The Flag: My Story: Kidnapped by Red China [Paperback]

Steve E. Kiba (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

The Flag is the true story about Steve Kiba, Radio Operator on an unarmed B-29 during the Korean War. He graphically details the horrors that began with his being shot down over North Korea and being captured and ended almost 32 months later with his release from a political prison in Peking, Red China.Steve vividly takes us from prison to prison on a 'virtual reality' journey through the Red Chinese gulag system. He shares his feelings of fear, anxiety, frustration, despair, abandonment, and hopelessness. His story allows us to endure vicariously the POW/MIA experience: unending hours of solitary, excruciating pain of seemingly endless interrogation and re-education sessions, the constant pain of hunger and unquenched thirst, and the devastating effects of prolonged sleep deprivation.Coupled with the pains of deprivation, we share his physical, emotional, and mental distress of living in utter filth, being denied even the most basic sanitary and hygienic needs, being daily threatened never to be released, and suffering the continuous barrage of false accusations: violating Red Chinese airspace, working for the CIA, and engaging in germ warfare.In October 1954, Steve was judged guilty of war crimes, and in November he was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Kiba was born February 5, 1932, in Lundale, West Virginia. His parents were Hungarian immigrants who worked hard to rear their eleven children. Seeking opportunities for better education and employment, the family moved to Akron, Ohio, in 1945. Steve graduated from Kenmore High School in 1950, and in July he joined the Air Force. He proudly served his country for 5 years, almost 32 months as a political prisoner in Red China. He was deported from Red China on August 4, 1955. After he left the Air Force, he went to college and earned a BA from the University of Akron in 1959 and an MA in Spanish from Kent State University in 1967. He and his wife Darlene now reside in South Carolina.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse; 1st ed edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403329052
• ISBN-13: 978-1403329059
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,498,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The incredible strength of human will., July 8, 2003

By 

Cicely Coen (Acworth, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Flag: My Story: Kidnapped by Red China (Paperback)

Mr. Kiba spins his incredible story of being shot down in the dead of winter with a group of airmen over North Korea during the Korean War. He was captured along with the other surviving airmen and taken into communist China as a political prisioner. The Chinese believed Stardust 40 invaded their airspace so the prisoners were not afforded the rights of normal POWs. With incredible detail he recalls his 2 1/2 years of starvation, interrogations, cruelty and "re-eduacation" by his chinese captors. He in detail remembers dates, recalls sightings of his co-captives, the trial where he was found to be a war criminal and the groups eventual release long after the war was over. I find his will to survive amazing as he fights to control even the smallest aspects of his life. The story is a true inspiration and is a great reminder that "Freedom is not Free". Kiba continues to fight for the rights of POW's up to this day. It's just sad his story took 50 years before it was printed.