ATIS INTERROGATION NO. 3655 26 February 1951
The following information was obtained from recovered American military personnel, who were interrogated upon arrival in JAPAN from KOREA by Central Interrogation Center, TIS. The interrogation was conducted at Tokyo Army Hospital by Lt FUSCO.
| EATON, John D | Pfc | RA 12338698 | Co D 19th Inf 24 Div |
| SZABADOS, George J | Pfc | RA 15275329 | Co L 19th Inf 24 Div |
| THOMPSON, Herbert O | Pfc | RA 13333505 | Co F 19th Inf 24 Div |
The preceding three men were captured by Chinese Communist forces between 1 and 3 January, north of SEOUL. They were marched to an assembly area where over 100 other Americans were held prisoner. All three who were on the sick and badly wounded list were told that they would attend a school, upon completion of which they would be released. In all, there were approximately 35 Americans who were selected in this manner. The remainder were sent north to a PW Camp. (See ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 3602).
This Communist Indoctrination School, the second one reported by released prisoners, was located in a village called ACH’A-RI (GASA-RI) at 3339-1598 on the map of TUKTO, KOREA (1: 50,000 A.M.S.L 751). The line of march taken by the group when released was traced back to this village by the source. The Chinese had attempted to confuse the prisoners by taking a circuitous route through the mountains but outstanding terrain features noted on the way helped source to locate not only the village but the actual house in which the school was conducted. It is shown on the map as the largest building in the village which is relatively close to the HAN river, east of SEOUL.
Pfc SZABADOS was a member of the first squad while Pfc EATON and Pfc THOMPSON were members of the third squad during the school period.
The Chinese officer in charge of the school was named “Mr KU”. He was assisted by three other officers, all of whom could speak English and each one of whom gave lectures. “Mr KU” was described as follows:
Age: 28 - 30 years
Height: 5’4” - 5’6”
Weight: 140 lb
Build: Stocky
Glasses: Thick lens (always worn)
Uniform: Winter field
Two of the other instructors gave Pfc SZABADOS their addresses in CHINA encouraging him to write them after his return to America. The first was:
CHOU HUAN FENG (周煐豊)
DELIVERED BY MISS CHAO (趙小姐轉)
TONG-SZE 5th Avenue No 32 (東四五條32号)
PEIKING, CHINA (北京中國)
He was referred to as “Mr HU” by the Americans and described in the following manner:
Rank - Lieutenant
Age - 22 years
Height - 5’6”
Weight - 130 lb
Build - slim
Glasses - Never worn
The second instructor whose address was known was:
HWANG GWEE SENG (黃菊生)
DELIVERED BY MISS KO (高小姐轉)
ARMY GENERAL HOSPITAL (廣州陸軍病院)
CANTON, CHINA (廣東中國)
The Americans usually referred to him as “Mr WONG” or “Mr LONG” or sometimes as “THE PUSHER”. This last name was given to him because the first day he arrived he had all the prisoners get out and “police up” the area and in general kept the men on their toes. His description tallied very closely to that of Mr. HU” except for the fact that he was one year younger than “Mr HU”.
The fourth instructor whose name or address was not known was considered the poorest of the school staff. His command of the English language was not good and his lectures consisted merely of reading articles in “THE SHANGHAI NEWS” without elaborating. His classes were always dull and boring.
The hours of schooling and type of instruction were as brought out previously in ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT No. 3602. In addition to the subjects already listed, source remembered a few more:
“Why did the American Forces come to KOREA?”
“Did the Americans really intend to stop at the YALU?”
“Why did the Americans cross the 38th Parallel?”
“Why are the American people misguided by the newspapers?”
For the most part, the lecture titles were put in the question form. The desired answers were brought out in the discussion period so that the opinions written by each of the prisoners would conform to the teachings of the instructors.
During the lectures, the Chinese would sometimes wander off their main topic and make remarks such as:
“The Soviet is not supplying weapons to the North Koreans or the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces. The weapons they are using were those that had either been left behind when RUSSIA terminated the occupation of North KOREA or those that were captured from the Chinese Nationalist Forces. The Chinese Volunteer Army had an airforce but neither the airforce nor the artillery were needed to defeat the Americans. The Chinese soldier is a good enough soldier to overcome the advantage enjoyed by the Americans with their heavy equipment.”
“John Foster DULLES is a war-monger who set the time of the aggressive attack on North KOREA by the South Koreans. See! (pointing to a photograph of DULLES taken while he was looking through a pair of binoculars) There he is watching the attack begin.”
“When you get back home, tell the soldiers who are ordered to KOREA to follow orders up until it is time to board ship. Then, tell them not to board ship. Tell them to refuse to go. If they are then forced to come to KOREA, tell them to drop their weapons and surrender at the first opportunity.”
During their stay at the school, the prisoners were photographed at least twice by Chinese cameramen who said that the pictures were to be shown in newsreels. One of them told Pfc SZABADOS to straighten out his hat, which was awry, so that his mother might recognize him. The film depicted an ordinary day for American prisoners at a Chinese PW camp. Scenes showing the men eating and writing letters were taken. Close-ups of the letter actually written by one of the Americans were made. On another occasion, movies were taken of some of the American prisoners threshing rice with other prisoners looking on and smiling.
While at school, the prisoners were visited by a British Correspondent from either HONGKONG or PEIPING. His coming was announced 3 days before his arrival. He appeared accompanied by 2 or 3 Chinese newspapermen. His name, which was never announced but which was taken by some of the prisoners from his notebooks when he left them for a moment on a table, was MICHAEL SHAPIRO. This man was bitterly anti-American and showed it in his conversations with several of the prisoners. His purpose for coming seemed to be to encourage the prisoners to write letters home which he promised to mail upon his return to HONGKONG. Some of the men did write letters hoping that they would arrive in the UNITED STATES to let their families know that they were alive. For the most part, these were written on sheets with the 8TH ARMY SPECIAL SERVICE letterhead printed on them. The letters were not sealed but given to “Mr KU” with the flap open. He was supposed to give them to SHAPIRO. Whether or not this was done, was never known for sure.
On 7 February, source was given $20 MPC, 10 lb rice, and copies of “THE SHANGHAI NEWS”. They were marched back with the group and on 9 February they rested in a railroad tunnel. While there, they were given some propaganda leaflets to distribute to the American soldiers upon arrival at the UN lines. They were released the following day and made their way back to the CP of Co E, 19th Regt.
For the CO, TIS:
WEELDREYER
