Posted on 07/04/2003 12:15:23 PM PDT by DPB101
Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations (McCarthy Hearings 1953-54). Closed according to Senate rules for 50 years, these hearings are now available to researchers and the public.
STATEMENT OF SGT. BARRY F. RHODEN
Senator POTTER. Will you have a chair, Corporal. Will you identify yourself for the record, Corporal, and give your full name and your present unit.
Sgt. RHODEN. You are mistaken, Senator. My rank is sergeant, and my name is Barry F. Rhoden; Sergeant Barry F. Rhoden, RA 1432093. I am assigned to the 35th, in Jacksonville, Florida.
Senator POTTER. What is your home address?
Sgt. RHODEN. McClenny, Florida.
Senator POTTER. You are not kicking about your assignment?
Sgt.RHODEN. No, sir.
Senator POTTER. Sergeant, would you tell the committee what unit you were assigned to when you first went to Korea?
Sgt. RHODEN. I was in training with the Second Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Washington, when the Korean War started. We were alerted for Korea, and on the 22nd of July we left the States for Korea. We landed on about the 1st of August in 1950. About the 30th of August of 1950 we were up on the line, the Neptung River; and the exact position I do not know, sir.
Senator POTTER. Can you identify the approximate location on the map behind you?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes. Right around here near Taeju [indicating]. It was to the left of Taeju.
Senator POTTER. That was also on the Pusan perimeter area?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir.
Senator POTTER. That was the western boundary of the Pusan area?
Sgt. RHODEN. The whole time I was there I did not know north, south, or what; but it was in the area near Taeju. The exact dates, sir, I am not sure. In the affidavit I said on the 31st of August, sir, but I remember now when we were joking with each other about payday. That was the next company day. So it was on the 30th of August, sir, when the North Koreans hit us there and my unit was surrounded. On the morning of the 31st of August we were taken prisoner. We had no ammunition. I, along with sixty other fellows, was try-ing to move back to our lines. We were opened fire on by some of the North Koreans.
Senator POTTER. What was your duty with the company?
Sgt. RHODEN. I was the assistant squad leader, sir, in the 57 Mil-limeter Recoilless Rifle Squad. We were trying to get back to our lines, sir, and we were kind of off to the side of our company— on an outpost. When they overran the main positions we were firing and they missed us. We were throwing grenades in to a bunch of them, and they did not even notice us. I do not know what was wrong, whether they were doped or what. After we were out of ammunition, we were trying to get back to our lines.
We were moving along the edge of the lake or a little trail and we could hear the firing. We knew our lines were there some place, and we were trying to get to them. About a platoon of them opened fire on us from up on the moun-tain. We began to run. We had no ammunition. We knew it was the North Koreans and that they were after us. There was a bend in the trail— it went around the edge of the mountain— and out across the rice paddy I could see a bunch of fellows moving. They looked to me like GI's. I looked through binoculars and I could see they had on their GI uniform, the fatigue, the GI boots, and the steel helmets.
We actually thought they were GI's, sir. We had been chased a while and we were going to let them chase us right on into a trap, and it worked the other way. When they opened fire on us, the North Koreans opened fire on us. They came off the hill on us. The lake was at our back, sir, and we were helpless there.
Senator POTTER. How many of you were there in the group?
Sgt. RHODEN. There were seven to start with, sir, and three of the fellows were killed while we were being taken prisoners. We had just a few rounds each, sir, and our bayonets. We did the best we could, sir, but three of them were killed. The other four of us they put to carrying ammunition for them during the day. The lieu-tenant mentioned taking the dog tags. They took our dog tags. The officer who was in charge of the group that we were with, he had a nice roll of chains and he was making a collection of them.
Senator POTTER. That was the Korean officer, the North Korean officer?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir. Thereafter we were taken prisoner and there was this one officer— they wanted to shoot us several times and he would stop it. I take it he was the political officer. He had a little briefcase with a lot of papers, of propaganda, and pictures and so forth, and he would let us read those.
Senator POTTER. Were those the individual North Korean sol-diers?
