.
The United Nations' forces retreated to the banks of the Han River to permit the strength of the attack to wear itself out, at the same time reducing losses of personnel and equipment to a minimum. In May, the United Nations counter-offensive began.
The constant bombardment of artillery and air attacks broke the courage of the much vaunted Communist 60th Army. When the counter-attack sped up, the entire 180th Division was devastated, broken into pockets and either captured or destroyed. United Nations advance prison collecting points were jammed with thousands of surrendering troops of the 60th Army and elements of other units.
On Koje Island no attempt was made by United Nations personnel to separate Communist and anti-Communist elements. The Geneva Convention made no provision for the separation of prisoners of war except for officers and where it is to the best interest of the prisoners. A certain group of die-hard Communists were gradually separated into a small inclosure, not because of political belief but because of their uncooperative attitude, continual strikes and trouble making in general. The balance of the Chinese prisoners were divided between two large inclosures.
It was soon seen that a great majority of the prisoners were anti-Communist. As no attempt at political indoctrination was made by United Nations forces, the anti-Communist sentiment was a spontaneous sentiment of the prisoners themselves. A program of general education of standard school subjects of a non-political nature was established by the Civilian Information and Education Department, utilizing civilian teachers recruited from Taiwan, Hongkong and America. The program and additional programs of technical training were welcomed by the anti-Communist prisoners.
Anti-Red POW's
The anti-Communist movement was headed by a courageous young man from Shantung province, Wang Shun-ching. Because of his obvious leadership, he was elected to be representative of the Chinese prisoners to treat with the camp commander. He steadfastly broke up Communist group meetings and brainwashing groups. He set up a protective police system to prevent marauding groups of Communist night-prowlers from continuing their murderous activities. He gained the loyalty, respect and devotion of the majority of the prisoners.
By free, honest and democratic administration, he gave the prisoners full opportunity to develop themselves, free from any fear of intimidation or reprisal by the Communists.
The leadership of the Communists was collective in nature. The most vicious was a well educated, murderous Shanghai degenerate of numerous names of which he used more frequently Lieu and Hsien. He was heartless and was later indicted for his part in the plot to kidnap General Dodd. Probably the most active Communist brain was one Wang Fang whose real name was Chou. He had been a political commissar of the 180th Division and a special advisor on the political staff of the Communist 60th Army. His special assistant was an ex-battalion commander, a brutal man named Whai Lin.
After innumerable requests from the anti-Communist elements of the camp, it was decided by the United Nations authorities to provide a democratic and fair opportunity of declaration for all prisoners. This was to be done in line with the policy that no prisoner of war would be forcibly repatriated against his will.
The prisoners were notified in advance of the forthcoming separation. Several particularly brutal murders of anti-Communist prisoners took place, with no means of establishing the identity of the murders. Vigilent guards of the anti-Communist prisoners prevented further murders and the ensuing struggles resulted in the death of some of the Communists. The murderous nature of the Communists in the last days before the separation was undoubtedly responsible for some of the younger prisoners being coerced into declaring themselves Communist against their real convictions.
On the day of the first interrogation, the prisoners were lined up in roster order of prisoner number. They were instructed to carry with them all of their belongings and personal effects. Tents were prepared, divided into separate and private compartments. Prisoners were led one at a time into the compartments where they were interrogated. In refutation of Communist charges of intimidation within the tents, it may now be revealed that, in general, the following is the tenor of the questioning.
First the prisoner was asked, "Do you want to return to the Chinese mainland?"
If he replied in the affirmative he was immediately led outside and placed in an area assigned to Communists. If he refused, the following questions and statements were made:
"Do you fully understand the nature of your decision?"
"Do you realize that you may be placing your family in danger of retaliation by your refusal to return to the mainland?"
"You may never be able to return to your home or your people."
"There is no guarantee that you will be able to go to Taiwan."
"Do you realize that the other prisoners may be released long before you?"
"Are you finally determined to refuse repatriation to the Chinese mainland?"
If the answers and statements to the above indicated without doubt that the prisoner was anti-Communist, he was permitted to join his fellow prisoners in the anti-Communist group. By a study of the above questions, it may be easily seen that a prisoner must have most definitely made up his mind before he was considered to have refused repatriation. No possible misunderstanding of his intent could exist.
