Evening star., 1953-05-10
Continued From First Page)

surgery and neurOSufgeTy.
The trouble was that the names
of all repatriated prisoners had
already been made public. The
press was following the men
through every step of the route
to freedom. The % could not
be segregated without the press
finding it out.
So a Pentagon news release was
issued with the approval OF
Deputy Defense Secretary Roger
M. Kyes and presidential adviser
c. D. jackson, announcing that a
group Of men who showed "signs
of having succumbed to Commu-
mist indoctrination" would be
flown to Valley Forge.
But at the same time a bit OF
service snafu put a secrecy label
on the flight of the % when 1t
left Japan. Newsmen found out
and scented an even bigger story
than the one indicated by the
Pentagon release.
Met by Reception Line.
Consequently the men were
met at Valley Forge by scores
of reporters and a harassed
group of majors and colonies.
Army intelligence officers lost
no time in establishing that the
process of brain washing" was
the secret Communist weapon
for which they were searching.
The discovery came as no sur
prise to them-they had known
of this technique for a long time.
Nor was the theory Of brain
wholly unfamiliar to
other Americans; one Of them,
Edward Hunter. had written q
book about it.
The Chinese Communists them
selves coined the name brain
Here Is how the pro-
cess is supposed to work:
The person needing the wash
is kept in an environment con-
trolled by the Communist washer.
He is Induced to want to cooper
ate-by threats. by promises. He
is then read the Communist line
over and over again. He Is made
to repeat the same line and para
phrase it and criticize his own
understanding Of the Uncover
and over and over.
Eventually He CO-Operates.
The repetition eventually
brings a certain amount of credi-
bility to the lies. Eventually the
victim comes to the point where.
if he is kept in the controlled
environment, he can be depended
on to Cooperate earnestly with
the Communists.
Prisoner of war camps provide
the ideal controlled environment
for such an effort.
The process can be carried q
step further-to what the Chi
nese Reds call brain changing. "
BY subjecting them to psychia-
trio trickery under conditions Of
extreme fatigue, the Communists
make their victims disbelieve
things they knew were true and
believe things they knew were
untrue. The effect can last for
weeks. and the person under
going this extreme treatment
apparently can sometimes be
made to confess with complete
sincerity to a crime that was
never committed.
Air Force officers filmed while
confessing enthusiastically to
germ warfare plots may have
been the victims of "brain
changing" Those officers travel
ed from prison camp to prison
camp giving germ warfare lee
lures. Prisoners say the officers
were never allowed to wander
away from their Red guards and
mingle with other captives.
CTS Heard Own Officers Comics
The experience of hearing
some of their own officers con-
fess Americas guilt in Korea
was part Of the treatment our
GI's were forced to undergo in
their captivity. The rest of the
brain-wash process, as applied
to them, followed this pattern:
First, the Chinese Communists
had three goals in mind when
they started their mental war;
fare. They hoped to make Com
muniSts of some of the pri-
SonerS; they wanted to convince
the men the Reds were right and
America wrong in the Far East,
and they wanted to use the
POW's as tools in the world
wide Communist propaganda
program.
In addition, working through
these prisoners. the Chinese
hoped to accomplish two aims
in America-to pressure officials
into ending the war on Com
munist terms, and to raise
money for Communist causes.
The first task the Communists
set for themselves was certainly
the hardest: Conversion of our
men to Marxist-Stalinist-M -Maoist
communism. The soldiers were
lectured on the devious dogmas
Of communism, were given Com
munist primers to study and were
bombarded with the Red philoSo-
ply on camp loudSpeakers.
Not Much Progress.
But the captors soon seemed tc
realize they were gaining few
converts. After a few months, les.
sons in Communist doctrine be.
gan to slacken.
The Reds then concentrated or