Sgt. RHODEN. The North Korean GI's He would let them beat us but he would not let them shoot us. As long as you would look him right in the eye, it was all right; but if you turned your back, he would hit you. They hit us with their rifle butts. Maybe they would kick us or spit on us or beat us with a stick or something. They took all of the stuff we had on us— our billfolds, our watch-es, and our papers— and it was like a kid at a Christmas tree. He enjoyed getting all of it. We were put to carrying ammunition for them.
Senator POTTER. That was the same day?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir. They had loaded us down with the ammu-nition, sir, and some of us were loaded pretty heavy. When we would fall we got a flogging, sir. They had taken our boots and our jackets. The North Koreans, none of them could speak English, sir, and I could not speak their lingo. So the questioning they did was by drawings on paper and signs. They would draw a picture of a plane and they wanted to know how many planes we had.
So we put down ten planes— you had to put something. I did not know, sir, and I tried to let them know I did not know; and I would get a beating. So I got so I would mark and he would draw a plane. He would want me to mark how many and I would fill the page up. If I put maybe ten or twelve down, I got a beating. So I filled the page up and just kept going until he stopped me, and then he was satisfied. The same way with the tanks and the artillery.
Senator POTTER. This was all done by drawings?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, and by signs. He would draw his rank and I would draw my two stripes down.
Senator POTTER. Do you know what rank he had?
Sgt. RHODEN. No, sir, I do not. It was all confusing to me.
Senator POTTER. But he was an officer?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir. He had the runners coming to him, and when he gave an order the fellows jumped around. One time when he was questioning me, sir, he got a little rough with me, and this other fellow——
Senator POTTER. What do you mean, he got rough?
Sgt. RHODEN. He put the pistol to my head, right up here [indicating], and motioned I had better come across or else. This other fellow came up and run him away and then he sat down there with me, the old buddy-buddy. He pointed to me and then to himself, and he would go like that [indicating] and I would play dumb. He would go through the motion again, and again I would play dumb. So the next time he went through the motion, he took my hand and shook hands with me. I motioned I knew what he meant.
The other fellow said, '' He is trying to get friendly. Ask him for something to eat. '' We were all very hungry; our rations were run-ning low before we were taken prisoner. So we asked him for something to eat. He went into a rage. He beat us around a little. Then the fellows told me, '' Ask him for some water. '' So I asked him for water and they did give us a little water. But all of the questioning was by drawings, sir, and signs. After the questioning there, sir, where he tried to get buddy-buddy with me——
Senator POTTER. Was this the first day?
Sgt. RHODEN. This was all in the first day that I was taken prisoner, sir. From there we went on. They had a unit surrounded and they set up a road block. There was one vehicle, an army truck, trying to get in to the outfit and they knocked the truck out, killing the driver. Then there was one trying to get out from the unit that was trapped and they knocked the vehicle out.
There were two GI's there and one of them got away; he was wounded but he made it back down. We could see the unit out in the valley. An American infantry company started up to see if they could knock out the road block. They left a few there to try and hold them back while the main body of the ambush pulled back. They had us with them and it was getting along late in the afternoon. Just about dark, about two or three miles from where they had the unit surrounded, they stopped us.
A new officer had taken over, the one that had been questioning us, and he had stayed behind I guess. I did not see him anymore. This new officer went through questioning me again by drawings and signs. The rest of them were sitting up on the hill. We were on the little trail right by a rice paddy. They asked the other fellows questions. I was the squad leader at the time, and the fellows would look at me before they would try to give any answer. So they were really questioning me. They thought I knew all the answers.
After questioning me he gave me a little piece of paper about so long and so wide which was mimeographed. It had Korean writing on it and also English. The statement was, '' You are about to die the most horrible kind of death. ''
Senator POTTER. That was the statement that was given to you?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir. He gave me the statement and told me to read it to the fellows.
Senator POTTER. What did it say, again?
Sgt. RHODEN. '' You are about to die the most horrible kind of death. '' That was all there was to it, sir. I guess they wanted to maybe make us run, sir, or something, and have a sport with it.
When I read this statement, the other fellows— we had been expecting it. We had read of what had happened to some of the prisoners. After I read the statement I crumpled it up in my hand. I wanted it there when they found us. They took the statement away from me; they would not let me keep it. I do remember some of the fellows saying, '' Well, they are finally going to shoot us, '' or something like that, sir. So he motioned me to go where the other fellows were standing.