Day after day the questioning continued until almost twenty thousand prisoners had been questioned. When the results were counted, it was found that more than three-fourths had declared themselves anti-Communist. This may be considered an everlasting monument to the courage of Chinese manhood, a lesson in true democratic response to the desire to strike the shackles of Communist slavery.
After separation, the 14,500 loyal Chinese were transferred to a camp in Cheju island, the largest island near the Korean coast. Here they built a camp, near the village of Mosulpo on the southeast side of the island.
While the Communist group was waiting for transfer to Cheju islaned where their camp was also o be built, they were very quiet. They participated in the capture of General Dodd, but their art in the riots was not preponderant. Within the inclosure they were busy organizing their forces and conducting Peoples' Courts on certain unlucky individuals believed guilty of "counter-evolutionary" thoughts.
Some errors may have been made in the process of separation. There is some cause to believe that this was due to certain circumstances relating to the interrogations.
Briefly these may be listed:
1. Fear and intimidation of Communist terror on the very young and timid.
2. Homosexual friendships existing between some Communists and other young prisoners causing the young men to change their faith.
3. Possible misunderstanding due to dialects spoken between the prisoner and the interpreter resulting in erroneous classification.
4. Emotional excitement causing the, prisoner to become confused and give the wrong answer. Many among the Communist sympathisers changed their mind soon after separation and tried to escape. Those who failed to make good their escape and were retaken by Communist guards suffered horribly. Escaping prisoners who talked to me told me ghastly stories of punishment, beating and unbelievable cruelty. However, the following is an example of one of the worst, related by an eyewitness who is presently with the anti-Communist group.
While attempting to escape at night over the wires of the compound fence, the prisoner was captured by Communist prisoner-sentries. The boy, only seventeen, admitted under questioning by the Communists that he was an anti-Communist and had given the wrong answer to the interrogator because of being excited. The Communists assembled a group to form a Peoples' Court. His case was discussed in the usual routine manner and he was found guilty and sentenced to death. They assigned the execution to four young boys who had committed their first murders for Communism before entering middle school. Though hardened criminals, they had not yet reached the age of twenty. It was also decreed that a group of other prisoners, listed as being of "doubtful" loyalty, should watch the execution as an object lesson.
The unfortunate youth was tied hand and foot, and a cloth gag was stuffed in his mouth. Thus he was unable to move or cry aloud. With pointed knives they first removed the victims' finger and toe nails, than with rocks they crushed the exposed flesh and bone to pulp. After a short rest period, they sliced his genitals for a period of more than two hours. When he became unconscious they revived him with cold water. They then removed his fingers and toes, one joint at a time. When he fainted from loss of blood, they permitted him to rest a short time and again revived him with water. He was picked up and a sharpened iron rod was forced up his anus for about eight to ten inches. After his death, they dismembered his body, cutting the flesh into small pieces, crushing the skull and other large bones into bits with a large rock. The portions of the body were gathered up and disposed of among the various latrine cans which were emptied daily by a sanitation squad into the ocean.
The Communist POW's Camp
It is a beautiful summer morning on Cheju Island off the southwest coast of Korea. In the center of the island Halla Mountain rises to a majestic height. Located near Cheju City on the northwest part of the island is the United Nations Prisoner of War Camp 3-A. Within this camp are confined more than five thousand Communist prisoners of war.
The joys and beauties of the morning are lost on the sullen inmates. Most of them had spent the night in political indoctrination meetings, and now with little or no rest are preparing themselves for breakfast. There is little or no sound other than the broken strains of one of the Communist songs.
The prison diet, set up by the United Nations Commission, is adequate for persons doing moderate work, and especially designed for the prisoners concerned. The following is the list of daily rations per man: Rice or flour 1.4 lbs; fish, .4 lb or meat .08 lb (approximately 8 cans of beef per 100 men); fresh vegetables .6 lb; dried beans or peas .2 lb; and all the following spices: pepper mash .02 lb, soy bean mash .04 lb, red pepper powder .01 lb, salt .027 lb and soy bean sauce .02 gallon; and 10 cigarettes.
