The Ugly Story

The U.S. soldiers who crossed the line to freedom at Panmunjom last week were a smiling, happy, joking lot, plainly pleased to be on the way home. But back at the big processing shed in Munsan, and in the hot interview tents at Inchon, some of the stories they told took an ugly turn.

The tales had a familiar ring. Like those of P.W.s released from German and Japanese camps in World War II, they reflected the accumulated bitterness and hatred of pent-up men fighting to survive in an enemy prison. In front of movie cameras and a battery of correspondents, last week's returnees charged that some of their buddies in the Communist prison camps had turned informers. What was new about their complaint was the added complication of buddies converted to Communism.

The "progressives,"as these were called, almost always squealed on their mates. Some of the "rats" or "cheese-eaters" who gave information to the Communists were not "pros"; they tattled for extra food, extra cigarettes. Said one pfc.: "If you insulted a cheese-eater or a pro, you'd be hurtin'."

Pfc. Lawrence Rix of Dowagiac, Mich, had only done what many prisoners do: he stole food. Somebody squealed, and he was stripped almost naked and forced to stay in a cold hole for two days. Pfc. Joe Allen told of a "pro" who reported him when he tried to escape with a buddy. The guards picked them up. Allen signed a confession, but his fellow escapee decided to hold out for a while. The Chinese put him in a damp cellar. Said Allen: "A few days later they carried him out of the camp. He was dead, and he had blood around his mouth. The Chinese told us that the rats in the cellar got at him. But I was in that place and there were no rats there ... It wasn't real rats that killed my buddy."

"Right Next to Me." Between the "pro's" and the "rats," and the incorrigibly anti-Communist "reactionaries," prison air was heavy with tension and suspicion. "You couldn't trust your best friend," said one sergeant. "Were any progressives released today?" a newsman asked one returnee. The ex-P.W., a corporal, bit his lip. "Yes, there were. There is one sitting right next to me." Newsmen gasped, then quickly changed the subject. The man next to the corporal said nothing.

A small number of progressives--seven from one camp--were staying with the Communists. Most of the "pros" coming back appeared to be confused rather than dedicated men. Said an English medic captured with the Gloucesters: "Yesterday I knew the answers. Today I'm all mixed up. I read that pamphlet they gave us at Panmunjom--you know, the one that gives the aims of the U.N. Gentlemen, I've got a lot of thinking to do in the next few weeks."

"I Did Not Argue." A young American added: "Maybe some of the men think I was a pro. I went to the Communist lectures. I did not argue . . . The Chinese had us and I knew it. I got along as well as I could. The guys who argued with the instructors and sassed the guards did not help themselves and they did not help the rest of us. They just made it harder for everyone . . ."

How many Americans are still left behind Communist lines--either because they wanted to stay, because the Reds jailed them on criminal charges, or because the Reds have some other use for them--no one knows. The Communists have returned few officers. Just in case, the U.N. is holding back between 120 and 180 top Communist P.W.s as a bargaining lever.

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