They were just about the length away from us as we are here, sir, and as I turned around to go— I did almost an about face. He had the burp gun over his shoulder— they carried it with a strap— and as I turned around, sir, I was shot in the back with the burp gun. The bullet knocked me down, sir. As the lieutenant said, I did a good job of playing dead, sir. It did not knock me out. I lay there. The way I fell, I could see the fellows out in front of me being shot.
Senator POTTER. He shot you in the back and then he shot the others?
Sgt. RHODEN. They shot me in the back, sir, and I laid there praying and pretending I was dead, sir. They shot the other fellows and then stopped over me and bayoneted the other fellows a time or two. Then they left. After a while they left.
After they had gone, sir, I began to move around when I thought it was safe. I was paralyzed from my waist down. I pulled myself around, and I noticed the other fellows were still alive, too. They were moving around. I went over and made them as comfortable as I could. There was a little embankment there and I pulled them down over it. A couple of them helped them get down. I stayed there, sir. I do not remember just exactly— I know there were four of us when we were shot.
There is one fellow that I am in doubt as to just what happened there. I understood later that he made it back to the States. I do remember two fellows there. I bandaged them up the best I could. I blacked out, sir.
When I came back to what I was doing, I was still there and it was dark. I felt the two fellows and they were stiff. I do not know how long I had been out there. The other fellows were definitely dead. I do not remember the third one. I am kind of foggy. I do not know if I could find them, and I do not think that I could find the other fellow.
Senator POTTER. You remember that two of them were dead?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes. I know I found two. The third one I am in doubt, sir. I do understand this other fellow made it back. I do not know if he is still in the army or out, sir. I crawled off to a little stream and drank some water. When I drank the water, sir, I blacked out. I do not remember anything else until——
Senator POTTER. This was at night?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir. They captured us in the morning and they shot us that night. I guess it was the same night, sir. When I drank the water I blacked out and I do not remember anything else until I was wandering around calling one of the fellows that had been shot with me.
And then a patrol of North Koreans— I saw them just about the same time they saw me— took a shot at me, sir. The bullet missed me. It was at awful close range, though. They came up where I was at and made me get up and walk up the side of the hill. They had me standing there and they were kind of a half circle around me.
One put his rifle up and made like he was going to shoot me. Then they would all laugh and he would take his rifle down and the next one would go through the same motion. At the time, sir, I was in such pain that I began to want to get it over with. I felt I would be better off. I sat down, and it made them mad, sir.
I was actually trying to provoke them into getting me out of my misery, sir. They were in a stew. Then I saw this little plane circling around. I do not know if he knew what was going on, but our planes started strafing them. When the planes started strafing them, one of the North Koreans— the one in charge; I guess he was an officer, sir— was hit. I picked up the little pot he had, the one he mixed his rice in, and started off down the hill.
At the bottom of the hill there were two of them who came from behind a rock with burp guns on them. They wanted to know in sign language where I was going. I motioned to the ones on the hill and motioned they were sending me to the stream to get water to take up to them. I got that story like I did the pot. When I got to the stream, it had pretty steep banks. I hid in a small pea patch. I pulled the vines over me. I had my little pot full of water.
They came looking for me but they did not find me. The rest of the time, sir, I would hide out during the day and move at night. Sometimes I do not know what I did. Sometimes I would be running around in the day time. Then I would hide out. Later I found out it was the 7th of September. I was just fixing to hide out for the day. I was almost ready to give up when I heard the vehicles, the motors, and I looked. I could see the big white star.
I knew it was our boys, sir, but they got by before I could get there at the time. I would raise up and just stumble until I would fall. I would give myself a pep talk and I would go again. I knew I was so near our lines. I made it out to the road. There was a jeep coming and a tank, and then a truck loaded with GI's. I guess they were replacements, sir. I guess as the lieutenant said, sir, with the wounded they usually had an ambush waiting. So they were kind of leary there. I began to think they were going to shoot me. But they got down and the sergeant got out of the jeep.
