caption serviceyears death_place death_date allegiance battles birth_date image article_title name
yang capture by american paratroopers in june 1944 after d-day kyongjong -lrb- left -rrb- in wehrmacht attire following imperial army : 1942 -- 1943 wehrmacht : 1943 -- 1944 japanese army : 1938 -- 1939 soviet red illinois , united states april 7 , 1992 -lrb- aged 72 -rrb- empire of japan soviet union 1923 nazi germany battles of khalkhin gol march 3 , 1920 yang kyoungjong.jpg yang kyoungjong
 yang kyoungjong
yang kyoungjong

yang kyoungjong -lrb- march 3 , 1920 -- april 7 , 1992 -rrb- was a korean soldier who fought in the imperial japanese army , the soviet red army , and later the german wehrmacht during world war ii .
in 1938 , at the age of 18 , yang was in manchuria when he was conscripted into the kwantung army of the imperial japanese army to fight against the soviet union .
at the time korea was ruled by japan .
during the battles of khalkhin gol , he was captured by the soviet red army and sent to a labour camp .
because of the manpower shortages faced by the soviets in its fight against nazi germany , in 1942 he was pressed into fighting in the red army along with thousands of other prisoners , and was sent to the european eastern front .
in 1943 , he was captured by wehrmacht soldiers in ukraine during the third battle of kharkov , and was then pressed into fighting for germany .
yang was sent to occupied france to serve in a battalion of soviet prisoners of war known as an `` eastern battalion '' , located on the cotentin peninsula in normandy , close to utah beach .
after the d-day landings in northern france by the allied forces , yang was captured by paratroopers of the united states army in june 1944 .
the americans initially believed him to be a japanese in german uniform ; at the time , lieutenant robert brewer of the 506th parachute infantry regiment , 101st airborne division , reported that his regiment had captured four asians in german uniform after the utah beach landings , and that initially no one was able to communicate with them .
yang was sent to a prison camp in britain and later transferred to a camp in the united states .
after he was released at the end of the war , he settled in illinois where he lived until his death in 1992 .
