US POWs taken from korea to the soviet Union АМЕРИКАНСКИЕ ВОЕННОПЛЕННЫЕ ИЗ КОРЕЙСКОй Войны в Советских Тюрьмах
According to former senior Soviet military officers, prisoners released from the Gulag, and multiple declassified wartime reports from the US CIA and other intelligence organizations, numerous Americans captured during the Korean War were sent to the Soviet Union. Some, such as pilots, were shipped directly to the Soviet Union. Others went via ship or through China in rail cars, which were reported by a number of witnesses along their route.
In 1954, the US State Department even asked the Soviet Union to return these American POWS: “The United States Government has recently received reports which support earlier indications that American prisoners of war who had seen action in Korea have been transported to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and that they are now in Soviet custody. The United States Government desires to …arrange their repatriation at the earliest possible time.”
Americans were reported in prisons across the Gulag, including:
Arkagala (in Magadan Oblast): A Ukrainian-American soldier captured in North Korea was seen in camp here, according to a released Polish prisoner.
Chita: Reported processing camp for investigation and selection of POWs, per CIA records. A US military intelligence officer reported he had such good intelligence on Americans being sent here that the Air Force called off strikes on the train carrying the men as it traveled through North Korea. Many prisoners reportedly sent from here to Molotov (now Perm).
Chukotski Peninsula: Reported in a CIA report.
Irkutsk: Named as transit camp in a CIA report.
Kirov: A former German POW reported nine US POWs here, all aviator captains and majors, and said he spoke to one.
Khabarovsk: Multiple reports of US prisoners, including in transit camps, are in CIA reports and testimony from a former Soviet officer.
Krasnoyarsk area: Multiple reports. One group of American POWs from Korea reportedly arrived in the fall of 1951 at a camp near the town of Kirovsk. A report states that during the last days of December 1951 more than 20 prisoners, wearing bare threads and half frozen, were moved along the road to Veniaminovsky. Another source in Veniaminovky, according to this report, alleged the half-frozen prisoners did not speak Russian and said only: “American, American,” and “eat, eat.”
A cleaning lady in the Kirovsk camp allegedly listed 22 Americans there during the winter of 1951-52. The names included: Foster; Hatch; Leon; Miller; Davis; Johnson; Hubert; Morin; Larson; Boyar; Fisher; Helfand and Kaiser.
Magadan: Reported transit camps for American troops, according to a CIA document.
Molotov (now Perm): Numerous reports of Americans here and in other regional towns such as Gubakha, Kudymkar and Chermos. Americans were seen starting December 1951. One shipment arrived by train around April 5, 1952 wearing Soviet-type cotton padded tunics and civilian caps called “Sibirki,” according to a CIA report. “They spoke among themselves in English, and they knew no other languages, except a few words of Russian.” A group of US officers called the “American General Staff” were kept in the office of the Military District of Molotov.
Moscow: Various reports of US aviators, including at well-known Lubyanka prison.
Norilsk, Camps 4, 5, 9, 54 and Cement Plant 5: Various reports include US airman seen here from 1951-56. A Polish witness claims he worked with 36-38 Korean War pilots in the early 1950s.
Novosibirsk: During a 1993 interview, a witness in Lithuania said he met two Americans pilots at Novosibirsk Transit Prison around June 1952. The Americans said they had been shot down in Korea. They wore khaki shirts and trousers with no belts. One American, tall with red beard, said he was captain in the US Air Force.
Sinda: In a camp for Japanese POWs in the village of Sinda, not far from Khabarovsk, five alleged Americans reportedly arrived in 1952. One was a pilot and another was called “Poll,” a guard at the camp later told his grandson, who contacted US investigators. The men were kept in their own barracks and did not have to work. One of them died in the late 1950s and was buried in the local cemetery.
Vikhorevka (southwest of Bratsk): A former prisoner from Estonia said he met a US pilot from Korea with the first name Thomas here. He was about 35 as of 1953, 5’ 6”, walked with a limp and was assigned to work in the camp water tower.
Yakutsk: “Prisoners there are employed in building new shafts for coalmines, earthworks and dams,” stated one report.
See our map of reported sightings of American POWs in the Gulag here.
Please contact us with any information on these missing Americans.