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My
Dearest, beloved wife,
This is a condensed version of my two and a half month POW
"vacation" up in North Korea. As you know, I was shot down late
afternoon on 19 June. I was hit by flak just after pulling off the target.
My F-86 went out of control so I ejected, pulled the ripcord and the
parachute opened. I looked down and a ring of Chinese soldiers were
maneuvering in a circle. I landed in the ring and was captured immediately
after touching down. I was not injured and the Chinese treated me fairly
well. I was shot down approximately 20 miles north of the front lines in
the central part of North Korea, and I was imprisoned there for two days.
Then after several nights of travel in a truck (nothing moved during
daylight hours there), I arrived at a place called Sinanju that was close
to the Yalu River and Antung, a MiG-15 base.
I spent
over five weeks there under continuous and intensive questioning. There
were three other POWs close by, each in small rooms, but I was not allowed
to speak with them. I did manage to see them out of my darkened cell quite
often. In early August, we were herded on to another truck and rode to the
east for about 14 hours. We arrived at a POW camp by the Yalu River. I was
in the Camp Number 2 annex. We were kept separated from the other POWs for
two nights and a day. Upon joining the group, we were told by the Chinese
that a cease-fire had been agreed to and that we would leave in three
weeks to be repatriated. We actually headed south by truck 13 days later
on the morning of the 19th of August. We were delayed a day or two due to
heavy rains that flooded the area and had washed out wooden bridges
leading out of the valley. We arrived that night in the town of Mampo and
boarded a train. The train ride to Kaesang took 42 hours. We stayed in
"tent city" until today, 5 September, and then crossed over into
Freedom Village.
Ten 36th
FBS pilots, including Lt. Col. Ruby and my pet dog Figmo, will arrive here
tomorrow afternoon. Sure was glad to hear that because we cannot leave
this compound due to health reasons. It will be good to see the troops
tomorrow.
Goodnight my wonderful sweetheart, always, Vic
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