Broken Soldiers
"Lech ... reconstructs the POW experience in Korea and its aftermath, exposing the brutality of the captors and the inconsistency of US military justice. He supplies the most comprehensive account to date of the subject." -- Library Journal "Recounts eyewitness testimony of capture, psychological and physical torture, and life in the camps, giving readers excellent insight into the circumstances of a Korean POW. Few readers realize that during the first year of captivity, over 40 percent of the prisoners died -- a greater percentage than in any modern war except for the Eastern Front in World War II... The ultimate reference work on this topic." -- Library Journal "The most comprehensive account to date of the subject... This book will appeal to military specialists and general readers alike." -- Choice "The author's exhaustive research succeeds in building a new and devastating definition of the term 'brainwashing'... Firsthand descriptions by those who were released are nothing less than horrifying: barbarous Nazi concentration camps exceeded Korean detention centers only in the number of inmates. To make matters worse, those who came home suffered still more indignity. Endless interrogation by Combined Intelligence Center agents determined to turn up evidence of collaboration with the enemy led far too often to courts-martial... Rear Admiral Dan Gallery was appalled by what he saw as unmitigated stupidity. 'We pleaded with twenty-two of our men, '"Come home, all is forgiven!'"When one of them did come home, we courtmartialed him. How stupid can we get?'" -- Proceedings (U.S. Naval Institute)