"The degree of Soviet involvement in the Korean War suggests that a significant paper trail exists in military, diplomatic and intelligence archives."
Dr. Paul M. Cole

VOLUME I - Part II

Dedicated still to the Korean War, Part #2 of our series on RAND - Paul M. Cole'S POW-MIA Issues, Volume 1, The Korean War; we will discuss the USSR 's knowledge of MIAs and contact with American POWs once in captivity.

Secretly, the US Air Force and Russia were raging an air-war in Korea. According to former Soviet recollections, 500+ sorties a day were flown by Mother Russia's best and brightest... with many shot down. Soviet flights took-off from secret bases in China, the markings of the craft painted over to indicate Chinese origin. Much like our own secret war in Laos two decades later, the Soviet pilots were dressed in sanitized Chinese uniforms to insure their safety if shot down or on landing so as not to be mistaken as Americans.

This is just an example of the extent of USSR involvement in the Korean War, and the absence of admission on behalf of the US to this fact. Both the Soviet and the US populaces were not aware of the depth that the USSR had infiltrated the Asian conflict. That Soviet intelligence in Korea was rife, there is no doubt. This intelligence unquestionably singled out American POWs to provide the USSR with the next round of tactical and military information they desperately needed.

It was this desire that drove the Soviets to direct their attentions to F-86 and B-29 systems information and strategies. That some of the Soviet systems performed miserably against the success of US technology further inspired them to seek out American POWs. Admittedly, some former Soviet officials have stated they interrogated American POWs, although they claim it was officially forbidden, with the hope of eventually recruiting them. Once again, the USSR recreated its pattern of exploiting POWs that was so successful during the previous war.

Although Sino-Soviet cooperation was at an apex during Korea, it is apparent that the USSR did not have ready access to POWs and materiels, thus they created their own system for collecting information and intelligence. Although the official line has been that the Soviets had no direct contact with American POWs, contemporaneous materials and recollections provide an entirely different perspective. Additionally, their interference with US POWs was not limited to Korea, but expands to China and Soviet territory as well. Decoded Russian Top Secret telegrams bear out this truth. For example details of F-86 pilot, Captain Laurence Bach's interrogation after his shootdown on December 22nd, 1950 were sent to Stalin, among others.

Ironically, few ex-POWs related being interrogated by Caucasians (presumably Soviet or Eastern Bloc personnel). Either they in fact did not have much contact, or the POWs who were interrogated never came back. Needless to say that interrogation on an Asian landmass by a Caucasian may indeed raise some questions. So, the Soviets devised a more insidious means of accessing American Pows. They used Soviets who were either Asian in appearance or of Mongoloid-Asian descendancy. The result would be an indigenous looking person, who could commingle with the communists from Korea and China and not be detectable to American Pows as Soviets.

Finally, one proof that the USSR had direct knowledge of Americans from the Korean War, the Soviet archives have produced a list from the Soviet 64th Air Corps of US servicemen. Oddly titled " List Of U.S. Air Force Crew Members Participating in Combat Operations in North Korea 1950-1953 and About Whom Information Has Been Found in Documents of the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps".... Make of what you will, the list reads as such:

** Note: AII has abbreviated the list for space by not listing the 64 individuals that were catergorized as : RMC... Returned to Military Control, Presumably Repatriated. All 64 were on lists compiled by Task Force Russia and the lists prepared by RAND.

RAND KEY:
D= Reported deceased in Soviet records
MIA=Missing In Action
KIA=Soviet determination
BTB=Believed to be POW
??=Unknown

What is intriguing is that this may be but a brief example of Soviet access to American POWs. In archives perused by researchers, the interrogations of USAF personnel were found. The numbering indicates that perhaps 451 or more interrogations of USAF were performed, evidence that Soviets had contact with American servicemen, some of whom did not make official POW status. Considering 1,303 USAF servicemembers were listed as missing, with only 263 officially designated as POWs, and the potential for 451 or more interrogations, then we must consider two possibilities. According to Dr. Cole they are "Either more interrogations were made of individuals who died of wounds in captivity shortly after capture, or individuals who were interrogated by Soviet offiecers were transported to USSR territory to mask the fact that direct interrogations by Soviet officers had taken place."

In Soviet archives, the names of American servicemen were found. 64 were said to be 'Returned to Military Control... presumably repatriated'. Yet there are many others on this one list for whom there has been no satisfactory accounting... or any accounting for that matter. Captain Charles E. McDonough's name is on that one list. The interrogation of Captain McDonough survives, obtained from Soviet sources and it was performed by Communist Chinese and Soviet officials. A returned Ex-POW saw Captain McDonough, not from afar but up close, and this same Ex-POW spoke with Captain McDonough. Captain McDonough is carried as MIA, yet a returnee saw him carried away on an ox cart by the North Koreans. And there is where the story ends.... for now. One can only wonder if the former Soviet Union would make more readily available their archives, how many unanswered questions would finally never have to be asked again? Especially ones like what happened to Captain Charles E. McDonough,who went to Korea and whose name ended up on a list in Russia.