Evening star., 1950-06-14
Chinese Sold on Reds, Say Two Navy Men
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just reenllSted IN the Marines
We can only tell you what we saw
and heard, in the villages Of
China where we were held.
What we saw and heard doesn't
square with what you people state.
side have been told about Rec
China. We can't help that. 1t Is
what is happening there.
You read about the big shots
United States policy is geared tt
the big shots-Chiang Kai-sheE
on the Nationalist side, Mao TIE.
tung on the Communist side.
The big shots are not China
The village people are China.
We found that out the day We
were taken prisoners.
Pete was to make a two-houl
flight at s am. on Oct. 19, 1948
to keep his flight time up. Pete
asked Smitty to go along, while
shooting the breeze in the NCC
Club the night before. So we tool
off, expecting to be back in plenty
Of time for noon chow. There were
lot of noodles between breakfast
and our next American meal.
We few out back of Tsingtao
the pre-war Navy base which the
United States occupied briefly
after the war and then abandoned
a year ago. We buzzed an old Jap
airstrip, and headed northwest.
The gas gauge was giving Pete
some trouble, so he decided to
head for the seacoast and follow
it back south to our base.
The coast didn't show up as
soon as we expected. Our gas was
getting low. We made the coast,
but our motor began to conk out.
We had to land. We were about 20
miles onrth of Tsingtao. Pete pick
ed smooth spot on the beach,
and we came down easy near half
q dozen Chinese fishermen.
Chinese began popping out of
the woodwork. In two minutes at
least so showed up. Five minutes
later there were 100, including
half q dozen buSinesslike types
with old shotguns and Jap rifles.
We were unarmed.
The local boys didn't speak any
English. They kept saying "ba lu,
ba lu." (Note: Bender and Smith
learned their Chinese "by ear"
Whenever they use Chinese words,
phonetic spelling is given).
We later learned that "ba lu"
means Eighth Route. They were
trying to tell us we were in Eighth
Route Army territory. They mo-
toned us to come along. We un-
derstood those old guns. We
weren't much worried. They
seemed friendly.
Taken To Village HQ.
We started hoofing to a village.
Funny thing happened on the
way. We were wearing leather
shoes. That means big shot in
China, where leather shoes are
prohibitively expensive. When we
came to a marshy spot, they
wouldn't let us get those shoes
dirty. A skinny little guy carried
us across piggy back. That didn't
seem unfriendly.
They took us to the village HQ.
A mob of curious Chinese pushed
around looking us over. A straw
boss named Liao showed up. He
spoke some broken English. Lao
had been to a United States mis-
sion school. He was disappointed
when we didn't have any comic
books.
Liao said everything was okay,
except We didn't have a pass to
be in Eighth Route territory.
When the brass higher up gave
us a pass, we could go back to
base. They fed us a pretty good
lunch, and everything was friend
ly as a Yankee clambake.
Then they hiked us over the
hills about two hours, and then |
held q powwow in another village,
with Lao interpreting. We would
say mo" and he'd talk five min
utes. We went back to the first
place.
They took Pete back to the
plane alone. While we were gone,
they'd rolled the ship under some |
big trees, and camouflaged it with
thatch. That explained why our
search planes never spotted us.
Lao gave Pete a screwdriver,
and made Pete rip out the planes
radio. That was the first hint he
had that we weren't going right
back to Tsingtao. That didn't
look so good.
Marched South Briskly.
We got hopeful again next day
when they started marching us
south. We stepped out right brisk.
Then they suddenly turned west,
away from base. and we began to
drag our feet. That looked bad.
They walked us northwest for
four days, into the heart of the
Shantung Peninsula. We were in
terrogated at Liang. a large viii
lage, by the civilian cadre. or
leader, who kept a little general
store. He evidently got word
through to the big wheel in the
area, because we got orders to
move. and walked northwest for
So hours more, to District HQ.
About this time, we got the
idea that the Reds really had this
part of the country organized.
Everybody was part of the organi-
zation.
! The first guys who captured us
were part of their three-way mill
tary groups. Our captors corre-
sponded to the home guard, just
civilians who were armed to guard
against bandits around their
homes.
The r;c%r;nk xa;l;+;a ;e ox 49,