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Witness History: The GI who chose China

The GI who chose China

BBC World Service - Witness History, The GI who chose China

At the end of the Korean War, 21 American prisoners chose not to go home to the USA.

At the end of the Korean War, POWs could choose where they wanted to go. Thousands of North Korean and Chinese prisoners went to the USA. Only a few Americans chose China. 
 


The Korean War ended on July 27th 1953.  After the ceasefire, prisoners on both sides were told they could choose where they wanted to go next. Thousands of North Korean and Chinese prisoners headed for a new life in the USA. David Hawkins was one of the 21 Americans who had been held prisoner in North Korea, who chose to go to communist China. He explains his decision, made at the height of the Cold War, and recalls the treatment he recieved as a prisoner, and then as a celebrated guest in Beijing. 


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