News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: US & Chinese Veterans Meet

Date: January 11, 2001

"U.S., China Korean War Vets Meet
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) - U.S. and Chinese veterans shared their Korean War experiences Thursday in the first of exchanges that Washington hopes will lead to information on the whereabouts of missing Americans.

Wearing civilian clothes, the six former U.S. soldiers and five Chinese veterans greeted each other warmly at China's Red Cross offices, on a frigid winter day that mirrored harsh conditions they faced on opposing sides of the 1950-53 war.

``I hold no ill feelings but do have love for the Chinese people and hope that one day we will have world peace,'' Harley Coon, who spent 33 months as a prisoner of war in North Korea, said in opening remarks on behalf of the American veterans.

Both sides revere home and family and want to bring closure to those missing loved ones, said Coon, from Beavercreek, Ohio.

Xiang Xu, a Chinese propaganda official and reporter in the war, noted that both sides paid a heavy price but now come together in a spirit of peace and friendship.

Reporters were ushered from the room after the opening statements. Organizers said the discussions had no specific agenda. But the U.S. official charged with locating those still missing said the talks could help generate information.

``It is the first time that we have had an opportunity to share from a vets perspective common thoughts about how the war was conducted,'' said Robert Jones, the Defense Department official in charge of prisoner-of-war and missing-in-action affairs.

Veterans from both sides later lunched together and toured Beijing's Forbidden City, the sprawling palace of China's past emperors. Coon and other veterans declined to provide details of the morning's talks, wanting to hold comment until after discussions ended Friday.

``It is very positive to be able to talk ... and ask their help in finding our lost loved ones,'' said veteran Vince Krepps, from Baltimore, Md. His twin brother, Richard, was captured in December 1950 and later reported dead by North Korea.

Such talks could help improve U.S.-China ties so ``this will never happen again,'' Krepps said.

Another veteran, Gerald Doyle, also from Baltimore, lost a brother in the war. Lawrence Doyle, is listed as missing in action.

The other U.S. veterans on the trip were Jack Carney, a medic with the 1st Marine Division from Melbourne, Fla.; Kenneth Cook, of Danville, Ill., who was with the 74th Ordnance Battalion; and Donald Byers, of Woodbridge, Va., with the Army's 2nd Infantry Division.

China entered the war on North Korea's side in late 1950 as U.S. troops, leading a U.N. force, pushed North Korean soldiers north toward the Chinese border along the Yalu River. Although Chinese troops ran most prisoner of war camps during the conflict, the government and military have declared all files on the matter secret and refused to open them to U.S. officials.

The Defense Department estimates that some 8,100 U.S. servicemen are missing from the Korean War, and the remains of 1,200 are believed to be buried at prisoner of war camps along the Yalu.

U.S. defense officials have been working with North Korea's military on excavating sites believed to hold remains, most recently focusing on the area around the Chongchon River.

Jones has made successive trips to Beijing trying to enlist Chinese help with search efforts. During one such trip last September, Chinese officials suggested the veterans meeting.

Following this first step, U.S. and Chinese officials later plan a conference on missing soldiers from both sides, hopefully producing more clues about American MIAs, Jones said. "