Articles

In 2013 and 2014, the Korean War Veterans Digital Memorial Foundation, in partnership with CSPAN, conducted several interviews with veterans of the Korean War. Among those interviewed were U.S. Army veterans Salvatore Conte, Clifford Petrey, and Charles Ross, all of whom were captured and became prisoners of war. Video of these interviews, during which the veterans provide firsthand accounts of their experiences as soldiers, their imprisonment, and the impact it had on their lives, are hosted on the CSPAN website.

A print resource for prisoner of war experiences from the Korean War may be found in the book Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten War by Lewis H. Carlson, emeritus professor of American history at Western Michigan University. It contains numerous first-person accounts from prisoners of war covering subjects from food and medicine to U.S. fears about prisoners being subjected to Communist propaganda. St. Martin's Press features an excerpt from an interview with former prisoner of war Colonel Robert Coury on "The History Reader."

One of the first Air Force prisoners of war to return to Japan in Operation Big Switch was Staff Sergeant Robert M. Wilkins (center). He is shown arriving in Japan after the flight from Korea, August 18, 1953. U.S. Air Force photo.