A careful study of the ration will reveal the fact that it is considerably more than that enjoyed by the Chinese on the mainland today. The above diet was also supplemented by additional fresh vegetables for which seeds were furnished (which the Communists refused to grow), shell fish and crabs caught on the nearby seabeaches, and kelp and seaweed.
It was one of the declared policies of the Communist leaders that food should not be too well prepared. Thus rice, steam bread, meat dumplings and similar food items were always soggy and undercooked. The soup was a watery substance without body or flavor, made from a portion of the meat and vegetables. The canned meats were divided and a portion buried within the compounds for use during emergency hunger strikes and some fresh vegetables were destroyed. The prisoners must not be fed too well was the order, else they might become softened under such capitalistic treatment.
After breakfast, the daily work details are formed. Prisoner details were used for essential work in the camp which was to begin daily at eight o'clock. Careful, subversively-planned delays manage to sabotage an orderly beginning of the work day. By nine o'clock the work details are usually finally on their way. The balance of the prisoners in the various compounds, except for mess and sanitation details, are left to their own devices.
Political indoctrination continues throughout the day. Lookout sentries observe the arrival of United Nations personnel and warn the group leaders to break up discussion. Attendance at these meetings is enforced under threat of severe punishment.
During the morning, United Nations medical personnel conduct a dispensary for the sick prisoners. At this time almost every available person appears for treatment, and if possible, he goes through the line twice. The purpose, under direction of their leaders, is to waste as much United Nations medical supplies as possible. Most of the medicine issued is thrown into latrine buckets. However, it is the United Nations policy that all persons claiming to be sick must be treated.
The offer of the Civilian Information and Education Department to teach basic educational courses as well as conducting technical training has been refused by the prisoners. Although they permit some exercise and camp-furnished basket balls and other sports equipment, there is little real organization. Prisoners engaging in horseplay and who display too much laughter and happiness are quickly silenced by a visit from a stern-faced representative of the compound political council. It is not good Communist policy to show that prisoners could ever be happy under capitalist control.
Offenders against this strict policy of anti-happiness are called into the presence of their political superiors and given stiff lectures on proper party attitude. This also includes such prisoners who may have been observed working too diligently on labor detail, talking in a friendly manner to guards or interpreters or other similar acts which might be taken as against party policy.
Nearly every day one or more prisoner groups go on a strike against working conditions. They claim that they had being fed so poorly that they cannot work. The average work output for a prisoner digging in the ground is to move perhaps sixty pounds of dirt in six hours. Any attempt upon the part of work supervisors to increase the output is met by a sitdown strike.
Prisoners on strike were informed that they were not being punished, not being denied food or water or denied any right, but that a certain minimum amount of work was expected before they would return to their compound. In other words, work and earn the right to return to where food and water was waiting. Until they submitted to this demand they were held at the work site. Sometimes they stubbornly held out for as long as two days, but eventually common sense and hunger would force them to give in. Of course this met with a terrific loss of face, and they would complain loudly.
Anyone familiar with Communist practices will know their skill at twisting laws and regulations to meet their needs. The "righteous and legal rights of the Geneva Convention" and the "holy principles of international law" were daily prostituted by the Communist agitators. I will quote a few lines from various letters received from prisoner representatives in protest against normal rules of group life commonly observed in any institution such as no noise or disturbance after certain hours, and no group singing of Communist songs.
"We fight for our life and freedom and want to uphold the Geneva Convention."
"You have infringed on the Geneva Convention and the holy rights of man."
"You have given orders shamefully ignoring the holy public international law."
Any attempt to use the Geneva Convention in regard to conduct of prisoners was labeled capitalist excuse for persecution. To indicate further the true spirit of the Communist leaders, let me quote further a few lines from a secret communication intercepted between a superior political leader to his subordinate.
"You understand that we are behind the barbed wire. It is our marked responsibility to continue the revolution and repulse the American imperialists. If we lose one secret, our plans would break down, difficulties would be brought the management and might endanger even 2.86 (code number for their chief, Wang Fang)."