I was doubled up and I did not have any shoes or any shirt, The sergeant asked me, '' What is the matter? Do you have a cramp? '' I told him, '' Yes, I have got a cramp. '' I asked him if he would take me to the aid station. I do not know what unit it was, sir. I was so glad to get back.
Senator POTTER. How long were you behind the enemy lines?
Sgt. RHODEN. I was taken prisoner and shot on the 31st of August of 1950. Later I found out it was the 7th of September when I made it back to our lines. The affidavit I have there, sir, I believe it says I was captured and shot on the 1st of September. On my medical record they say I made it back to my lines, or I was wounded, on the 7th of September. That is the date I made it back to our lines.
Senator POTTER. Whereabouts were you shot in the back?
Sgt. RHODEN. The bullet went in just below my belt in the back and fractured my spine and nicked my spine. The reason I was paralyzed, the bullet went through my bladder and out through the front, sir.
Senator POTTER. That is certainly quite a story. What time did you get back to the States?
Sgt. RHODEN. I believe, sir, it was the 27th day of September of 1950. I was awfully glad to get back, though.
Senator POTTER. I can well imagine. Actually, you are the only one of the seven who came back, outside of this one man that you are not sure of?
Sgt. RHODEN. I was under the impression he was, sir. I saw a picture in a magazine of my old top kick, the first sergeant, sir, and I wrote him a letter. He was in a hospital, sir, and I wrote him a letter. He wrote back and told me that this other follow had made it. I began to check around, and I think that he did make it, sir.
Mr. O'DONNELL. I think we can let the record show that there was another survivor. The other survivor's story up to the point of the shooting completely corroborates Sergeant Rhoden's story.
Sgt. RHODEN. His name, sir, when I made my affidavit I saw from the War Crimes Section a little statement there that he had made it. His name was Updegraaf, George Updegraaf. He was from Kansas City, I believe, or Oklahoma City.
Mr. O'DONNELL. We should have that in the record, that it is completely corroborated.
Senator POTTER. Sergeant, did they try to indoctrinate you at all?
Sgt. RHODEN. He gave us a lot of the literature to read. They have a picture up in the corner of an officer, always an officer. They have a long list of stuff there, about how nice it was, to come on over. They wished we would come on over and join with them; why fight the people?
It was the same old Wall Street story and the capitalists. There were remarks about our president, sir, and it was all phony. You could see it was phony, sir, every bit of it. You could see right through it. Also, when we read the stuff we would laugh and joke about it. None of them could speak English, so we did not have to worry about what we said too much.
Senator POTTER. They did not have an interpreter with their group?
Sgt. RHODEN. There was no one. I heard one word I could under-stand while I was a prisoner, sir. When our planes were strafing them and the marine corps were there, he called it whispering death. He said '' whispering death'' as plain as I can say it, sir. They cut their engines in to throw the rockets. They wanted to know about the planes, and they kept questioning us about them. They did not like them too well. As I said, we marked down ten planes and we got a beating. If we filled up a couple of pages, then they were satisfied.
Senator POTTER. I want to make sure that I have this clearly in mind. As I understand, after you were captured the second time by this group and our planes strafed the group, their leader was killed?
Sgt. RHODEN. There were several of them killed, sir, out of the bunch. I say '' several, '' sir, but there were three or four. Actually I will tell you, sir, I saw this little plane up there circling. I guess it was an artillery or an observation plane.
As I said, I was trying to provoke them into shooting me. My tummy felt like I had hot lead in it, sir, and I actually spit at them when they were trying to make me stand up. Then all of a sudden the plane was there. When the plane started strafing them— I do not know why I picked the pot up off the officer's pack, but I grabbed the pot. I do not know, sir. When I saw the plane strafing them I was ready to give up, but when the plane hit and I saw I had a chance, it gave me the pop to try it again.
Senator POTTER. Then you ran down towards a creek and you met two other North Koreans and they thought you were going after water for them, is that right?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, sir, I was stumbling down the hill and the planes were still strafing up behind me on the hill where I had just left. These two North Koreans came from behind the rock and they wanted to know where I was going. They saw I was wounded, and when they made me walk up the hill I started bleeding an awful lot.
