Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-08-06

an aunt, Mrs. Mary Schialabb
leans were in excellent condi-
ton. But in general, they were
worse than the British, though
not in as desperate shape as the
South Koreans.
U. s. Airmen Bear Brunt.
United States and other airmen
appeared to be special targets
Of Red brutality-probably re-
prisal for deadly allied bombings
and Strafings, allied officers said.
A Negro B-29 pilot, 1t. Samuel
E. Massinberg of Detroit. said
he got four days of continuous
torture and starvation from the
North Koreans, followed by
special effort to WOO him to COM
munism because of my race"
Il understand communism
better now. I hate it more" he
said. They butted me around.
they slugged me, they gave me
no food for four days. When
they saw I would not give them
the information they wanted,
they turned me over to the Chi
nese to fatten me up" 1t. Mas
sinberg said.
1t Massinberg's hands were
frost bitten after he bailed out
over Pyongyang when a Red
MIG jet shot down his B-29
last January II. The Reds
bound them tightly, he said.
f"They hurt terribly all the time
and I lost part of the left one"
Thousands Won't Return.
The returning prisoners pre-
Sented grim evidence that some
Of the thousands of missing
Americans never will return.
Shung Keum Shoon, a Is
year-old emaciated South Ko-
rean, told of seeing North Ko-
rean Reds beat seven Americans
SO severely with rifle butts that
five died within a few hours.
Corpl. Russell P. James from
Auburn, Wash, told of grisly
burial details in the bitter win
ter of 1861 in the notorious
mining camp that prisoners
called Death Valley"
He said he had seen the burial
of more than 1900 American
prisoners who died of wounds or
froze to death during two terrible
months.
I'VE buried IS to 80 men
practically every day. We had
no medical treatment at all and
all we got to eat then was a
little bit of millet every day."
Later things improved and
Corpl. James added sarcastical-
ly, Then We got beans and rice
on weekdays and chicken and
photographers on holidays. The
photographers took pictures of
us eating chicken"
Tell of Death Marches.
Other prisoners repeated the
stories of death marches north
| during the first winter and how
many Americans never made it.
With tears of emotion in his
eyes. S/Sergt. Robert M. Wilkins
of Detroit, an airman shot down
! in a B-26 last January, told of
being thrown into a "black hole"
and tortured after he and several
others escaped momentarily and
were recaptured.
He said British and an
American officer died in the or
deal.
I'VE were tossed into a dun
| geon," he said. I'm not kidding
| you've had to lie two deep it
was so crowded there. And there
was an inch or two Of water on
| the. floor"
| Later, he said, guards took us
into a room and tied us so that
we couldn't move" He said they
were forced to kneel with a stick
tied behind their knees, their
arms drawn up behind them and
tied to the ceiling and a choke
rope tied around their Threats.
I'VE were allowed to go to the
latrine about twice day." Sergt.
Wilkins said. 1T got so bad one
man finally united another with
his teeth. The man was suffer-
ing from dySentery."
Horrors in Early Days of War.
Asked how it felt to be free,
Sergt. wilkins replied:
81 get goose pimples all over.
I'm just now beginning to realize
it's true"
The worst horrors described
were in the earlier days OF the
war-through the spring of 1851.
1t appeared from the POWs'
stories that conditions improved
in some cases as the Chinese
Communists took over from the
North Korean Reds, and i'm
proved still more as the truce
talks progressed.
Corpl. Charles F. Hearn. st.
Louis, Mo-, captured April "a,
1851, told a story that seemed
fairly typical of the infantry
men-but not the airmen-cap-
tured after that first terrible
winter.