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Re: History questions
YSK,
The title of General Dean's book is "General Dean's
Story." William L. Worden was the co-author and it
was published by Viking Press in 1954.
Mike Davino
--- ysk <ysk@kimsoft.com> wrote:
> Thanks, Ed:
>
> A few more questions:
>
> 1) I remember reading a book by Dean on his
> captivity many years ago.
> amazon.com search fails to show it. Do you have the
> book's title? Wasn't
> NKPA voluntary in 1949?
>
> 2) Dean was the ranking US POW and Senior Colonel
> Lee Hak Gu was his
> counterpart (actually there were two POWs who
> outranked him - Sen Col. Lee
> In Chul and Maj. Gen. Park San Jin ?). Who was the
> ranking ROKA POW?
>
> 3) What was the US military official policy on
> defectors and captured enemy
> personnel? I understand Dodd and his predecessors
> treated them alike. For
> example, Lee Hak Gu was a deserter but Dodd placed
> him with other POWs in
> spite of SK's objection. Lee apparently redetected
> and became the POW
> spokesman. Poor Lee was shot upon repatriation.
> Other deserters (how many?)
> were killed by communist loyalists in POW camps.
> Wise camp commanders after
> Dodd segregated the POWs.
>
> My question is: should defectors be treated as POWs?
>
>
> ysk
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ed Evanhoe" <ede@oio.net>
> To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@raven.cc.ukans.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 8:18 AM
> Subject: Re: History questions
>
>
>
> >YS,
>
> > >>1) A Korean American, who joined NKPA, was
> assigned to interpret for
> Gen.
> >Dean while in captivity. This man was supposedly
> taken POW (?). Who was he
> >and what happened to him?<<
>
> The man's name was LEE KYU HYUN. He did not "join"
> the NKPA voluntarily. He
> was drafted into the NKPA in the summer1949 while
> accompanying his father
> who went to P'yongyang to visit relatives. Lee was
> more of an
> houseboy/interpreter than a full time interpreter.
> He also was, for all
> intents, as much a prisoner as Dean since the North
> Korean's didn't trust
> him. In early October, Gen. Dean was moved north
> from P'yongyang via a
> captured U.S. Dodge 3/4-ton ambulance. Lee went
> with him. This took place
> after dark but I forgot the date but think it was
> around the 13th. The
> ambulance drove off the road a few miles north of
> P'yongyang and
> overturned. Dean was slightly injured in this
> wreck. Lee escaped during
> the confusion and hid until American forces took
> P'yongyang, then turned
> himself into them, claiming to be an American (which
> he was) and had been
> General Dean's interpreter. Although interrogators
> doubted this claim,
> they separated him from the general POW population
> (isolation.) A few days
> later, Col. Willian A. Coulter, who was on 8th Army
> Staff and had been
> Dean's roommate at West Point, went and interviewed
> Lee in detail. Lee
> provided enough details which would have only been
> known to someone who had
> been in close contact with Dean (including
> describing scars) to convince
> Coulter Lee had indeed been with Dean. While most
> at 8th Army Headquarters
> didn't believe Lee's account, Coulter's belief was
> enough to have Lee
> moved to Pusan and put in isolation. In late 1951,
> Lee's American birth
> and citizenship was confirmed but the question
> remained as to whether he
> had voluntarily joined the NKPA (thus violating U.S.
> Law) or had been
> forcibly drafted. There also was the fact the U.S.
> that if Lee's account
> was true, the U.S. didn't want the North Koreans to
> know we knew Dean was
> alive so Lee was kept under guard at Pusan until
> after the war was
> over. When Dean was released, he confirmed what Lee
> had said. At this
> point very sketchy information indicates Lee was
> taken to the U.S. and
> released. I don't know for sure this happened but
> think this is probably
> true
>
> > >>2) An Afro-American US Army Sgt defected and
> drove trucks for CCF. Any
> > info
> >on this man?<<
>
> Nothing on this man in particular but POW debriefs
> indicate the CCF took a
> number of low-ranking captured American drivers and
> mechanics (of all
> ethnic groups) and put them to work fixing and
> driving captured U.S.
> trucks. They also separated out low ranking heavy
> equipment operators,
> radio repairmen and the like. These people were
> never seen after they were
> taken from the POW camps and not returned in either
> Big or Little
> Switch. Indications are they were taken to China
> and put to work operating
> captured U.S. equipment and teaching Chinese
> soldiers to operate/repair
> this equipment. This said, some of those used as
> drivers were seen by
> other U.S. POWs as late as spring, 1953. Most of
> these men are on the
> "known to be alive after the end of hostilities"
> list.
>
> Regards
>
>
>
>
>
> >Thanks,
> >
> >
> >ysk
>
> Ed Evanhoe, PO Box 916, Antlers, OK, 74523 Ph.
> 580-298-3795
> Author: DARKMOON: Eighth Army Special Operations in
> the Korean War
> Life Member: Special Forces & Special Operations
> Associations
> Web site: http://www.korean-war.com
>
>
>
>
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