Evening star., 1953-04-25
Some GIs Informed
On Fellow P0Ws,
Freed Soldier Says
BY the Assoeioted Press

% months as prisoner OF the
Reds today said some American
prisoners turned informers for
their Chinese guards. He men
toned no names.
Sergt. Orville r. Mullins of
Covington, KY, who came out
of North Korea in Tuesdays
POW exchange. said he and
other Americans who were anti
Communist had to pick their
friends carefully.
1T got so bad that word Of
what the prisoners were talking
about reached the camp head
quarters faster than all Of us
heard it ourselves" Sergt. Null
lins said.
Told Of Death March.
Sergt. Mullins was the soldier
who first told neWSmen at Free
dom Village of cruel forced
marches through North Korea
in which hundreds of Americans
died. At a news conference at
Tokyo Army Hospital, he re-
peated the story of a forced
march in which he said North
Korean guards beat some Amerl-
cans to death and other Ameri-
cans died from exhaustion and
lack of medical care.
He said he saw many Russians
wearing sharp-looking khaki
colored uniforms with epaulets
and shiny leather boots. He
said he also saw Russians IN
dirty khaki work clothes at power
plants near the Yalu River and
driving trucks.
He said Communist guards
at the prison camps stopped
being brutal to allied prisoners
around Christmas Of 1851. About
this time the North Koreans
who captured him and marched
him north turned him over to
Chinese guards.
Sergt. Mullins said some Amer
icans-he gave no numbers
played along with the Com
munist guards.
I'D hate to give you my
opinion of that" he declared:
"It's hard to explain. Just rats.
that's all they are-traltors.
There are plenty of them, I'll
tell you.
"I guess some of them be-
lieved the Communist line. Some
of them did it for the cigarettes.
They didn't care about their
buddies. They just did it for
what they could get out Of It,"
Sergt. Mullins said the mo.
Boys" as they were called.
passed along to the Communists
information on what the other
prisoners were talking about or
planning.
"You had to watch your step.
You had to be careful who you
talked to and pick your friends"
Russians Ride JeepS.
He said that when the Rus
slams gave orders the North Ko-
reans would jump. but the Chi
nese were slower to obey them.
Once, he said, some Russians
talked to him and some other
soldiers and gave them. peanuts
and cigarettes. He said one of
the POWs spoke to Russian In
German and the Russian told
him his nationality.
THE Russians you saw on the
road were always in jeep or
some other vehicle. The Chinese
troops walked"
Sergt. Mullins was captured
August q, 1851, in the Piari VAL
ley of the eastern front. After
marching 10 days, they arrived
at Pyongyang.
He said the North Koreans at
Pyongyang gave them some old
clothes and some rice. Tnen, he
said, 162 Americans and allied
soldiers with North Korean
guards began a march north to
the Yalu River.
II don't know how many died."
Sergt Mullins declared. I'VE
marched north for is more days. |
Now and then they would put us
on a truck which would carry us
for three or five hours. Then We
would have to walk again.
The men were sick, every one
had dysentery.
Beaten to Death.
"One man-Scotchman-they
beat to death. I don't know. I
guess he belonged to an English
unit. They told him to pick up
his bag of rice. But he couldn't.
He was too weak. Five or six Of
the North Koreans started beat
ing him.
They hit him with rifle butts,
fists and sticks. They were mad
at all of us because we were go
ing so slow.
"They told the rest Of us to
march on. They kept this Scotch
man and one EngliShman. After
we got a little way they (the
scotchman and Englishman) fol-
lowed us.
THE North Koreans were
beating the Scotchman. He'd
fall down and they'd pull him up
again. Finally they made the
guy with him drag him. They
dragged him to where I was.
II went over to see if could
do anything for him. but he was
dead"