The above is a sample of the type of secret planning constantly going on. The strikes, revolts and murders were all parts of a careful scheme to embarrass the United Nations authorities.
At last the situation became so bad that it was found necessary to further segregate the worst of the ringleaders. They were removed to a separate inclosure and kept from further contact with the bulk of the prisoners.
Many schemes were afoot to kill me or other members of the camp authorities. Naturally, the ringleaders made sure that they could not be implicated in the plan, thereby avoiding any punishment for themselves. It is not the nature of Communist leaders to be brave; they prefer to live the way of sewer rats and run at the first sign of danger.
One plan to kill me was exposed by an anti-Communist who escaped from their hands. I found that his report was true, summoned American troops, searched the more than five hundred members of the compound and found twenty-two knives. After a long and confidential "chat" with each of the twenty-two, I convinced them that such practices were not tolerated as I considered their plan to kill me most unfriendly. I must have used "harsh" words because their dignity was so damaged that they had to spend some time in the hospital.
My knowledge of the means of their murder of prisoners in Koje Island prevented the same tricks being played on Cheju Island. Latrine cans were closely checked when emptied. However, further victims conveniently committed "suicide" leaving violent anti-American messages. Despite the fact that I knew certain of the prisoners were under suspicion of being anti-Communists and further, that they could not even sign their own name, I was powerless. How could it be possible to determine the actual guilty under the provisions of the Geneva Convention? Many of such alleged suicides, I was convinced, were murders, committed in such a manner that no legal sanction could be taken.
As I have pointed out, the political leaders among the prisoners were not noted for their personal bravery. Their records at time of capture at the front showed their surrender in the most abject and cowardly fashion. They continued the same practice in the camp.
On October 1 of 1952, they insisted on raising the Communist flag, despite repeated warnings that such an act would not be tolerated. When the troops appeared, the flags were lowered in nine compounds while one compound (the same one where the twenty-two knives had been found) stubbornly refused. I gave them two minutes to comply with the order. They shouted defiance and showered me with heavy stones. I shot two of them and ordered the troops to enter the compound. Because of their resistance it was necessary to shoot more than the two of them before order could be restored. I found the prisoners' representative and political commissars hiding in the last tent, safely behind a pile of stones. Not one had been injured.
One other outstanding fact of the Communist camp was the high number of homosexual cases. Communist doctrine teaches that moral values are decadent superstitions and that love affairs between boys and girls are just like a "drink of water." In the absence of girls, boys still had to drink Water. The confinement of large numbers of young boys with older men who teach such doctrines brought about an unusual high incidence of homosexuality. In each compound it was easy to tell the tent housing the political leaders, because this tent also contained the handsomest and sturdiest of the young boys. Many of them were openly brazen in their affairs with the young men they fancied.
Besides a few bewildered and confused young boys and men, these formed a group undesirable in any society. We find students with misguided minds for whom there can be no salvation—denying all normal affection and loyalty to parents, friends or brother for the sake of their new masters. The rest would be old line professional breeders of hatred—Communists of long standing.
The Anti-Communist POW's Camp
It is a beautiful, summer morning on Cheju Island off the southwest coast of Korea. In the center of the island, Halla Mountain rises to a majestic height. Located near the village of Mosulpo on the southeast shore of the island is the United Nations Prisoner of War Camp No.3. Within this camp are confined more than 14,500 anti-Communist, Chinese prisoners of war. They have just completed the morning reveille and have witnessed the raising of the flags of the Republic of China, the United States and the United Nations. The drum and bugle corps has marched proudly away, and all are ready to begin another day.
The diet list is ample. For each man per day, it provides the following: rice or flour 1.4 lbs; fish .4 lb or meat .08 lb (approximate 8 cans of beef per 100 men); fresh vegetable .6 lb; dried peas or beans .2 lb and all the following spices, pepper mash .02 lb, soy bean mash .04 lb, red pepper .01 lb, salt .027 lb and soy bean sauce .02 gallon. From this they can prepare three tasty meals each day. A ration of ten cigarettes is given every man. Of course, most of the young boys don't smoke so the heavier smokers may get extra cigarettes.
