ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 3870 8 March 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 Capt GERARD.
Source was wounded and captured by Chinese near WONJU on 4 February 1951. After a hasty search, during which nothing except weapon and equipment was taken, source was marched to a nearby clearing where there were 10 or 11 more American prisoners. At dark the prisoners were moved from village to village for most of the night. This group finally met a larger group of approximately 30 men in the fourth village where they remained the rest of the night, and all the next day. During the daylight hours of 5 Feb 51, the nonwounded prisoners were separated from the wounded. A Chinese officer who spoke fair English addressed the group and said:
“Don’t be afraid, we’re going to make a movie of you to show how the Americans are surrendering to the Chinese.”
He then took approximately 30 of the Americans who were not wounded to a nearby mountain and gave them unloaded weapons. When the prisoners were spread out, the Chinese fired over their heads to indicate a fire fight. The prisoners were then told to drop their weapons and surrender. After the movies were made the prisoners were brought back to the village. (Source was not in the movie but found out about it from a fellow prisoner.)
On 9 Feb 51, the English-speaking Chinese officer told the group, “You are going to leave tonight. Don’t be afraid of us. Don’t feel like prisoners, feel as though you have been liberated. We’re going to take you through NORTH KOREA and MANCHURIA to CHINA to a school on Communism. The Chinese students there will accept you with high praise and have parties and dances for you. After 4 or 5 weeks of school, if you pass the test you will be shipped back to the UNITED STATES.”
At dark all men were searched again. Source’s cigarettes and cigarette lighter were taken. He was allowed to keep the remainder of his personal possessions. After all had been searched, approximately 30 prisoners who were not wounded were marched north. Ten (10) who were wounded remained behind.
After the wounded had been moved twice during the night they were imprisoned in a Korean house. On 16 Feb 51, five (5) of the wounded who were able to walk were also taken north.
On 17 Feb 51, two (2) English-speaking Chinese officers questioned the remaining wounded men. The men were interrogated, two at a time (one to each officer) in a room separate from the rest of the group. The questions asked were:
“What is your name? Rank? Regiment? Battalion? Company?”
“How long have you been in KOREA?”
“How long have you been in the Army?”
“What was your occupation before you entered the Army?”
In addition to the interrogation, source received a lecture about the advantages of Communism and was told that “The famous war-monger MacARTHUR and “Moneybags” TRUMAN and Wall Street had caused this war just so that they could make themselves richer.”
On 18 Feb 51, after hearing a lot of activity around the house all night, the group (5) of wounded prisoners discovered that the Chinese had withdrawn. At 1200 hours, source and a companion started walking south. The remaining three men were too badly wounded to walk. On the way to their own lines source and companion met one Chinese soldier who simply waved them on. Source was picked up and evacuated by Co I, 19th Inf Regt.
On 4 Feb 51, when his unit was attacked by Chinese in the vicinity of WONJU, a hand grenade was thrown into source’s foxhole. Because he was unable to get out of his sleeping bag, source was badly wounded. For approximately 6 hours, he was able to evade capture by sliding and crawling among the rocks. At daybreak however, source was captured by five Chinese and three North Koreans who were manning a machine gun. One of the North Korean soldiers attempted to take source’s wristwatch but one of the Chinese stopped him by hitting him in the face with his pistol. Source tried to talk to his captors but was unable to make himself understood. The Chinese and North Koreans returned to their machine gun position but later one of the Chinese brought a coat and some rice to the prisoner. Source was forced to move about 50 yards down the slope of the hill and lie down on a frozen creek. There was no guard but every time source attempted to crawl away he was motioned back by the soldiers in the machine gun position.
Source remained here until 18 Feb 51, with no food or water. He was picked up and evacuated by the 21st Regt as they advanced.
Source stated that every morning at exactly 0900 hours the Chinese who had been in the village at night moved to the hills. He was impressed by the fact that it was exactly the same time every morning.
Source was wounded and captured by the Chinese near HOENGSONG on 12 Feb 1951. There were approximately 70 Americans captured at the same time. The prisoners were lined up on the road and searched. In addition to weapon and equipment, source’s cigarette lighter, wallet, CO shirt and sweater were taken. A Chinese officer asked what outfit the men were from and since no one answered, he took men individually off to one side and questioned them. Source was not questioned. The group was taken to an assembly area in the nearby hills where there were approximately 170 other prisoners.
The next day the English-speaking Chinese officer moved the men under cover and told them not to be afraid.
On 14 Feb 51 the group of prisoners (now approximately 250) were fed for the first time and safe conduct passes were given out. The wounded were separated from the nonwounded who were given a lecture and sent north. (Source was too far away to hear.) The wounded (32 men) were taken to a house in a village.
On 15 Feb 51, eleven (11) of the wounded, source included, walked out of the house and started south. There were Chinese soldiers around but they had no special guard and no one attempted to stop them at this time. However, after walking south for about 2 miles, the group was recaptured by Chinese and taken to a Korean house where they stayed the rest of the day and night.
On 16 Feb 51, 7 of the 11 wounded walked out again to try to make their own lines. Source and 2 others remained in the house until they were picked up by the advancing 1st Marine Regt, on 23 Feb. Source stated that since the Chinese always evacuated the villages and went into the hills before daylight, it was very easy to simply walk away from the houses where they were held prisoner.
For the CO, TIS:
WEELDREYER
