Handwashing

The 21 U.S. pro-Reds in the unguarded camp at Panmunjom were not quite men without a country: the Communist world had refused to admit them (see FOREIGN NEWS), but as far as they knew, the U.S.

was still anxious to have them back. This week they learned that their homeland no longer cared what they did. The U.S. Defense Department ordered the 21 men dishonorably discharged--and it was made clear that the outcasts would be in deep trouble if they did come home.

The Defense Department order followed an Army announcement last week that it was filing charges against Corporal Edward S. Dickenson. former P.W. in Korea who switched to Communism and then switched back (TIME. Nov. 2). The charges: that Corporal Dickenson dealt "directly and indirectly" with the enemy and sought "favorable treatment" to the detriment of his fellow prisoners. Dicken son. who was in Washington's Walter Reed Hospital for his final Army physical examination, found himself, without ad vance warning, in a locked room under guard. And a little later, the Marine Corps announced that a board of inquiry had been formed to handle the case of Colonel Frank Schwable, U.S.M.C., the top-ranking American to "confess" to phony Red claims of U.S. germ warfare.

Dickenson's arrest exposed a disagreement between the Defense Department and the Army about the timing -- but only the timing--of action against him.

The Pentagon's professionals urged swift procedure as a matter of military discipline. The civilian defense chiefs argued at first that premature disclosure would adversely influence the minds of the 21 Americans at Panmunjom.

But the weekend flurry quickly began to die down as an increasing number of Defense officials came to understand that it was about time the U.S. quit wringing its hands and started washing them--of the 21 brainwashed expatriates. With this realization, the dishonorable discharges were issued.

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