The food is supplemented by vegetable grown in a special garden area for each compound. There is always good natured competition between the compounds to see whose garden produces most of the best. Each compound contributes a share to the day's meal. As the rations are distributed each day there is no need to hoard. Every meal serves were cooked rice or noodles and a rich, well-flavoured soup. Sometimes, vegetables and a little meal are cooked separately to make a third dishes. Everyday details of men scour the beaches for shell-fish, seaweed and kelp and other produce of the sell. On special days they kill pigs, chickens, ducks or one of the cows raised by the prisoners.
Many of the young boys and men are employed in American mess-halls and kitchens as cooks, table waiters and other jobs. They of course eat their meals in the mess-halls and are supplied with candy, gum and cigarettes. Their rations go to improve the diet of the rest of the members of the same inclosure. Everyone is well-fed, round cheeked and happy. They know that most South Korean civilians do not eat nearly so well.
There are three large inclosures with ten compounds with an administrative area and an exercise area in each. The inclosures are located about a mile apart. A United Nations officer commands each inclosure with a number of soldiers to help him. Usually one soldier is responsible for each compound. Most of them enjoy happy relations with the prisoners and make many friends. It is usually very sad for the soldier and his prisoner friends alike when he must return to his own country.
Each inclosure is organized like an army regiment, with prisoner representatives performing the command functions. Regimental headquarters, battalion, company, platoon and squads are all set up. Two compounds make a battalion, with building in the compounds divided into companies, platoons and so on. Each unit has a unit commander who is responsible to his superior for the entire welfare and operation of his command. Like the army, some of the unit commanders were excellent while others proved not so capable and must be changed from time to time.
The regimental commander has a very responsible position. He is not authorized to give actual punishment, but he gives extra hard labor assignments. The commanders are fair and use their position only for enforcing necessary discipline. As each inclosure has about 5,000 men and boys, it is obviously no sinecure.
It has seldom been necessary for camp authorities to inflict severe punishment for offenses. Sometimes temptation becomes too great and some of the work detail pick up items in the warehouses and walk off with them. When caught they are brought before the United Nations inclosure commander, and usually sent to the prisoner jailor "monkey house" as it is jokingly called by the prisoners, for a week or ten days.
When they return to their houses, they are usually given additional hard labor assignment by the prisoner commander as extra punishment.
After breakfast, work details go out every day except Sundays. Some details go out during the night to unload ships bringing supplies. There is always excitement at detail time getting the prisoners organized into their proper groups. But everyone is cooperative and in a very few minutes they are all checked out.
They do not look like prisoners going out of the gate. Huge crowds laughing, joking and singing with the young men wrestling and boxing as they crowd through the gate. And they do not feel much like prisoners. Several hundred or even one or two thousand go out with the merest handful of guards who are present only because they are required by regulations. No prisoner ever escaped, nor do they want to.
On Sunday, usually the only details are houseboys, mess details for American mess-halls and the minimum required special details. The houseboys and mess boys do not mind because they usually see a movie, and there is always a soldier or officer around to help them learn English. Everyone carries a notebook, pencil or fountain pen and some kind of English schoolbook to his job—and they have time each day to study.
On weekdays and Sundays, the ones not on work detail have a large variety of things to do. An athletic field has been set up to rub track races, play basketball and other games. The Information and Education Programs for wood work, metal craft and similar skills operate shops and standard schools. The schoolboys battalion attends school as their major assignment every day. The theater group which produces regular presentations of Peiping opera and other plays usually gather each day to practise their coming programs. Still others are busy washing clothes or making items to be used in their houses.
In all the compounds, houses built of stone with metal roofs have been constructed as barracks. A long raised platform runs the full length of each side and about 100 men may sleep in each house. Each man is allotted a certain space and every four men pack their bedding and personal items into a single square bundle in a standard design. Extra clean clothing, cups, towels, toothbrushes and rice bowls are arranged in standard military pattern for inspection. Every morning, the company, platoon and squad commanders inspect the areas for proper arrangement, cleanliness and good order.
