SWORN STATEMENT OF COLONEL FRANK H. SCHWABLE
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
Headquarters Department of the Pacific
100 Harrison Street
San Francisco 6, California
25 September 1953
Statement of Colonel Frank H. SCHWABLE,
04429, U. S. Marine Corps
I have read and understand Article 31, Uniform Code of Military Justice.
I make the following statement of my own free will, voluntarily, and
without coercion, unlawful influence or unlawful inducement on the
part of any person, and with full knowledge that this statement or any
portion thereof may be used as evidence against me in a trial by courtmartial.
On July 8, 1952 I was shot down by the Chinese Communists about 15
miles northeast of the Hwachon reservoir while on a flight along the
entire length of the United Nations front line positions in Korea. From
that date until 6 September 1953, when I was repatriated, I was held a
prisoner of war by the Chinese Communists, being kept in solitary
confinement the entire time except for very short periods when moving
from camp to camp. About two months after.my capture, it became
evident that I was to be used for propaganda purposes and that the
Chinese Communists were determined to extract a bogus "confession"
from me claiming that United Nations forces in Korea were using
bacteriological agents. As time went on it became evident also that the
Chinese Communists were almost frantic to obtain this "confession"
and that they would stop at nothing to secure it; it was equally
apparent that they had already established a general line of
propaganda and a schedule of bogus operations to which my
"confession" must conform in order that it could be used to corroborate
false testimony previously extracted from other POWs. This applied
particularly to timing, location of targets, and the sequence in which
major operating units were supposed to have entered the program.
Since I was one of the "most senior officers captured to date I was
expected to be cognizant of the broader aspects of this false program,
to know how the directives were issued and passed down to operating
units and to be well acquainted with not only supposed participation of
my own unit, the First Marine Aircraft Wing, but also as to what extent
Navy and Air Force units were also committed. In spite of my very short
tour of duty with the United Nations Forces in Korea before being shot
down, I was suppose to be well informed about operations not only in
Korea, but those claimed by the Chinese Communists as being
conducted in China also.

 I realized that because of my rank, the Chinese Communists were
prepared to make an issue of this matter since lies that they could
extract from me would be quoted as coming from "high authority,” and
that they would continue indefinitely to be absolutely adamant in their
demands upon me. I was convinced that they had already forced false
statements from several other POWs. I did not doubt for one moment
that had they been totally unsuccessful in extracting fraudulent
"confessions” from any and all prisoners, they would have produced at
least written statements of their own affixing forged signatures of
POWs whom they had destroyed---they took several samples of my
signature shortly before the Bacteriological Warfare interrogation
began. The germ warfare problem with its appeal to the masses of
people, was a prize propaganda issue too valuable to the Communists
to give up under any circumstances. After applying all manner of
means to break me down mentally, morally and physically, to confuse
me, and to convince me that there was no alternative in the matter, I
succumbed to their demands verbally the end of November, 1952, and
from then until near the end of February, 1953, I was involved in many,
many rewrites of the fraudulent information submitted, making wire
recordings and being photographed both in motion pictures and stills
while reading this false "confession," all under protest. In making my
most difficult decision to seek the "only way out," my primary
consideration was that I would be of greater value to my country in
exposing this hideous means of slanderous propaganda than I would
be by sacrificing my life through non-submission or remaining a
prisoner of the Chinese Communists for life, a matter over which they
left me no doubt.
The so-called “confession” extracted from me was in fact a
combination of many, many papers submitted. Hardly had my first
brief report been submitted than I was directed to re-do it on a broader
basis yet with more specific details in certain areas and to make
certain modifications to conform with their own imaginary schedules. I
was roused up from my sleep one night, marched half a mile or so
through the snow and stood half dazed at attention for what seemed
like forever .in front of a tribunal headed by the Executive Officer of the
Pick Up camp where I was hidden at the time. After yelling at me that I
was a war criminal, that I had participated in the most inhuman kind of
warfare and so forth, the Executive Officer told me my report was no
good, that I must go back to my hovel, think clearly and then come up
with the right time and place of alleged operations. With this, he
grabbed his hat and went childishly screaming out of the room while
the interpreter tried to translate his last fanatical ravings. Strangely
enough when I dreamed up a new date and location of operations,
conveniently arranged so that I could easily remember l~ own lies,

 I found that I had stumbled upon a satisfactory date and place. With
each rewrite of my statement, I was required to include more specific
information with respect particularly to the names of higher echelon
officers involved in my story and to make direct quotes at all levels. It
was here that I was reminded of previous generalized interrogation
matter, such as the chain of command from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to
the 5th Air Force via the Commander-in-Chief Far East and the
Commanding General Far Eastern Air Forces, with the names of those
officers - all
of which was public knowledge. I was then told that since reputed germ
warfare was of such extreme strategic and tactical importance that the
directive for its use must have followed this chain of command and
that the officers named must have handled the directive and hence it
was mandatory for me to state this as a so-called fact in my bogus
"confession", There were many such incidences where I was told, in
general terms, that I must include certain material in my statement if I
were to finally clear the problem.
Towards the end of December, my last several papers appeared to
satisfy my interrogating officer and his immediate superiors and a lull
ensued until the latter part of January, 1953 while my statements were
being cleared by what they called "higher authority". When the papers
had been cleared, I was given a typewritten statement which was
essentially extracts from my own work but rearranged, modified in
some instances and omitting some important elements. My efforts to
include especially the type of bomb I claimed that was used were of no
avail and it was eliminated, over my very strong protest. I was now
required to transcribe their typewritten statement into a so-called
"confession” in my own handwriting on smooth, heavy, legal type
paper and to initial each page and all corrections. It was only after I
had completed this phase that I was told that I must make a wire
recording and later yet that I must be photographed while reading the
statement. At each step in the entire process, the Chinese lied to me,
always saying that "this is the last step," upon completion of which
they invariably found just one more step to take in order to clear the
problem – it was explained to me with a perfectly straight face each
time that I had misunderstood them. My case was closed, as they
expressed it, about the third week in February and I was then
permitted to write my first letter home.
In obtaining this false "confession" from me, I believe the Chinese
Communists followed a definite pre-planned pattern to break me down
and to condition me for this farce. Until early September, two months
after capture, the subject had hardly been mentioned. I was asked
once near the front lines what I thought of germ warfare and I laughed
at them saying the whole idea was ridiculous. Several times in late

