Customer Reviews

Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten War: An Oral History of Korean War POWs

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The film Manchurian Candidate was held up, because JFK was killed just before it was to be released. As a suspense film, it was very good. As a history , or metaphor for American soldiers caputured in the Korean War, it was and remains false and ugly. New Yorker, a magazine long noted for good reporting, contributed to what amounted to a "black list" of our military men with stories that were, at best gross exaggerations of true stores.

This book, at last, gives the men who were incarcerated for months and years in that cold barren countr -a voice. In the tradition of Studs Turkel, they tell of their experience. Mostly men hastily trained, they faced brutal captors and brutal conditions. If few were "heroic",very very few betrayed either country or colleague. Despite the sensational blather that followed. Worse!. When freed, they were put on ships and rather than receive care & TLC they were subject to interrogation Even back home, the Army , the FBI hounded some. This was the time of our own "red terror" I was drafted to the USMC-- and am proud to read that the Marines did not harass their men after they were freed.

Care & treatment floundered . I know, I worked at the VA Hospital in Dayton Ohio for 20 years. Nearly 30 years later the government made rules that made sense. Former Prisoners of War received a special focus, with the presuption that after such lengthy exposure to brutal contidions, many medical & emotional problems were very likely to show up.

Combat vets do not often talk about the events that lead to PTSD. Former POWs. have an additional memory bank of horror This book is not a "plea for help". It is a bit late anyway. But if you can put aside your need for mere flag waving, this book will give insights about war and it cosequences. I found a new respect for these men. I thought I had some understanding, but my vision was nearly that of a blind man

THE AUTHOR MANAGED TO PLACE THE PROPER TONE AND ETHOS
GIVING A TRUE EXPERENCIAL VIEW OF THE POW'S EXPERENCE.

IT IS THE FIRST BOOK I READ FROM AN AUTHOR AND NOT A EX-POW
WHO PROVIDED THE TRUTH IN THIS TIME OF OUR MILITARY HISTORY.

AS AN EX-POW OF THAT WAR I FEEL IT SAID AND INDEED GAVE A PROPER
ACCOUNT OF THE EARLY PART OF 1950-1951, AND THE HERRENDOUS
CONDITIONS THAT EXISTED.

IT IS MY HOPE SCHOOLS WILL SECURE THIS BOOK FOR THE LIBRARY AND THE HISTORY TEACHER WILL RECONMEND THE STUDENTS TO REVIEW IT FOR ASSAYS.

Any reader who is curious about the Korean War, and about the prisoner-of-war experience in particular, needs to read this book. This is the little-known story of American soldiers caught off-guard and unprepared for the wrong war at the wrong time, in the wrong place. The stories of capture, torture, and incarceration are shocking enough. But the author makes it clear that the POWs' challenges did not end with their release. Added to the survivors' physical and psychological burdens from the war was a humiliating reception at home. This was on two levels: indifference on the part of the public, and the paranoid scruitiny of the McCarthy-era government, which made far too much of supposed brainwashing. It's a breathtaking story to which most Americans remain oblivious today. When reading this book, the reader wonders how he/she might cope in this situation. At least this exercise generates a great deal of respect for the men to somehow survived to share their recollections for this book. I'm withholding a fifth star only beacuse of the almost excusive focus on American G.I.s. There are British, French, Canadian, Turkish, and many other U.N. troops whose POW experience is noteworthy.

This is a must read, especially now that we are in the middle of another unpopular war. If you want to know the way things really were for the POWs of the Korean War, read this book and the words of the POW soldiers who were there. Lewis Carlson's interviews and research are exemplary, spellbinding, sometimes graphic, and always reminding us, what price our freedom is purchased at. His depiction of war is real, not this stuff we often see in movies. We read about real men who have their own lives and feelings. Yet, soldiers who went off to war for different reasons. Some didn't want to go, but they did. They had all been trained to duty, honor, obey, and country, and in their own words their "honor," shines through. When you start to feel a little sorry for yourself, this is the book to pick up and you will soon forget all your troubles. Imagine, never knowing when your captors might decided to make an example of you and put a bullet in your head, or if you might get thrown in the freezing cell for 30 days. Ask yourself, could you survive on a cup of partially cooked millet a day? Learn how men depend on each other and yet have to survive as one. All this just scratches the surfaces of what Carlson is able to share. Are you aware that there are some who still believe that our POWs were willing collaborators with the enemy and turned Communist and make an bad name for those who gave up so much. The truth is plainly and truthfully laid out in these pages by the men who endured being beaten, terrorized, staved, froze nealy to death, riddled with disease or war wounds yet never given medical care, because there was none. Many died, yet many also came home and in the pages of this book you can read their honest story. How many of us have heard their stories in the 50 years since that war? After all their suffering of the most horrible atrocities imaginable, witnessing the deaths of their brothers, and then for these men to finally get to come home at the end of the war, did America welcome them home? did we hug them and help to put them back on their feet? No! First each was sorely interrogated as a war criminal. Then most if not all had great difficulty getting a job and were socially scared. For years they were still secretly under surveillance and some were further interrogated over and over again. All this, despite their innocence. Why, you may ask? That is a good question. You owe it to yourself, to learn the real truth and to be enlightened. I think this is one of the best historical books I have read in years. Let us not forget this war any longer nor the men who fought in it. Jerri Garofalo

In the epilogue of Eric Hammel's "Chosin: Heroic Ordeal of the Korean War," we are left with the beginning journey of a Marine's three year captivity as a POW (the Marines had blown the bridge without knowing they left some of their men behind). Wanting to learn the details of such captivity from veterans who actually experienced it, I began reading Mr. Carlson's book. I was not disappointed.

But soon I was shocked to learn how terribly so many of the military POWs were treated upon their release. It is within this context that I truly came to feel a sense of bitterness myself. Mr. Carlson's research is well documented, both from the individual veteran's experience (indeed, the men speak for themselves) as well as from a sociological perspective.

It was difficult getting through some of the book's passages, but then such were the atrocities and savagery they experienced. And so in this sense too the book is honest. Harsh but honest.

The book ends with a brief bio on each of the key witnesses and survivors, and I thought this was an excellent way to show how these brave men (and their often caring wives or children) chose to deal with life despite all the horrific challenges that the Korean War, POW camps and the (too often than not) disrespectful treatment at worst, forgetful at best, this nation gave to its fighting men.

Having taught Jr.High and High School courses this is a topic that has been seriously missed or forgotten in texts and seriousness.
The text is factual but ultimately frightening in respect to human treatment to others and war in general.
It also captures the strength of courage of the individual in the face of nearly unbeatable odds.

I highly recommend this book to readers who wish to understand what US prisoners in North Korea went through during the Korean War. The author allowed the former prisoners speak for themselves, with some comments in between. Although well written, the stories might be very hard to read for some people because of the horrors these men endured. Therefore, be prepared before beginning this book. However, I am very glad I read this book ( I read it on my iPod Touch Kindle Reader). One can understand why so many POWs died, and why it is terrible to claim the survivors were "brainwashed." Actually, they are heros.

My dad did not share his POW experiences. He was captured Thanksgiving Day 1950; released the last day; one of the last trucks across. This book has allowed me to learn more about the hell he lived through and appreciate the grit it took to make it back home in one piece and live a relatively normal life. It allowed me to figure out which camps he was in and the "living" conditions in those camps. A must read for anyone who has a family member who served in Korea and especially anyone who was captured.