Roughstuff's Korean War Archive
book reviews and summaries, comments, analysis
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Thompson, James True Colors
1004 Days as a POW DS 921.6 T47 1989

Originally published in 1981 as Camp 5 this is a crusty, in your face account of the authors experience in a North Korean/Chinese POW camp. After some pithy testimonials, Thompson states he wrote this book, in part, to refute the perception that many blacks collaborated with the enemy in his camp or others.
The chronological approach to camp events is somewhat monotonous, but interesting characters and survival principles weave the text together. So does Thompsons' 1950s street-talk style. I can imagine the tea-and-crumpet embassy set politely wincing when they read about Thompson and his buddies spending their spare time 'cracking lice' or pulling a twenty eight foot tapeworm out of a Turkish POW's butt. But I say, right on brother Thompson! Lay it on thick and real until those Foggy Bottom pansyasses puke in their caviar. Needless to say, I like Thompson's style of writing. Readers can revel in the following:

On a more serious and moving note, Thompson vividly describes methods of physical and mental torture used by the Koreans and Chinese. Whether it was making Thompson stand barefoot on a frozen lake, or beating Sgt Riley in front of all the prisoners assembled, such techniques failed.
Psychological ploys were a bit more successful. White NCOs wanted to keep a sharp eye on black NCOs anyway, and these seeds of distrust were exploited by the Koreans. Further mistrust was sewn when guards made it appear as if blacks were fed sumptious meals in exchange for cooperation with authorities. 'Neither a flaming radical nor weeping liberal', Thompson still claims that blacks were just as poorly treated as whites were. "Whites distrusted blacks and chose to interpret actions as collaboration." For example, with operation Little Switch, to release sick POWs, many people lied about illnesses to get released early. (Who could really blame them?) But Thompson says that only blacks were pressured and criticized later. According to Thompson's research 'not one of the blacks released in Little Switch completed their 20 years of service."

One memory that haunts Thompson to this day was a claim by his study period Chinese instuctor, nicknamed Chop Suey. Talking to Thompson about the Boxer Rebellion, Chop says "drugs and dope defeated us! Not the British!" Then, after an ominous silence, Chop Suey added.."the same thing will happen in America." Roughstuff has done alot of bike touring in shandong province, where the Boxer rebellion began. See my cycling page for a description of this amazing region



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