Customer Reviews

In Enemy Hands: A Prisoner in North Korea

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Larry Zellers, a newly married Methodist minister serving as a missionary and teacher in a small South Korean town near the 38th parallel, was taken prisoner in the early days of the Korean War. He and his fellow prisoners were American combat soldiers who were the very first to arrive in Korea from bases in Japan. The youngest among them had received only minimal combat training. All of the mean were inadequately trained and furnished with sometimes malfunctioning weapons. After being taken prisoner by the North Koreans, the men suffered incredible hardships of cold, hunger, physical abuse, lack of medical attention, fatigue, fear isolation, and intimidation. In Enemy Hands is Zellers' first-hand story of his captivity from June 25, 1950 to his release in 1953. Throughout his personal account Zellers shows that, despite the opinion that POWs live only for themselves, many in the camps worked to help others and conducted themselves with honor. Zellers became a U.S. Air Force chaplain after his release. In Enemy Hands is a valued, important, biographical contribution to the growing body of Korean War literature and a much appreciated contribution to any academic, public library military history collection.

I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Zellers through the Methodist church that we both attended in Weatherford, Tx. I had heard through other church members that Larry had written a book about his experience in Korea. I even spoke to him about it in casual conversation stating a desire to read it when I got a chance. He didn't seem to want to talk about the details of it and I didn't press the matter. Unfortunately it was Larry's death that finally prompted me to purchase and read his story.

What an incredible story. It was hard to understand how the gentle elderly man that I knew could have ever possibly survived the horrors that he describes in his book. Larry was one of the very first prisoners of the Korean war and was held captive for the duration. He witnessed many atrocities as well as survived many himself. Larry doesn't emphasize his faith in this book as much as one might expect, but it is obvious that it was his faith in God that carried him through. I believe that the following quote from the book summarizes Larry's faith and his struggles with the reality of his situation.

"I had seen the first of many American soldiers to drop out that day because they could not keep up with the grueling pace through the snow. For a moment the realization that these young men would soon be in the presence of God filled me with awe and almost succeded in converting this barbaric scene into one of tranquillity. Then I was brought back to reality: someone was dying -- someone was responsible for this outrage."

We homeschool and wanted some good books/biographies about the Korean War. This book is a jewel. It is about a Methodist minister held as a POW for three years by the N. Koreans and Chinese. The author makes you feel like you are right there with him in the POW camps. He incorporates so much knowledge of the country of Korea, geography,politics of the day, and the mind set of the communist N. Korean way of thinking and what happens to POW's physically as well as emotionally. My dad served in N. Korea and I came away from this book with a greater respect for what my dad and his commrades must have witnessed in this "Forgotten War".

It does not have any bad language but his discription of the death march is very real and heartbreaking. We learned more about the Korean War from this book than any textbook out there.

Great book on a little reported subject-POW life during the Korean War. Mr. Zellers does an awesome job conveying the fears and hopes of POWs during that time. You can viscerally feel their fear through his writing. I highly recommend this moving book to anyone with even a passing interest for Korean War history.