Not sure
I have an older friend (he used to be a cop) who was in Korea. He was with the 1st Cav and his battalion under orders from their CO surrendered. When he first told me that story I was shocked. Not trying to sound like John Wayne but the word surrender was never part of my working vocabulary.
Gene said his M-1 was working and he had plenty of ammo and felt like crap about giving up. However there were men around him who had already laid down their weapons and were walking toward the Chinese. He said he figured that if he started shooting his friends would have been mowed down.
While a captive they had barracks with just one door. They were made to wipe their feet on the door matt, an American flag, before entering. He tells me he stepped over the flag one day and a couple of Chinese used him as a training aid to do vertical and horizontal butt strokes. Given his circumstances, I have no idea what I would have done. Just glad it never came to that.
Now as far as pilots getting shot down over enemy territory, I can sort of understand the POW thing.
In WWII didn?t we have a couple of Divisions surrender during the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge? That was pretty bad. You?d think that at least some of the guys would have found some place to hide in an attempt to avoid capture. Maybe they did.
Anyway, if they want to give these men a little, very little, money for enduring POW status, what the hell. Can't you see arguments on both sides of the issue? It?s not like their going to give people extra money for burning draft cards.
Stay healthy,
Andy
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