ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 3036 29 January 1951
The following information was obtained from recovered American Military personnel, who were interrogated upon their arrival in JAPAN from KOREA, by Central Interrogation Center, ATIS. Interrogation was conducted by Lt FUSCO.
Source was captured by North Korean forces with 7 other Americans near YONCHON on 14 December 1950. Source was the squad leader and the other 7 were members of his squad. Reports have already been written on two members of this group, PFC MABIDA, WILLIAN F., RA 19291041 and PFC KIEC, EUGENE J., RA 12300000. (See ATIS Interrogation Reports No 2870 and 2938). Their experiences were much the same throughout their capture and release. Because he was born in Montreal, Canada of French parentage and was not yet an American citizen although fighting in the US Army, source was given a little more attention by the North Korean interpreter and political officer Major HAN.
He was interrogated alone by Major HAN for 2 hours in a separate room. He was not asked to sign any form although he was asked the same questions as the rest of his squad. Nothing was written. Source remembered clearly that the Major seemed to be bitter because he had once been refused permission to go to the UNITED STATES to study. From some of the questions he was asked, source believed Major HAN had never been to the UNITED STATES although he was very proud of the fact that he had travelled in FRANCE, GERMANY, CHINA and RUSSIA. Some of the questions asked were:
(1) How is a foreigner treated upon arrival in the UNITED STATES?
(2) Do the Americans really have freedom of opinion, speech and the press?
(3) How does one become a citizen of the UNITED STATES?
(4) Do the Canadians like the UNITED STATES?
(5) How was life in the UNITED STATES and CANADA?
(6) Why does the source like life in UNITED STATES better than that it CANADA?
(7) How did the source get into the US Army?
(8) How can one get in the US Army without first becoming a citizen?
(9) How many Communists were there in CANADA?
Source stated that he answered the questions frankly and Major HAN seemed to be amazed at his answers. In spite of all the propaganda he had disseminated to other Americans he was sadly lacking in knowledge of actual conditions in AMERICA. After talking for nearly 2 hours with the source, the Major went so far as to admit that many of the North Korean officers including himself would like to live in the UNITED STATES.
Some of the remarks made by Major HAN seemed to follow the usual Communistic propaganda line. Slogans were used to a great extent:
“AMERICA is for the rich only.”
“Koreans do not want to fight Americans.”
“Koreans only want to fight Capitalistic War-mongers.”
When source requested Major HAN to fully explain the meaning of Communism to him, the Major declared that the explanation would take too long, but he insisted that KOREA should be united and communistic.
When source brought up the subject of atrocities committed by the North Koreans, the Major brushed it off saying that atrocities were not committed by higher officers but by hotheaded junior officers. He said, “We have screwballs in our Army like you have in yours.”
For the Commanding Officer, TIS:
AURELL