My pants were all bloody and they wanted to know '' bang-bang? '' I motioned '' bang-bang'' and they had to look to see where I had been shot. It pleased them, sir. Then they wanted to know where I was going and I motioned that the ones on the hill were sending me to get the water.
I got the story like I did the pot. I had a good line, sir. The planes strafing up there, they fell for the story. They stood there and watched me. The stream was about one hundred yards away and I kept looking back, and they were watching me. When I got to the stream it had deep banks, but the water was only about a foot deep. So I went up and hid in the pea patch. When it got night, I started moving back to our lines.
As for the treatment we had, sir, this one officer would let them beat us up but he would not let them shoot us. When we asked for something to eat we got a beating. But he did send off to get some water for us. He sent off the little pot for the four of us, and when they brought it back there was about an inch of water to the pot. I split the water with the other fellows. He did not know what to think about that. The water was for me and he did not care about the other fellows at the time he was trying to get stuff out of me.
Senator POTTER. During that seven-day period, you had no food?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, I managed. The North Koreans had been through the area, sir. Actually, the most of what they ate was what they could get out of gardens. I found one little cucumber about so big and I ate the cucumber, but it made me sick and I wished I had not eaten it. I had one little cucumber.
Senator POTTER. When they would beat you, would they beat you around the head or where?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, mostly, as I said, sir, if you could look him in the eye— I do not know why it was— but you would stare him down and he would not do it. Usually we were carrying equipment or something, and if we fell then they beat us on the backs with their rifle butts. Maybe he would come up behind you or if you walked by him going along, as you passed he would reach out and hit you with his rifle butt.
They always hit us from behind, usually up and down in the back. I got hit once right behind my neck. That was about the only time I was hit around the head. I did have the pistol— they keep punching you with a pistol when they wanted information and they thought you were not telling them. They keep poking you with a pistol. It was a pretty gun and made on the order of our 45. It had the big red star in the handle. There was a little hole in there. There was a red star and USSR, sir.
Senator POTTER. A Russian pistol?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir. I saw the USSR.
Senator POTTER. The leader was the one— he allowed the beating but at that time he did not want any of the men to shoot you. But was it the leader that shot you?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, sir, let me straighten this out now. The first one— which I take it was the political officer, as he had the brief-case with the stuff— he is the one that would not let them shoot us. But he was separated from us when this one infantry company was coming in there, sir, and they moved up and got in their skir-mish line and started forward. There was about a battalion of them that had us. There were a few hundred of them. They left just enough to hold the company off, and they began to actually run. We tried to make a break there, sir, even while the planes were strafing them we would try and we could even plan and, talking just like I am, what we were going to do.
When the planes started strafing them, they would always circle us, and point their guns at us, and when they started running I began to fall back and tell the other fellows to fall back, and we were going to jump them when we got back on the end. But they caught on to us and wouldn't let us. But the political officer, what I take is the political officer, he stayed behind and we were separated from him while we were running there, sir. Then when they stopped us there——
Senator POTTER. When you were shot, was it the leader of the group that did the shooting?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, he was the leader of the group. I guess he was, the rank, sir, I don't know what it was. The piece of paper I had crumpled up in my hand, his aide was there to get it away from me. There were runners coming to him and leaving him.
Senator POTTER. You assume he was an officer?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, when he gave the orders, you could see them jump around.
Senator POTTER. It was an officer that shot you?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, he had the burp gun and shot me. They got right up to my face to question me and they were trying to get into my face, and I did an about-face and I was shot by this same follow.
Senator POTTER. How far were the other men away from you at the time?
Sgt. RHODEN. Approximately as far from me to you, sir.
Senator POTTER. About twenty-five or thirty feet or something like that?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir.
Senator POTTER. And he shot you and then he shot you first and then he shot the others?
Sgt. RHODEN. He shot me, and the bullet knocked me down, sir, and of course there was no pain at the time and when I fell I was kind of like this and I could see the way the fellows were, and I see them as they were being shot.
Senator POTTER. And they were shot and then some were bayo-neted, is that true?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir.
Senator POTTER. And afterwards you helped take care of a couple of them so that you know that some of them were bayonet wounds?
Sgt. RHODEN. I talked to them for a while, sir. They lived for quite a while and I don't know just how long. They were talking, though, trying to pep each other up.
