Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [76]
It was now May 1, 1952 and the Chinese herded us onto the main road for the parade. We were all dressed in our new blue uniforms when they noticed the letters POW on the backs of our jackets—they were very upset. They lectured us about destroying clothes that Chinese people had made. When they began to assemble us into formation, except for a couple of guys, everyone in my squad sat down and refused to move. After getting us back in formation, we again sat down. Now they forgot about their “lenient treatment” and started pushing us around; they proceeded to tell us what would happen to us if we didn’t obey—still no one moved.
They began to scream, and pull each one of us to our feet. After getting some to their feet, others would set down. Finally, a Chinese officer who was in charge, called for more guards; now they brutally forced us to walk down the main streets—with kicks and shoves.
When the parade was over, they herded us together again lecturing us on their “lenient policy.” They went on to tell us we would be severely punished if we continued to act this way. The progressive who told on us was kept under guard, at the Chinese headquarters, for several days for his own protection. When he returned to our compound, he was badly beaten by members of our group. After this, it was rumored he was given a knife to protect himself.
We labored in the mountains, cutting timber. Then we had to carry the logs for miles down the mountains, with two and sometimes three-or-four guys to a log. The wood was used for fuel, to cook with, and by the Chinese.
Some of us, at the south end of camp, were often taken to a Korean farm where we had to grind grain. The farmer had an ox-powered mill, but no ox. Thereby, we had to take turns turning the grinder—round and round.
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During August 1952, Company Seven was broken up and several of us were transferred to Company Four, which was located at the north end of ChangSong. Daniel Yesko, Bill Carter, Bobby Gene Rains, along with several others were moved to another camp, further north.
While here everyone suffered from dysentery and beriberi. Also, there were cases of malaria, jaundice, and bone fever. Many men would just lie down and stare into space, refuse to eat, until they were found dead; it was easier to die, than live. One of our friends refused to eat, so we told him, “Just go ahead and die. We will help your wife spend your insurance money when we get out of here.” This made him mad, and he pulled out of it.
For a short period of time, in Camp One, we had a Chinese woman doctor, who was about thirty years old and spoke English. She helped several GI’s and British prisoners, then one day she disappeared from camp; no one ever knew what became of her. Instead of ending up in “boot hill,” outside of Camp One, a lot of men were able to return home because of her.
After our arrival, and until we were released, at Camp Four a few of us paraded around pretending to be playing imaginary instruments; or taking our imaginary dogs for a walk. One day a friend, Bob Blewitt, told one of the guards that my imaginary dog bit him on the leg. Not understanding a word that Bob was saying, he called for an English speaking officer. After the officer arrived, Bob explained to him that my dog bit him. The officer wanted to know what dog? Bob said, “There he is, can’t you see him?” Before the officer could answer, Bob yelled out, “Jack, don’t let your dog piss on him.” Quickly the officer grabbed his pant leg, and we broke up laughing. The Chinese soon informed us we could no longer have dogs in the compound. They thought all of us were crazy.
With winter coming we were issued a blue cotton padded jacket, pants, an overcoat, and a pair of padded tennis shoes. They were warm; however, we wore them all through the winter without ever washing them. Needless to say, when spring arrived they were so filthy and stunk so badly, we could hardly stand them.
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The Chinese were very skillful in their torturing