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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ★ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A soldier suffers a series of shocks during and immediately after being captured. One moment he is ostensibly an independent entity fighting for his country. The next he is reduced to a helpless object at the mercy of his enemies. Often hungry and sleepless, sometimes wounded and feeling an element of shame about the capture itself, and certainly fearing possible execution, the new prisoner faces a most uncertain future. And for Clarence Adams, who believed that he and his fellow African American soldiers had been needlessly sacri ficed by their white officers, there was also a deep-seated anger. More than 50 per cent of the Americans captured in 1950 did not survive captivity.1 These men were victimized by long, deadly marches, under conditions so horrific that many of those already weakened by exhaustion, wounds, bad drinking water, and bitterly cold weather never made it to the permanent camps located along the Yalu River. Often, when a man could no longer march and fell by the wayside, he was shot. Even among those who made it to the camps, thousands were in such poor shape that they did not survive their first winter. Because of frostbitten feet and an infected right leg, Clarence Adams was one of those who dropped out of the march following his capture on November 30, 1950. Miraculously, he was not shot when he no longer could keep up; in fact, as he suggests in his narrative, this might well have been one of the few times when it helped to be black. Later, as he struggled alone and near death on an isolated mountain footpath, an old Korean man mysteriously appeared to save him from some young toughs who probably meant to kill him. Such is the serendipity that often plays a decisive role in wartime; but it was not simply luck that allowed Adams to survive. Above all, it was his great personal courage and unyielding determination to live that proved decisive when a lesser person would simply have given up. c h a p t e r t h r e e Captured! “You are not the exploiters! You are the exploited!” —Chinese soldier who captured Clarence Adams 40 : an american dream Shortly after we were captured, a frontline Chinese interpreter came up to Sergeant Richards and me, and I will never forget his words: “You are not the exploiters!” Then he paused. “You are the exploited!” I had no idea what he meant. Is that what I am, I thought, the exploited? He explained, “When you pick up a gun, you are our enemy. When you lay down your gun, you are our friend.” He smiled and hugged Richards and me. I smiled back and thought to myself, So glad to be your friend. I guess that means you won’t shoot me right away. At that moment, I certainly did not mind being the exploited if I could be his friend. Then he said, “I have to go now and welcome the others.” Richards and I looked at each other in bewilderment. A Chinese mortar squad had captured us, and they made us carry their Russian-made 120 mortar. They gave Richards the tube, which is lighter, and strapped the steel base to my back, even though I was much smaller than Richards. I had to carry that base up and down those mountains, and Richards knew I was tired. He tried to indicate that he and I should switch loads, but they would not hear of it. They kept pointing at me and signaling that I had to carry the base. The longer I walked, the heavier it got. When we sat down to rest, Richards would have to pull me up because I could not get up by myself. After a few hours, the mortar squad left us, but only after assigning a guard to take us to what we later discovered was a central gathering place for prisoners. At one point I thought the guard was going to kill both of us. We were coming down the side of a mountain, and several F-86 jets strafed, napalmed, and killed a bunch of Chinese soldiers who had been walking through the valley . That did not bother me so much, but what really sickened me was when one of their napalm bombs hit a Korean hut. A woman with a baby on her back came running out of the house, engulfed by orange flames and thick...

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