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ATIS INTERROGATION NO. 3602　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.

Sources was captured with 3 other Americans from his unit on 1 January 1951 by Chinese Communist Forces near CHOKSONG. They were taken to a PW assembly area where they joined a group of about 110 American prisoners. They were marched in single file each night and stayed in village houses or barns until 6 January when they were turned over to another Chinese unit commanded by an English-speaking Chinese officer named “Mr. KU”. They were kept in this area which later proved to be a Communist Indoctrination School area for approximately four (4) days until it was decided who was to go to school.

The decision was made that only those men, about 35 or 36, who had reported for sick call would be retained and sent to school. The remainder consisting of approximately 80 men were to be sent north to a PW camp. These man were told that they would draw nine (9) pounds of rice each and that they would have to travel at the rate of fifteen miles (15) per night for 7 nights to arrive at the camp. They left 2 to 3 days after school started. There was only one man who was on sick call who did not want to stay. He was M/Sgt NAYGRAN, FNU, of Co C 19th Inf Regt who argued with “Mr. KU” constantly declaring that the Chinese would never be able to convince him that the Americans were the aggressors in Korea. “Mr. KU” said that the Sergeant would have to go north “to be educated.”

Sources states that he was one (1) of the twenty-five (25) American prisoners who attended the Communist Indoctrination School between 12 January and 7 February 1951. There were twenty four (24) enlisted personnel and one officer in this group. In addition there were ten (10) enlisted men who were so badly wounded and sick that they were not forced to attend the school but were permitted and encouraged to attend the lectures given and to participate in the discussions, Five (5) of the badly wounded did sit in on some of the lectures out of pure boredom. In addition to the American prisoners there were three (3) Australians, one officer and two enlisted men, who arrived late at the school and were subjected to about the last 30% of the course.

Source could not accurately locate the school on maps shown to him but he was positive that it was East of SEOUL and north of the HAN river. There was no actual schoolhouse. Classes were held in the same large house in which they were billeted. The house which was rectangular in shape and had a large courtyard in the center contained a kitchen, four rooms of different sizes where the prisoners were held and a fifth room where one cow was kept. One side of the house had a porch which extended almost its entire length.

Control of the prisoners was exercised through the election of one platoon sergeant by the entire group and the election of the squad leaders by the occupants of each room. Source was elected platoon sergeant with the responsibility of supervising the water supply, mess, sanitation and the proper care of the wounded. His duties were purely administrative and not the least bit political in nature.

The squads differed in size in relation to the capacity of the rooms in which the men were billeted. The largest room contained the first squad of thirteen (13) men as follows: (Serial numbers were taken from an official AG Report)

The second squad was the smallest and contained seven (7) men, two of whom were the Australian enlisted men who arrived at the school later than the others. The squad included the following:

The third squad was composed of the following nine (9) men:

The first three squads comprised the “students”. The fourth squad of 10 men was composed of the sick and badly wounded. For the most part they did not attend any of the lectures of discussions. They included:

The seven men marked with an asterisk were not released with the group. Four men (THURMAN, SMITH, WADLEY, LONG) were left behind in the custody of a S.K. family because they were too sick or wounded to travel when the group left the school. McHENRY died of multiple wounds while at the school and was buried by the source. The other men Sfc MORELAND and Pvt RICHARDSON had to drop out during the march back to the lines because they were unable to keep up with the group. Thus of the thirty (30)Americans released, twenty-five (25) attended the course while five (5) were considered too sick to attend.

Source stated the communist indoctrination school day was broken down in the following manner:

0900-1100 hours - lectures by a member of the staff

1100-1300 hours - Rest

1300-1500 hours - Discussions and written opinions of the lectures under the supervision of the squad leaders.

1500 hours - School dismissed.

The Commanding Officer of the school was a men who preferred to have himself called “Mister KU”. His rank was never mentioned by either himself or other members of his staff. He was considered by the prisoners to be the man in charge because he gave orders to the others. He was by far the most intelligent of the group. In all there were four (4) English-speaking Chinese lecturers.