Senator POTTER. But they died that night?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, they did.
Mr. O'DONNELL. I would like to go back to when you were seven and the seven were overrun for lack of ammunition and you held out as long as you could, and three of you were killed. How were the circumstances of those three deaths?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, sir, they were closing in on us, and as I said they were coming up behind us, and from out in the rice paddy and the lake behind us, and they were just about fifty feet up there, just swarming off like ants. This one fellow, the squad leader, a bullet creased him along the side of his head and he fell and before he fell, sir, he said '' I am hit, '' and he was right by me. I know he was playing dead because he stayed there for just a few minutes and a few seconds, and fired his rifle the last couple of times there, and he fell, sir, and I saw him look a couple of times.
I was looking around to see how many of us there were. Then the squad leader fell and he was playing dead, sir, and the other two fellows, I don't know how badly they were hit. After they got us there, sir, they went over and they bayoneted the fellows, and the other two fellows and shot them in the head and I don't know if the other two were playing dead or not. But I do know——
Senator POTTER. Whether they were dead or not, they shot them?
Sgt. RHODEN. They were the three of them were down, sir, on the ground and they went up to these two and shot them and bayo-neted them several times, sir, and the squad leader, here he was my very good friend and I know he was playing dead and I was pulling for him, and maybe he could make it, sir, but they walked up to him and this officer, he was the one that was in command of the troops, sir.
Senator POTTER. He wasn't the political officer?
Sgt. RHODEN. Not the political officer and he stuck a rifle right down to his head and shot him. I know he was playing dead be-cause after he shot him, you could see him moving, you know, and you could tell he was dying. I know he was playing dead, sir, when he was shot and the rifle was put right to his temple and he was shot.
Mr. O'DONNELL. Were any of the four who were captured, wounded?
Sgt. RHODEN. Maybe one or two creased, sir, and one nicked me across my stomach, and he was fixing to bayonet me and I had one round left and I had a pistol, a 45 automatic and one round left, and I was saving it for myself, sir.
I was going to shoot myself before I would be taken prisoner, and I just didn't have what it takes to pull the trigger and the excuse I made to myself was as long as I have got a breath I have got a chance. I looked and he was coming down, and we were right by a little embankment and he was fixing to bayonet me and the bayonet got me along the side here and I shot him, sir, with the last round. I was wounded just a little place along my ribs where the bayo-net hit me and the other fellows had been creased with a bullet, the best I can remember, sir.
Mr. O'DONNELL. The prime reason they didn't kill the four who were not seriously wounded was because they needed them to pack ammunition and water, and so forth?
Sgt. RHODEN. I take it, sir, they did load us down, and they gave us a tremendous load to carry. And it was an awful load and they kept prodding us, too. It was heavy, actually it was pretty rough going. It was just about all that you could prod along with and it was enough that you would fall with it. None of us were seriously wounded, no, sir. When we fell we would get flogged . . .(snip)
Senator POTTER. You are limited to service in the army, but on active duty?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir.
Senator POTTER. Sergeant, do you mind if I ask you the same questions I asked the lieutenant? You have an experience first-hand, and do you have any comments that you would like to make concerning the Communist movement here in our country?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, sir, I was fighting in Korea, sir, and I hated them, and after I arrived back here, of course, we didn't hear too much about communism. Actually, sir, I didn't actually know what it was until the Korean War started and I began to see what I could find out about it. I finally made Korea and I hated them and after I went into the hospital I was on a public appearance tour, and I received some letters from them, around, and it is all the way I take it, sir, for the same purpose.
They are trying to overthrow our government, and it is all for the same purpose. If I hate them in Korea I see no reason why I shouldn't hate them here. You asked me my personal opinion, sir, and that is the way I feel about it.
Senator POTTER. Sergeant, did the political officer, you men-tioned he asked you about the number of planes and the number of tanks and so forth, did he ask you any political questions about your home life or anything of that kind?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, he wanted to know where I was from, and the way he would draw a map of Korea and he put Japan and the States, and then he wanted to know where I was from, where I come from, from the States to Korea or from Japan to Korea, or what. I was confused by doing this. I didn't know, and then he would get rough and so I motioned the States and he wanted to know maybe in the States and he wanted to know what point. As for my address, sir, I had a lot of stuff in my wallet and I didn't have time to get rid of anything, and they had all of the stuff I had, as to the information as to the addresses and so forth. They wanted to know where in the States I was from and so forth. Now, I got some pretty nasty letters, from the time I was on the tour, sir, a couple that made some pretty——
Senator POTTER. Do you have those letters with you?