The houses themselves have been brightly decorated with famous patterns and designs, pictures and anti-Communist slogans. They are always clean, airy and cheerful. The entrance gates to the compounds are never locked and are elaborately decorated to form arches.
There is a dispensary in operation with medical personnel selected from prisoner-doctors on duty all clay for minor ailments. American medical personnel visits each house once daily for more serious cases. For anything really serious, an ambulance arrives promptly to transport the patient to the hospital. In this camp, only the really sick would report for sick call.
For every meal, each compound sends a detail of men with large cans to the central kitchen to pick up food. The food is prepared by the best representative cooks from each compound. At the compound the food is ladled into two large aluminum bowls, much larger than ordinary rice bowls, for each man. After he has finished eating, the bowls and chopsticks are washed in a can of boiling water provided for this purpose. This is necessary to control dysentery which can always appear when large numbers of men live together.
In the exercise area, along with the athletic field and the open air theatre, have been erected a Catholic Church, a Protestent Church and a Buddhist Temple. Ministers and priests of each faith in the service of the United Nations visit the inclosure daily and regular services are conducted in their respective halls of worship. All services are well attended; the men who had been denied this right on the mainland value all the more this opportunity to affirm their faiths. The Buddhist Temple is always crowded. The Buddhist priest is a Chinese from Shantung Province by the name of Lin. He always has funny stories to tell the young men. Whenever you hear loud guffaws, you may be sure that monk Lin is somewhere near, for he loves his work and the people he serves.
The theatre provides a great deal of entertainment for the men. Almost every night a presentation of Peiping opera, modern comedy or an anti-Communist play is in progress, to the delight of a large and appreciative audience. I have attended dozens of these presentations and always found them enjoyable. Some of the costumes would put professional theatre producers to shame with the extreme beauty of their workmanship.
The student battalions are extremely interesting. The young boys have been gathered into one compound. Many of the boys who are only fifteen or sixteen years of age, have been in camp for two or more years. With so many very young men together, you may be sure that the area becomes very noisy at times. The unit officers are mostly young men who have been school teachers, youth organizers or Boy Scout instructors and are familiar with handling boys and their problems. The chaplains pay special attention to these boys and give fatherly advice and many lectures on character guidance.
These boys attend classes of all grades on the primary or middle school level. Teachers qualified to teach have been found among the prisoners and they work with the Information and Education Program. Reading and writing of Chinese, English, mathematics, history, geography and other standard subjects are taught. Many of the boys have advanced rapidly and are hungry for the opportunity to learn. They are all busy preparing themselves for the time when they would return to Taiwan, hoping to continue their education.
None of the prisoners has wavered in their faith. Many of the prisoners are mentally disturbed, either as a result of war or their fears and repressions under the Communists. Understanding on the part of United Nations medical personnel and continued kindness on the part of their fellow prisoners have done a great deal to restore them to normal happy life. Many of the prisoners have spent many years under Communist control. The revelations of true democracy never failed to delight them. They state that they have more freedom in the prison camp than they ever knew at home under Communism. Their enthusiasm for the expected greater freedom of Taiwan is wonderful to behold.
So, from morning until night, their days are filled with work and play. There are all the joys and sorrows of any community and the sorrows are felt more keenly because these people live so closely together. Death visits them either through sickness or accident, as it will any community of more than 14,500 people. Then, a long funeral procession winds its way from the gates to the burial ground accompanied by military bands and soleme-faced guards of honor, ceremoniously escorting their late comrade to his final home.
I know this life, for I have lived with them for days at a time without returning to my own quarters. Walking at night, I would be drawn to some lonely corner by the muffled sobs of a lonely boy, no longer a soldier or playing grown man. And we talked together, sharing hopes and dreams for the future. Later, returning to the others, we would talk more bravely, hoping to impart our new-gained strength to them that they may better bear the long days of waiting—waiting for the new life in Free China, the new days of freedom in Taiwan.
We must give them a hero's welcome. They wear flaming badges of courage, tattooed on their bodies for all the world to see and burned into their hearts by their willingness to die for the cause of human liberty. They are our brothers pledged to defend the freedom of men. In the Shu Ching, it is written, "How can they be strangers? They are your brothers, and no others!"