Frank Tooley, a young man who was on the verge of turning 20 years old was stuck in the middle of a warzone looking down the barrel of a gun of his enemies. With artillery and bullets zipping overhead Tooley and two other soldiers were questioned about where the rest of the men were. There was a sense of calm that Tooley really couldn’t understand. He never thought that when he was in combat he wouldn’t be scared. He often wonders if the government put something in the food that would allow soldiers to not mentally tear down and be overcome with fear.
That day, on the mountain, all of the men in his company were either captured or killed except one man. After all of the men were captured the marching started. During the day time they would hide and at night they would march.
Most of the time the prisoners of war wouldn’t be fed and when they were fed it was food that Tooley thinks a dog wouldn’t have been interested in. Tooley didn’t see a lot of rice even though he was told that it was around. Tooley does remember seaweed and milo. Milo also known as grain sorghum is primarily used as a feed grain for livestock. They would eat the seeds like grits with no salt or grease. Tooley found it very difficult to eat.
The poor food quality quickly starting taking its effect on the men. The men became sick usually with dysentery. Tooley recalls that it was not unusual to wake up in the morning with a dead man on each side of you. The lack of nutrition made living arrangements disgusting with feces all around them. The men turned into skin and bones.
Their march took them north toward the capital of North Korea to a mining camp. Sometimes the men would be marched all night in the rain only to return to the place that they started. Tooley was unsure if they had the wrong direction or if they were just trying to wear them out. By now the men were weak and trembling from starvation.
The marching in the rain resulted in pneumonia causing trembling, chills and eventually death. There were five camps that Tooley was marched to. All but two were temporary camps and it seemed a trend that as more men died they would be moved off to other camps as their numbers dwindled. When enough men died at the fourth camp the men were loaded into Russian dump trucks and moved to the final camp. They continued north and still moved at night. The trip took two full nights.
A reason for the movement at night was to hide from the attacks that would come from above. Tooley recalled an attack from the gruesome military white phosphorous weapons. White phosphorous was used for signaling, screening, and incendiary purposes. It can be used to limit the enemy’s vision or destroy their equipment. It is also a terrifying antipersonnel weapon. The worst thing you can do is get in water.
Tooley recalls a time when the white phosphorous came into contact with one of the men in his group. If it is not smothered out it will burn right through someone. When the man came into contact with the chemical he began yelling about it burning and jumped into a nearby creek. Other men came to his aid instructing him that he had to pack the wound with mud to smother it out.
After days of hiding in shrubbery and under sheds during the day and staying away from dropping bombs at night, the group arrived at Pyoktong. During the two night trip the POW’s were still losing men and the new camp wasn’t a safe haven from death.
There wasn’t a fence around the camp. There wasn’t a fear of the men leaving because any American would stick out like a sore thumb in the surrounding areas. Two strands of barb wire set the perimeter that was low enough for any man to step over. They were just there to let the men know that they could go no further without repercussions. Water went around the other two thirds of the camp.
In the camp the men were away from dropping artillery, but death was still a constant neighbor from various avenues. Sickness, starvation, heart attacks and just the lack of will to go on would take men on to the other side. Daily life consisted of waking up and trying not to die that day while conversing with the other captured soldiers.
Tooley recalls that there was a man that could do about anything within the prisoners of war. Knives could be made out of the steel plate inside the sole of the boot and a handle for the blade was made from dried toothpaste. A sock could be unraveled into one long strand to be used for fishing line. Some men were able to make a banjo using goat hide.
In days of war Tooley stated that you never know what you will do in those treacherous times until you are in them. He saw officers hide from their rank, company commanders desert their men in fear, and a man only helping his fellow man because it would bring a financial relief once released only to curse the man when he finally passed on.
The peace treaties were signed on August 10, 1953. Half of the men were taken out before Tooley was finally freed. The men were put on a barge which took them to a cattle car that was their last ride to freedom. Tooley took his ride in shock not believing that it was over. His shock and weakness kept him from remembering his serial number which was the last obstacle for him to continue his journey.
Tooley carried with him nightmares after his time in the camp, but he doesn’t carry anger anymore. He doesn’t carry anything against the Chinese for their part in the war, but there are a couple that he’d like to get his hands on. For years Tooley carried around a grudge for a snitch within the prison camp, but one day brought a chance to get it off his chest and he has felt like a different man ever since that day.
“A lot of things happened to me and it seemed impossible for me to survive it,” Tooley said.