Evening star., 1954-10-03
Air Force Studying
Last Ceases Of p0Ws
Accused Of Aid 10 Foe
BY John A. Giles

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BY John 4. Giles
The Air Force soon win close
the tragic story Of its Korean
war prisoners who signed germ
warfare confessions and peace
appeals and squealed on fellow
captives while In Communist
hands with q top level decision
In three remaining cases.
The three ex-POWs have
fought being handed discharges
under honorable conditions. %
which is notch below an hon.
orable discharge and a level
above q dishonorable one. This
policy is regarded as too lenient
In Army circles but is stoutly
defended by Air Force generals.
The procedures against the men
have been administrative actions
rather than courts martial.
Initially the records Of 81 for
ner Communist captives, whose
conduct was challenged by fell
low prisoners, were investigated
by q special board Of senior gen.
eral officers here.
Courts Martial Opposed.
It decided against courts mar
tial. And it cleared all except
Il. Those IA were notified that
their actions while in Red hands
raised serious question concern
ing their usefulness in uniform.
They were told to show cause
for retention before a board of
five senior generals at Scott Air
Force Base in Illinois.
Six of the IA promptly re-
signed. After meeting secretly
for four months the board be-
came satisfied that four of the
repatriates should be retained
and their cases were closed, it
was learned yesterday.
1t recommended that the other
four be separated from the serv-
ice. One then resigned and the
records Of the other three were
forwarded to Air Secretary Tai
bott.
The Air Force has said none
Of the names Of the individuals
would be announced. One of
the original eight questioned at
Scott base was an enlisted man.
Schwable Case Recalled.
The air arm did not move in
on the touchy POW question
until after Marine Corps board
of inquiry cleared Col. Frank H.
Schwable of misconduct while a
captive. The colonel is an avi-
ator and his case appeared to
set something of a pattern for
dealing with flyers shot down be-
hind enemy lines.
On the other hand, the Army
has taken quite a different at
titude. It already has court mar
tailed three ex-POWs. One of
them, who first announced in
tention of remaining with the
Reds but later changed his mind
and returned home, has been SEN
fenced to life Imprisonment.
About 35 more Army officers
and enlisted men face courts
martial and many more will be
separated from the service for
alleged traitortous acts while
held captive.
The alleged acts for which the
airmen were investigated and
the soldiers who have been or
will be tried include selling food
and medicine to fellow captives
instead Of distributing it free as
assigned to do. spying on fellow
inmates for the Reds, helping |
their captors hunt down fellow
Americans, teaching Communist |
"indoctrination" courses. broad
casting for the Reds. and
"squea1ing" on associates to OBJ
tain better treatment. These are
in addition to signing confessions
and peace appeals.
New Code Planned.
Meanwhile. the armed services
continue to wrestle with the
problem of drafting a new code
of conduct for military per-
somel held captive by a foreign
power. There is strong senti-
ment for amending the regula-
tion-which has as its source
the international rules of land
warfare-that a prisoner shall
give, even under compulsion,
only his name, rank and serial
number.
The theory Is that if a man
has no information of value, he
should not be bound by a rule
which can be seized upon as an
excuse for torture. Airmen are
inclined to ignore the rule on
grounds that what information
they possess would be of little |
value to the enemy anyway. |
Ground officers foresee a morale
problem in too lenient an atti-
tude. They fear that if a soldier
feels he can throw away his
rifle and receive fine treatment |
from the enemy by Cooper
ating" results on the battlefield |
rSaiohf ka diSo frn,Ye