a Newly Married Methodist Minister, Larry Zellers Was Serving As A Missionary And Teacher In A Small South Korean Town Near The 38th Parallel When He Was Captured By The North Koreans On June 25, 1950. Until His Release In 1953, Zellers Endured Brutal Conditions And Inhumane Treatment. Through His Story, Zellers Shows That, Despite The Opinion That Pows Live Only For Themselves, Many In The Camps Worked To Help Others And Conducted Themselves With Honor.
publishers Weekly when The Korean War Broke Out In June 1950, The Author, A Methodist Missionary In Kaesong City, Was Arrested By North Korean Authorities, Accused Of Ideological Sabotage (teaching ``a Vicious Ideology Concerning A God That Did Not Exist'') And Sent On A Forced March Comparable To The Infamous Bataan Episode In Ww Ii. In His First-person Account, Zellers Devotes Only A Few Words To His Own Ordeal, Expanding Instead On The Struggle Of Fellow Prisoners Of Many Nationalities, Especially Those Who Were Brave And Unselfish, And On The Intense Psychological Pressures Imposed By Their Captors. He Describes North Korean ``reeducation'' As A Devastating Experience And Provides Innumerable Examples Of Kimilsungism At The Rice-roots Level. (``if You Really Believed What You Taught,'' Said One Of His Tormentors, ``you Would Have A Pistol And Everyone Would Be Required To Listen.'') Since The Orwellian Aspect Of North Korean Politics Has Remained Essentially Unchanged Over The Last 40 Years, This Harrowing But Inspiring Account Is Especially Absorbing. Repatriated In 1953, Zellers Became A Chaplain In The U.s. Air Force And Retired In 1975. Photos. (july)

Zellers, Larry, 1922-

Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky

United States, United States of America

Lexington, Ky, Kentucky, 1991

New Ed edition, December 1999

1st, 1991

FR, 1999

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Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-226) and index.

Autographed By The Author, A Weatherford College Ex-student. First Encounter -- Enter, The Secret Police -- Death Cell In Pyongyang -- Deadly Dialogue -- The Schoolhouse -- Night Train To Manpo -- Autumn On The Yalu -- The Death March Begins -- The Fourth Day And Beyond -- Winter At Hanjang-ni -- Change Of Command -- Dignity At An-dong -- A Change For The Better -- The Place Of Learning -- Life At Ujang -- The Journey Home. Larry Zellers ; With A Foreword By John Toland. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [225]-226) And Index.

xx, 233 pages : 24 cm
Autographed by the author, a Weatherford College ex-student
Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-226) and index
First Encounter -- Enter, the Secret Police -- Death Cell in Pyongyang -- Deadly Dialogue -- The Schoolhouse -- Night Train to Manpo -- Autumn on the Yalu -- The Death March Begins -- The Fourth Day and Beyond -- Winter at Hanjang-ni -- Change of Command -- Dignity at An-dong -- A Change for the Better -- The Place of Learning -- Life at Ujang -- The Journey Home

THE North Korean Communist attack began a little after four o'clock in the morning on June 25, 1950, less than two miles from my home in Kaesong.

2023-06-28