Sgt. RHODEN. No, sir, I don't have them with me, and I turned them over to our intelligence officer, sir, at district headquarters.
Senator POTTER. Could you give us the essence of what they said in the letter?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, sir, it was along the same line we had over there, maybe it was put together a little better. Actually I didn't read it too thoroughly, or try to memorize any of it. You could tell from where it was from, one point in the state and one from an-other, and none of them were signed. They called President Truman at the time, sir, a puke from Missouri, and about MacArthur, remarks along the same line. I turned the letter over to——
Senator POTTER. The letters were postmarked from the United States?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, the one calling Truman a puke from Missouri was from Daytona Beach, I believe. I turned the letter over.
Senator POTTER. Do you know where the other one was post-marked from?
Sgt. RHODEN. From St. Petersburg, Florida, and maybe one was Coral Gables.
Senator POTTER. Colonel Whitehorn, do you suppose we could get those letters from G– 2?
Col. WHITEHORN. I wouldn't know. I can check on that.
Senator POTTER. Were you intimidated in any other way after you got back from the Communists?
Sgt. RHODEN. No, sir, just the letters. I was encouraged in the letters to write my congressman, and so forth, and try to get the useless killing stopped in Korea and if you have got the letter you will get an idea, all of them are along the same line. Actually, sir, at the time when I got the first letters, I didn't turn them in, and I might still have some of them. What I did get, if I have them I don't know, sir, but I have to check through that, but this one or two that I turned in, sir, they are all along the same lines, sir, and I turned in two that I know of.
Mr. JONES. Let me get this information for the record. The basis of your conversation with the political officer in Korea was reestablished again in the form of a letter to you mailed in the United States, is that correct?
Sgt. RHODEN. Well, sir, the letters were on the same line as the pamphlets he gave us, yes, sir. It was on the same line.
Senator POTTER. Capitalistic war and so on?
Sgt. RHODEN. Yes, sir, the same stuff and you read one letter and the next one in the same way, and they don't vary such.
Senator POTTER. But the correspondence corresponds with the type of indoctrination they tried to give you in Korea?
Sgt. RHODEN. Oh, yes, sir.
Mr. JONES. And we would assume that your name was sent through the regular Communist channels to the Communist party in this country?
Sgt. RHODEN. I wouldn't know that, sir.
Mr. JONES. That would very likely be the way they would act.
16 other veterans testified about Korean War atrocities. Their statements are in Volume 3.
Fifties-speak for an automatic rifle...."Tommy Gun"
Sergeant Rhoden: Since I was a kid, I’ve loved stories about folks doing heroic things by overcoming fear. This is another extraordinary story. (I wasn’t two months old when he was captured.)
McCarthy’s Senate Committee; HUAC; Cold War: Both of my parents loved politics and were anti-communists. From the time that I was just little kid, I was raised listening to them (and others) discuss/debate the cold war and its domestic implications. Were my father still alive, he’d really love to read these newly released transcripts. People who weren’t around in the fifties have no idea how important all this stuff was at the time. If asked, I'm sure my mother (who is still alive) would place great emphasis on the words "at the time" in the last sentence. And, of the two, she had the better political instincts.
Mr. Hacko (Post 16): Am I supposed to feel sorry for this guy? The whole examination couldn’t have lasted more than 15 or 20 minutes. I’ve been through much worse. And recently, I might add. ;-)
Thanks for the ping. Good stuff!!
Other topics include: Oppenheimer, treason in the State Department, espionage at the Ft. Monmouth Army labs, possible sabatoge at the Voice of America, governmental purchase of books by writers who were members of the CPUSA, an anticommunist Russia who lost his job after testifying about communist influence, a contract on McCarthy's life by the CPUSA and so on. Mr Hacko above is just one example of the lunatics with whom McCarthy had to deal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.