The Army's U.S. Captives

The Defense Department has checked rather abruptly the happy excitement caused by the return of over one hundred American prisoners of war. When twenty-three ex-prisoners landed in San Francisco last week, the press was denied interviews with them, the Army's reason being that the soldiers may have succumbed to Communist propaganda. That the twenty-three men had been interned by the Communists longer than most other Americans seemed to be the only basis for the Pentagon's fear.

Immediately the ugly term, "brain washed," began to appear in newspapers, and the Army flew the men to Valley Forge Hospital in Pennsylvania for "psychiatric treatment" and possible "de-brain washing." The press finally gained interviews with ten of the men last Sunday; each was "insulted" or "disappointed" or "bitter beyond expression" by the Army's welcome. Now the Army has dropped the curtain of secrecy again, and the men remain at Valley Forge.

An Army spokesman at the hospital later said he had no idea why the Defense Department had made the statement; the men were there because of physical illnesses. The neuropsychiatrist in charge of the soldiers also stated that none of them had any red tinge. But the Department still did not clarify its position.

Clouded in suspicion and distrust of their loyalty, all twenty-three will certainly suffer from the Pentagon's half-secret, ambiguous statements. Their names have been released, yet no satisfactory explanation has been offered for the continued observation. The longer the Army keeps these men confined, the larger public suspicion will grow.

It is distressing that of the alternatives, the Defense Department chose the worst. If it had continued to hold the men in absolute secrecy, Army officials would not have needed to make the partial explanations and muddled statements that they did. Public doubt would not have been aroused; those unindictrinated by the Communists would escape false suspicion of guilt.

Although the Pentagon has bungled once, it can avert further misunderstanding by making clear why the soldiers are questionable cases. A full report on each soldier will wipe out the harmful speculation, and clear the innocent of this insult of their integrity. Especially in the case of these prisoners, facts, not guesswork, should be the criteria for accusation.