Re: 'US Soldiers Abused PoWs During The Korean War'

[Love Shack <Home@DanSources.com>]

Kinda hard to value your opinions with
your Prejudice hanging on your shoulder.



Robert wrote:

> This is a story that broke first in the Guardian, a Socialist fish
> wrapper. Anyone who reads this and attributes any credence to the
> outlandish claims is either ignorant of history and the facts, or merely
> gulible.There were UN and Red Cross observers on hand who would have
> reported such insanity had it indeed happened. Unsupported claims such
> as this serve no useful purpose on this list, and fly in the face of
> reason. The full story in the Guardian is even more improbable.
>
> Mike Davino wrote:
>
> >I think the UK has a fifty-year "Official Secrets"
> >law.  I wonder what other Korean War "secrets" like
> >this one will be coming out in the next couple of
> >years.
> >
> >Mike Davino
> >
> >War London Times
> >January 3, 2003
> >
> >'US Soldiers Abused PoWs During The Korean War'
> >
> >By Richard Ford and Richard Beeston
> >
> >A young British army officer ordered to take over a
> >prisoner of war camp during the Korean War wrote a
> >scathing report about the treatment of North Korean
> >prisoners held by American troops.
> >
> >The attack was brought to the attention of ministers
> >but kept secret until yesterday. It accused the
> >Americans of incompetence, ill-discipline, abuse and
> >breaking the Geneva Conventions on treatment of
> >prisoners. The document was written in August 1952 by
> >Major Dawney Bancroft of the King’s Shropshire Light
> >Infantry, who commanded a Commonwealth unit sent to
> >the island of Koje-do to take over the running of a
> >prison camp where 3,200 North Korean officers were
> >held. Although British troops were fighting alongside
> >the Americans against the Chinese-backed North
> >Koreans, co-operation between the allies appeared to
> >break down away from the front.
> >
> >The British reported that American soldiers on sentry
> >duty often fell asleep, or abandoned their posts to
> >spend the night in local brothels. They rarely
> >searched the prisoners’ quarters and mail was
> >distributed erratically. He said that prisoners were
> >usually addressed by their American captors as
> >“slant-eyed, yellow bastards”.
> >
> >Early on in his command, Major Bancroft intervened to
> >protect a sick prisoner who was being mistreated by an
> >American soldier assigned to take him to hospital.
> >
> >“This was the first of many occasions I witnessed US
> >troops openly violating the Geneva Conventions,” he
> >wrote.
> >
> >He was in no doubt of the fanaticism of the North
> >Korean commissars who effectively ran prison life. On
> >one occasion he watched as 100 prisoners were killed
> >in clashes with American troops trying to clear a
> >camp.
> >
> >“It was during this phase of reorganisation that it
> >became more evident that the US officers and soldiers
> >responsible for the operation of enclosure thought the
> >Chinese and Korean PW (prisoners of war) were Oriental
> >cattle who were to be given quite different treatment
> >to a European,” he wrote.
> >
> >Major Bancroft went on to become a brigadier-general
> >and died in 1995.
> >
> >
> >__________________________________________________
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> >