During the lecture period, all the “students” were congregated in the largest room. In front of the group, the lecturer either stood up near or sat upon the only table in the room. All the prisoners sat on the floor. There were no regular texts used. For the most part, the lectures were based on newspaper articles taken from “THE SHANGHAI NEWS” published in SHANGHAI and included late December and early January issues. Only once was an English language Russian magazine “TIME MAGAZINE” brought in. Three or four copies were left with the prisoners who proceeded to use them to roll cigarettes. This angered the lecturers and “TIME MAGAZINE” was never seen again. “THE SHANGHAI NEWS” was evidently easier to procure in great numbers so it was used extensively.

Some of the subjects for the lectures remembered by the source were:

“The Stockholm Peace Appeal.”

“China’s reply to the “so-called UN” Cease Fire Plan.”

“Unfair decisions of the “so-called United Nations””.

“Two world camps - The Peace Camp and the War Mongers Camp.”

“The League of Nations as compared with the United Nations.”

“Did North Korea invade South Korea or did South Korea invade North Korea?”

“Who are the aggressors in Korea?”

“Who is gaining from the war - the American people or the Wall Street Capitalists?”

The topics brought up in the lecture were then discussed in the presence of an interpreter under the supervision of the squad leaders. Up until 25 January since no Chinese instructor or interpreter was present during the discussions, the prisoners just had “bull sessions” or took naps. But after a surprise inspection on 25 January by “Mr KU”, who was very displeased with their conduct, an interpreter was required during discussions. Everyday each man had to write two or three lines expressing his opinion of the lecture for that day. These were turned over to the squad leader who then gave them to the instructor. Occasionally the squad leaders were asked to give the instructors oral accounts of the discussion periods.

Although they made many derogatory remarks against President TRUMAN, Mr DULLES, MR ACHESON and MR AUSTIN, the Chinese instructors seemed to blame all their troubles on and to concentrate most of their hatred in one man - Gen MacARTHUR. In addition to the usual diatribes they declared that if they could ever get their hands on General MacARTHUR, they would give him a “fair trial” and then hang him.

When the subject of General Walker’s death came up, one of the instructors declared that he was well informed concerning this event. He said it was the fault of the jeep driver who was going too fast on the Korean roads which are not constructed for fast driving.

The Chinese also said that they respected the late General STILLWELL, because he was an excellent soldier and because he was much smarter than CHIANG KAI SHEK. They said that General STILLWELL opened the eyes of the American people to conditions in CHINA.

Throughout the latter part of the course the instructors seemed to be emphasizing certain points which they wanted the prisoners to pass on when they were released and when they reached home. Included in these were:

“Make sure all the soldiers know how to say ‘surrender’ in Chinese.”

“Tell the soldiers and the people back home who the ‘real war mongers’ are.”

“Tell the people back home about the ‘corrupt TRUMAN Government’.”

“Tell the people in the STATES the ‘real story’ about the Wall Street Capitalists.”

“Enlarge the ‘Peace Camp’.”

At the end of the course, there was no final examination. Although there was no closing speech by “Mr. KU”, he did announce that the entire group would be released and would be able to start back on 7 February. “Mr. KU” stated that all those who believed they could march 20 miles per night for four (4) nights, carrying their own food consisting of ten (10) pounds of rice would be permitted to start. He insisted that there could be no delay because a rendezous had already been arranged. All wanted to return but since four (4) of the men knew they could not negotiate this great distance under their own power, other members of the group offered to help them. “MR. KU” would not permit this, saying that they would slow up the entire group and therefore endanger the group's chances of being released. These four (4) men were left behind in the care of a South Korean family in the same village to wait until they received further instructions from “MR. KU”.

Each of the Americans and Australians was given 20.00 in MPC, some propaganda leaflets and a few copies of “SHANGHAI NEWS” to distribute to the front line troops. Source states that those were turned over to G-2 in KOREA where the men ware given a tactical interrogation.

Source declares that in his opinion, the Communist Indoctrination Course failed in its objectives. None of the man seemed convinced although they had to “play along” with the Chinese to insure their release.

For the CO, TIS: