N.Z. PRISONER IN KOREA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27124, 21 August 1953, Page 7

N.Z. PRISONER IN KOREA

GUNNER GARLAND AT AUCKLAND (New Zealand Press Association) r AUCKLAND, August 20. To his mother, the evidence of 12 months’ captivity showed plainly in the eyes of 25-year-old Gunner Norman Garland, of Cambridge—New Zealand’s only soldier who became a prisoner of war in Korea—when he arrived by flying-boat from Sydney today. But to bystanders at the air base he looked surprisingly fit. K Force men who trained with him in the first draft three years ago, like his mother, noticed a difference.

“He’s somehow just not the same bloke,” said one. “Much quieter—seems to be trying to bridge a gap in his life.”

An officer who met him told Gunner Garland bft could at his discretion talk to newspaper reporters and broadcasting men, “provided he said nothing to prejudice the future release of other prisoners of war.” This, the officer added was an instruction from Army Headquarters. Gunner Garland told a reporter that he had lost some weight, in prison camp—“ Not much, I was never very hefty.” The food consisted of two cups of rice a day. In winter this was augmented with a midday snack “of a cup of charred barley” brew. Gunner Garland was in a prison camp at Pyok Tong, north of the 38th parallel. Things there were “not bad.” He said he knew nothing of the other camps.

The British prisoners managed to keep fairly warm in the bitter Korean winter. They were housed in Korean peasant huts and were issued with the quilted clothing worn by the Communist soldiers. Monotony was their worst enemy. Their captors insisted on the pr A s ?P ers Acting a sports committee all very democratic!” With improvised gear they managed to while away some of the time. Prisoners preferred Chinese guards to North Koreans.