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Interview With Korean War POW: I Went To China To Build Friendship

By VVAW

James Veneris, a former POW during the Korean War, chose to live in the Peoples' Republic of China following that war. Denounced as a "turncoat" by US government and military officials, he recently was given permission to visit his native country, the US, to see relatives and friends here. As part of his visit Veneris has been travelling around the country speaking of the friendship between the Chinese and American people. During his travels, VVAW was able to interview Mr. Veneris about his experiences and what he has learned from them.

Born in a small steel town near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in a working class family, his father worked the coal mines, foundry and other similar jobs in the western Pennsylvania area. After graduating from high school, James Veneris, discouraged by jobs that paid wages like $3.50 a week, joined the Army in 1940. He fought for 5 years through the jungles of the Pacific until World War II ended in 1945. After the war he went from job to job, punctuated by layoffs.

"When the Korean War came, I was working in the auto factory in Detroit. I thought, I can go back in the Army After all, my friends were there. I had a terrific struggle in my mind for a time, but I went back in the Army and went to Korea.

"When I First went to Korea, the first thing that astounded me was the morale of the United Nations troops. Everywhere I went there wasn't the spirit of fighting there was in World War II. Also I thought of another thing. What are we doing in Korea anyway? When I saw the Korean people and saw the women and children of North Korea, they were really fighting. I was told they were slaves. Then I looked around me at the United Nations troops. They called them (the Korean people) 'Gooks.' Why should they call them Gooks? Didn't McCarthy (the violently anti-communist witch-hunting Senator from Wisconsin) say we must go to Korea and liberate them? Then why can't they liberate themselves? Why do we have to help them? I had a lot of questions in my mind but I think Korea answered them for me.

"We (the American people) were told about the Communist menace, millions of 'reds' from China and Korea would overrun the world, how cruel they were and how they took over a country and killed and tortured the people. When I went there and saw the Korean people fighting so bravely; if they were slaves, why where they fighting in this way?. . . What did we go do Korea for? To protect American business interest."

When questioned about the so-called Chinese invasion of Korea, Mr. Veneris replied, "I don't know if a lot of people know about this, but the Chinese government warned the US and the UN, 'Don't cross the 38th Parallel' (the dividing line between North and South Korea). Then the American troops crossed the 38th Parallel. A lot of troops felt very bad about that action. When the American troops got to the Yellow River (the border between North Korea and China) they also started to bomb the cities in Northeast China and many people were killed. The Chinese sent volunteers to help the North Korean people after they were bombed, after US troops crossed the 38th Parallel and not before. . . In World War II we were fighting a just war; in Korea we felt something was unjust about it. How can you fight and win when you treat people as inferiors? We even treated the South Koreans like that. . . Where were all these big shots (like McCarthy, Truman, MacArthur) at while we were in Korea? They were in Washington raving about Communism. I thought about that, too."

Asked about the circumstances leading to his capture, Veneris recalled: "When I got to Korea I was a replacement. I started to walk up North to join my outfit. The UN troops were going south. They were battered up and retreating. It looked pretty screwy to me. Korea at that time was already flattened to the ground. . . . I finally got to my outfit up North and fighting was going on. Everyone was retreating. We started moving south at the end of a convoy. The convoy, that was about a hundred miles long, got stuck. I'll never forget that day, November 28, 1950. All of a sudden, at 2 in the morning, the Chinese attacked. We couldn't see anybody; we were surrounded. They could have cut us to pieces but they didn't. I tried to start a vehicle but couldn't. I ran up this mountain and hid there with another guy and a little Korean boy. Later we climbed to the top of this mountain and hid in this hold until the fog cleared. We saw thousands of Chinese volunteers, close enough so we couldn't move. WE thought about how we could get out of there. I said, "By golly we can't give up; that would be unpatriotic. Then I thought about blowing my brains out, but I thought if I did that I couldn't fight anymore. It was cold, didn't have a damn cigarette on me and I was hungry. We couldn't move. The same afternoon we saw a bunch of GIs, UN troops, they were prisoners. I didn't want to be taken prisoner, but I looked down and saw they were being treated good and they were even being given food. . . . Finally I just made up my mind. Saying, 'Well they'll probably kill us, but I couldn't stand it anymore.' So finally I got out of our hole and went down and gave up."

Veneris and the other POWs were told that the Chinese had a lenient treatment policy toward prisoners; they experienced good treatment. They were immediately given food, warm clothing, and shelter after capture. House at first in local Korean homes, they were later moved North to avoid US bombing which was devastating the countryside. In fact Veneris said, "Everytime the Korean or Chinese people told us to do something, it was for our own good."

Veneris's experiences in the POW camp were many and varied. Upon arrival, they set up committees to take care of sanitation and food preparation. National holidays of the various groups were celebrated and different POW camps competed regularly in athletic events.

Speaking of the food situation Veneris said, "One day the Chinese guy got on his cart with his horse and went out to get food for us. He came back that evening. I could see the horse cart; it was full of snacks and grain, flour and rice and some vegetables. And the guy was dead on the cart. He was strafed by American planes. He died so we could eat. . . . A lot of the Turkish troops were Moslems and they didn't like to eat pork so the Chinese got lamb and goat meat.

"When we first entered the POW camp we were issued notebooks, pencils and pens so we could write home. One GI there, everyday he was sulky and unhappy. We could never find out what was wrong. One day we discovered his problem. He couldn't read or write enough English to write home to his mother. The Chinese people felt very bad about this so they took home down to their headquarters everyday for about six months until he could read and write enough to write his own letters home. What was wrong about that?" Veneris thought that example was typical of their treatment as POW's.

Asked about the Chinese and Korean brainwashing techniques that the US people were told so much about, Veneris replied: "If you were to say brainwashing, you have to break that down into two. . . . As an individual if I think that something is wrong I have to change my opinion myself. . . . I saw where I was deceived and witnessed what the Chinese and Korean people had actually done. It was really the opposite of what I have been told. . . . During my time in the POW camp I got to understand the Chinese and Korean people better and why they treated the GIs well. They stated that the GIs don't cause wars, they are cannon fodder. It's the common man that suffers in the wars, not the money bags."

Concerning his going to China after the Peace Agreement, Veneris said, "I could see the Korean and Chinese peoples hand was held out in friendship. . . . They (the US leaders) signed the peace agreement. In that peace agreement it said very clearly that I could go to any country I wanted to, so I took the liberty and freedom that they gave me. I went to China as an individual American to build that friendship between our peoples. After I went to China, they (the US military) gave me a Dishonorable Discharge because I took the freedom they gave and then they called me a turn coat. . . .

"First and foremost I would like to say this. I'm and American citizen. I was brought up here and I think the most precious thing is the 200 million American people. When I say that I love the American people, I say that I also love the Chinese people. I love all working peoples of the world. I think the greatest thing in the world is to be among the people. That is where our strength lies, down in the grassroots. What would the world be without working people!"

James Veneris has lived and worked in China for the last 23 years. His wife and himself work in the same factory in the city of Tsinan. In the future Mr. Veneris would like to return for another visit to the US with his wife and two children. James Veneris, former POW, would like to express his thanks to the people and the people's government of China and of Korea for giving him the opportunity to live and share his experiences with the American people and to build the friendship among all peoples of the world.