ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 4022 15 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 SHAPPELL.
Source was wounded in a fire fight on 31 Aug 50 along the NAKTONG River (exact location unknown). Became separated from his unit and blundered into an enemy patrol of fifteen N. Korean soldiers.
His weapon, shoes and dogtags were immediately taken and he was led to a clearing and interrogated by a middle-aged man wearing a clean white Korean costume and black stovepipe hat. Source states that the interrogator, although in civilian costume, must have been a soldier since he conducted a very comprehensive tactical interrogation which no civilian could have done. After the interrogation, two guards were posted and the patrol left. Source, who speaks some Korean, called one of the guards and when he came over, hit him, took his rifle, shot the other guard and ran away. Source was a prisoner only four hours and avoided detection behind enemy lines until 17 Sep 1950 when he contacted H Co, 38th Inf Regt, 2nd Div.
Source remained in the vicinity of a swamp during this entire period leaving it only to gather pumpkins, persimmons and sweet potatoes on which he existed.
Source was a member of a mine detector squad which was clearing a road near CHIPYONG for a convoy of 30 tanks. On 14 Feb 51, while 4 miles behind enemy lines, the tanks were attacked and source was shot in the right shoulder and both feet. When the tanks withdrew, source was lying in a ditch unable to move. Chinese troops came up and stripped off all clothes except source's trousers and T shirt. A young Chinese soldier struck him on the head twice with an entrenching tool and source feels he would have been murdered if an older Chinese had not interfered and stopped the younger one. The older man then applied dirty bandages to source's head and other wounds. The Chinese then disappeared into the hills and the subject lay where he was until rescued by returning tanks the following day.
Source and twelve other men from K Co encountered a Chinese road block N of HOENGSONG on 11 Feb 51, but all successfully escaped into the mountains. After walking all night a group of 40-50 Chinese were encountered, a fire fight developed in which the source was wounded, and the group was forced to surrender.
Their weapons and all personal possessions were immediately taken but no clothing was removed. The prisoners were forced to move, with two men carrying the Sgt who was unable to walk. The Chinese felt this slowed up their progress and simply abandoned the source who crawled for three days and nights before reaching a small house. He was discovered by a Chinese who carried him to another house occupied by approximately 50 Chinese where he received food and water for the first time.
Source stayed in this house being ignored and never spoken to by the Chinese, until 4 March 1951 when he was rescued. This area was evidently a supply point since many filled straw bags were observed. Pack mules (six) were brought up every evening, loaded and led away, and returned the following morning. Troops and animals stayed in the mountain during the day and approached the house only during the night.
When rescued on 4 March 1951, source was unconscious and does not know who discovered him.
On 14 Feb 51, source and Cpl Jene KOZED, F Co, were returning to their Co from the aid station when they walked into ten Chinese soldiers. Their weapons, rations, dog tags and all personal possessions were taken and they were marched North all night, reaching a small village at daybreak. Source believes this village is in the vicinity of ICHON.
Both prisoners were interrogated individually and source was asked name, rank, organization, number of officers in a company, whether he belonged to a cavalry unit, how many Chinese prisoners the unit had taken, why he was fighting in KOREA, whether he had any relatives in KOREA, whether he liked KOREA, and whether his officers told him why he was in KOREA.
He was then taken to a house and stripped of all clothing except underwear, fatigue uniform and shoes.
On the evening of 16 Feb 51, both prisoners were roped together and marched several hours with four guards. On a narrow path, source slipped and rolled down the mountain, dragging his buddy with him. They untied the rope, avoided detection and walked all night, reaching a house in the morning where an old lady fed them and allowed them to stay all day. That evening, a small boy guided them to a village. Here they were taken in by Korean who fed them and gave them long Korean coats. On 18 Feb 51, the civilian guided them to ROK lines and the ROK took them to the 2nd Bn of the 5th RCT.
For the CO, TIS:
WEELDREYER
