Sep/Oct 2004 Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

Book Review
Carlson, Lewis H., Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten
War: An Oral History of Korean War POWs. St. Martin’s
Griffin: New York NY. www.stmartins.com 301 pp. ISBN 0-
312-31007-2. $14.95/$21.95 Canadian
Here is an intriguing book. As the title suggests, it deals with
the fate and behavior of the 7,140 Americans taken prisoner during
the three years of fighting. One section of the “Introduction”
sets the stage for the book:
In a conventional sense, there were few heroic Korean War
POWs, unless one considers simple survival a heroic act. There
were no successful escapes from the permanent camps, no
acts of sabotage, and no jaunty, irrepressible individuals fooling
a befuddled enemy. According to government figures, 7,140
Americans were taken prisoner during the three years of fighting,
and 2,701 of them did not survive captivity. Several scholars,
however, have pointed out that the official statistics greatly
underestimated the numbers of those who died from atrocities
committed immediately after capture, from untreated wounds,
or during the long, deadly marches northward to the permanent
camps. (pp. 2 & 3)
Having presented the statistics, author Lewis H. Carlson presents
a series of arguments from supporters and detractors alike
surrounding the prisoners, before he describes the conditions
under which they lived—or simply survived—during their
imprisonment.
Carlson discusses life in the permanent camps, injuries, diseases,
medical care, “brainwashing,” the possibilities of and the
attempts to escape…in short, he presents a detailed look at the
conditions influencing the prisoners’ often miserable lives,
which he supports with numerous firsthand accounts of the prisoners
themselves gained through an exhaustive series of interviews.
The accounts which he quotes pull no punches. The interviewees
talk about the hatred between and among different groups,
e.g., the “Progressives” and the “Reactionaries,” and nationalities
of prisoners, the frustration they suffered while detained, the
difficulties they had in adjusting to their returns to “normal”
lives, the long-term effects of captivity, the good and bad sides
of the captors, the humor, the pathos, the guard baiting, the punishments
to which they were often subjected for little or no reason…just
about every facet of the prisoners’ lives.
A couple quotes from the book demonstrate the breadth of
Carlson’s research, and the conditions under which the POWs
lived:
Many deaths [in the prison camps] were due to malnutrition
and, of course, to disease. Although I was a physician, there
was nothing I could do since there was insufficient food and no
Visit the
Korean War Veterans Association Website:
www.KWVA.org
By Art Sharp. Editor
medicine. All we could do was eat whatever was
available, from weeds to rats. Our job was simply to
stay alive.
—Gene N. Lam, M.D. and Korean War POW
Former POW Harry Falck told an amusing story about the
prisoners’ guard baiting practices:
One morning this guy said, “Hey, everybody get a long stick.
When we go out for roll call, run that stick along the ground. If
one of the guards comes by, say ‘Arf, arf!’” The guard, of
course, didn’t know what we were doing. He would point and
ask, “What you talk?” We’d bark some more. He’d walk off. Can
you imagine a thousand people coming out with sticks and
barking like dogs at roll call? Another time we fell out for roll call
on our imaginary motorcycles. We tried to disrupt them one
way or another with our little tricks.
And so it went in the camps—and the book is replete with
such stories.
One word of caution: this is a hard book to read from an emotional
standpoint. (The reading itself flows smoothly and easily.)
It is sad to read about the inhumanity men can inflict on one
another. Yet, it is a story that must be told, specifically so those
of us who have not suffered the degradation the prisoners mentioned
in this book did can thank our lucky stars for being
blessed—and so we can do whatever we can to prevent it from
ever happening again, to us or anyone else.
LOOKING FOR COMBAT BUDDIES?
NOW HAVE
FOUND 25,503
KOREAN WAR
VETERANS. TO
ADD TO THIS
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COVER WHOM I
HAVE FOUND
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VETERANS WHO
WANT TO FIND
BUDDIES NOW
MAY DO SO. NO
FEES, IF I HAVE GUYS FROM YOUR UNIT, I PRINT
AND MAIL THEM TO YOU. USUALLY HAVE THEIR
NAMES, ADDRESSES, PHONE#’S AND UNITS
SERVED IN.
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CALL OR MAIL TO: DICK GALLMEYER
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NATIONAL 10 th REUNION 4-7 OCT, 2004
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The Graybeards September - October 2004