MyResearch

My Research

Operation Big Switch: Korean War POWs Oral History Summary

Operation Big Switch was the formal prisoner of war exchange of all remaining prisoners of the Korean War between August 5, 1953 and December 23, 1953. The armistice to end the war had been signed on July 27, 1953. United Nations troops handed back 75,797 North Koreans and Chinese soldiers back to the Communists, and an additional 23,000 refused repatriation, hoping not to have to go back. A total of 3,597 Americans were returned, with a total of 21 refusing repatriation. A group of 149 American prisoners sick and wounded had had been released in Operation Little Switch in April/May 1953. The prisoners were first processed at Munsan-ni and then recovered in Tokyo. The American military had learned from Little Switch that the POWs should be allowed to slowly recover from their ordeals and get used to freedom again. The Communists had used “brainwashing” techniques in an attempt to indoctrinate the prisoners to communism. Major General William Dean, commander of the US 24th Infantry Division, was the highest ranking POW repatriated.  Sources http://korea50.army.mil/history/index.shtml -The Tough Prisoners, Time Magazine archives, September 21, 1953, [|http://www.time.com/time /magazine/article/0,9171,890635,00.html] -Coming Up Slowly, Time magazine archives, May 4,1953, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article.0,9171,818371-2,00.html

[] (This is a newsreel of one of the interviews, not my Uncle Romy though.)