Evening star., 1953-05-02
BY the Assoeiofed Press


hours the corporal lay in a val
ley of agony. Bullets had ripped
through his stomach, groin and
leg. It was bitterly cold and he
was hiding beneath a corn shock
in a Korean field.
He thinks now the cold saved
his life.
Oozing blood froze on his
clothes and skin and partially
clotted over the wounds.
THAT kept me from bleeding to
death" said Corpl. John L. Wat
ters, jr., Of Washington D. C.
The Communists captured him
and in the next 20 months gave
him no medical attention, he
said. During three months in
one prison camp he watched
between TOO and 800 of his bud
dies die. Dysentery shrank him
from 220 pounds to 80 pounds
He clung grimly to life.
Long Fight to Survive.
"After I went through what
I went through the first two
months I was a captive, I was
determined the Reds wouldn't
get me, the 36-year-old Waters
said, a thin smile on his lips.
Returned by the Communitsts
at Panmunjom last week, hi
told a remarkable story today
of his fight to survive.
He was a United States End
Division man, a rifleman with
Company A of the 38th Infantry
Regiment. He's Regular Army
with IA years of service and a
wife Eloise, and a 5-year-old
son. (They live at 80 Galveston
street S.W)
On November 26, 1850, near
Kunu, Corpl. Waters and other
members of his company were
slugging it out with overwhelm-
ing numbers of Chinese. Com
pany A. was making a fighting
retreat. It was a confused bat
tie.
Shot as He Lay on Ground.
"Just at dawn" Corpl. Wat
ters said, "I saw a dark, shad-
owy shape near me and heard
burp gun fire"
Corpl. Waters fell and lay
face-down, semiconscious.
Sixty minutes passed. Another
Chinese came up, pointed a rifle
and put a bullet through Corpl.
Waters stomach.
That should have finished him
off. But it didn't.
II lay there and watched my
chance and figured I had a slim
chance if I could crawl a quarter
mile to the battalion aid station" F"
He started crawling. Crawl
ing awhile and blacking out.
There were too many blackouts.
He crawled into a shock Of corn
in a field. All around him, on
the hills around his valley Of
agony, he could see Chinese.
Through the day, he waited,
then through the night. Next
day he ate a candy bar and
sucked at his frozen canteen.
Every time he moved, blood
would ooze anew from his four
wounds.
Allied planes machine-gunned
the valley.
II could feel the heat from
some of the napalm dropped and
rockets were hitting SO yards
away"
Kicked by Chinese.
It was quiet at 3 pm, "a
hours after he had been shot.
II crawled out of the corn
shock and lay on the ground.
Two Chinese soldiers came along
and kicked me. I asked for
water. They went away. Some
time later one of the first two
soldiers and another soldier
came back with a litter. They
had water for me and carried
me to a Korean house."
Three captured lieutenants,
two platoon sergeants and eight
or nine men of his company were
in the house. Twenty-Five other
American soldiers were there,
too.
The whole outfit, guarded by
Chinese, marched out Of the
house that night, the able-bodied
carrying eight Stretcher cases.
At dawn, the gMm company
stopped at another house. That
night the march went on again,
but the eight stretcher cases.
including Corpl. Waters, were
left behind.
They told our men who could
walk that Chinese would return
the badly wounded to the Ameri-
cans, since the Communists
didn't have adequate medical
supplies. So the men who could
walk moved out. I didn't see
them any more"
Sleds Pulled by Cattle.
The stretcher cases were taken
to a barn in a village and were
told the Americans would get
them ~there. Fifteen hours
passed. Nothing happened. Chi
nese finally loaded the wounded
men on sleds, pulled by steers.
I'VE headed north. about As
miles. After two nights travel
we came to a large village. We
were put in q three-room house
with no doors, no windows, no
guards and no medical treatment.
sidiary, Cargill, Ltd, had thou