Evening star., 1953-08-21
$50 American P0Ws
Returned in Largest
One Day Delivery
BY the Assoeicted Press

" WV NSSCSi0iSu VtSs9
PANMUNJOM, Aug. 21.-A
rolicking $50 Americans, the
largest single-day delivery yet in
the Korean war prisoner ex-
change. rode out of Red captivity
at this wayside village today.
Eager as youngsters. they
shouted and danced as they were
freed with 300 South Koreans,
but they brought more accounts
of Red mistreatment.
The Americans were from
Camp / at Chongsong on the
Yalu River, the Red stockade for
''incorrigibles" who actively re-
sisted Communism.
The repatriates said the first
group of Americans from a
fourth Red priSon-Camp 9
Kanggye-arrived last night at
Kaesong. the Red clearing site
just north Of Panmunjom.
81 Americans Next Time.
All other American POWs sent
back have been from Camps /, 3
and S, including some men trans
ferred to these camps from other
stockadeS.
Tomorrow'S shipment was ex-
pected to include some Camp 9
prisoners, a number of whom
were reported only recently cap
tured.
The Reds said tomorrow'S de-
livery would include "a Ameri-
cans-30 of them sick or wound
ed-300 South Koreans, % Brit
ish. 13 Canadians, 8 Australians.
2 French, Turk and l Colon1-
bian.
The $50 Americans returned
today brought the total to / 1,465
of the 1913 the Reds said they
held. In all. 6.983 allied pris-
oners have been returned of the
1878 listed by the Communists.
No Communist POWS were
sent north today for the second
straight day. but more were
scheduled to be handed over to-
morrow. Typhoon winds earlier
in the week halted shipments
from the allied island prison
camps of Southern Korea.
Tell of Red Brutality.
The Americans returning
today were in high spirits. but
they also bore more reports of
Red brutality and mistreatment,
especially against allied airmen.
The Reds were death against
American aviatorS" said Corpl.
Phillip E. Rogers of Denver. He
said one Navy flyer from the
United States carrier Leyte was
stripped to a light shirt and
summer pants, and forced to re-
main outside in Is below zero
weather.
Corpl. Melvin r. Heath of
indianapolis told of a mentally
Ill American soldier tied to a
tree outside the hospital at
Camp l and left there until he
died.
Others told of SbeatingS for
minor infractions of prison
camp rules. imprisonment in
dungeons and small cages for
men who opposed Communist
inodctrination, lack of food and
medical care. and small groups
of POWs who collaborated with
the Reds and informed against
their fellow Americans.
Saw POWs Machine Gunned.
Corpl. Gildo Rodriguez of New
York City said he saw Commu-
niSts machine-gun five truck
loads of wounded American
POWs just after they had been
captured. He said he did not
know if the Reds knew the trucks
carried wounded POWs.
He said he thought it possible
the Reds we're confused and
thought they we're firing at al
lied vehicles because they riddled
the drivers cabs as we'll as the
canvas-covered truck bodies.
Another American said SO
Americans were blown to bits or
buried alive" when American
planes attacked an unmarked
area where the Communists COL
lected POWs before moving them
north to prison camps.
Corpl. Donald w. Manuel of
Racine. Ohio, said the Reds
knew the area of Korean huts
was under daily attack as a
military target by allied planes,
but consistently refused to mark
the area as a POW camp and
forced American prisoners to re-
main in the hutS.
He said the attack at Bean
Camp" above the central front,
occurred April "a, 1851.
The repatriates included the
highest-ranking allied officer yet
turned over-South Korean Col.
Linn TX Soon assistant division
commander of the ROK Capitol
Division. He was captured in
mid-July when the Reds overran
much of the division in their
last big push before the truce
was signed.