 August, one of the two Chinese Air Force officers working on me
simultaneously asked me about Bacteriological warfare but he did not
press the point. Early in September I was moved from the tent in which
I had lived for some three weeks, into a little stick and mud lean-to on
the outside of a Korean house that was located at the head of a very
remote little valley in the north Korean wilderness--a place where one
could readily be dispensed with and the world would be none the wiser.
Here, as I squatted cross-legged on the floor of my 3 by 7-foot hovel for
weeks and weeks as fall passed into early but cold winter, I was told
that I had only one more problem to clear before I was turned over to a
main camp where suitable facilities were available to provide against
the rigors of a north Korean winter, where I would be with other POWs,
and where all living conditions would be greatly improved. I was told
that the last remaining subject was the most important of all, that it
had not been mentioned previously because they wanted me to know
the Chinese Communists better before broaching the subject, and then
they let me guess for a week or so as to what the subject was. Having
come to understand the tremendous value the Chinese Communists
place upon propaganda and having recently been queried by the
Chinese Air Force officers on germ warfare, I was finally able to
discover what the important question was. While I did not realize it at
the time, I have since come to realize that the Chinese Communist
pattern of perversion applied to me fell into four distinct steps, some of
which were over-lapping or continuous in nature. The steps consisted
of degarding [sic] and humiliating me; exhausting me physically and
mentally and conditioning me to creative or false writing; intimidating
and threatening me, and finally trying to contaminate my mind with
vile slanders against my country, giving me false hopes or promises
and trying to instill in me a sense of war guilt that could be eradicated
only by "confessing". The accumulative effect of' this pattern of
perversion and of the many, many incidental phases or incidents
making up each step, was to confuse me, to dull and stupify my mind,
to give me a false sense of values and to make me feel the desperation
of utter futility. This, together with unbrokern [sic] solitary confinement,
I consider mental cruelty1 It is a cruelty that is hard for anyone to
understand that has not undergone the misfortune of being subjected
to it. I realize that the standards of living of both the Chinese and
Koreans are far inferior to ours and that war time conditions impose
even greater limitations in areas behind front line positions, and that
therefore some elements of my treatment might be considered normal
by the Chinese but not by me; but had they not intended to make me
as miserable as possible they could easily have moved me to the rear
areas along the Yalu, as they did after I broke down, where facilities
were a little improved.

 During this preparatory period, I wallowed in dirt and filth; I was
purposely kept unshaven and denied haircuts to the point that I was as
filthy as a tramp; I had been kept in little hovels on the ground, in tiny
Korean rooms, dark, mildewy leaky tents and now in this cold, open
lean-to. I was under the constant surveillance of a guard who was
never more than perhaps ten yards away and who, at night, would
awaken me at least hourly by shining his flashlight in my eyes until I
woke up. What food there was was slopped at me with a growl, the
guards barked at me whenever I made more than an insignificant
movement with few exceptions, I was humiliated by conforming to the
custom of attending the calls of nature in the open in front of women
and young girls. I could lie down only when told and was kept just
sitting and sitting for weeks on end, the result of which was that my
back became strained to the point where it was impossible for me to
sit still more than fifteen minutes at a time. This became physical
torture to me, and it was continuous. During the "exhaustion phase", I
was made to write continuously over a period of about three weeks
from early morning until dark, always against a deadline, under the
pressure of two interrogators working simultaneously on me, writing
largely on matters of militarily insignificant nature, such as our system
of decorations and medals, or on out-of-date material that they knew I
could not remember with any accuracy, had I tried, such as describing
in detail my flight instruction which I had taken twenty-one years
before. I believe they were merely trying to wear me out completely-which they did--and to break down my natural repugnance to lie since
the only way I could satisfy most of their demands was to create, in my
mind, answers to their questions. Under the strain of this constant
pressure and close confinement where even my attempts to take
calisthenics in the morning were repulsed by most guards, I
deteriorated physically and became dull of mind. When the
concentrated writing ceased, I was then given the political treatment
wherein I read much slanderous material and every attempt was made
to make me disloyal to my country. I was continuously given false
hopes about being removed from solitary confinement, warmer living
conditions, release to exchange letters with my family and so forth, all
of which proved to be false or which were fulfilled only partially at
most--my family never received a single letter from me and I received
mail only for a short period of time. Continuous efforts were made to
make me believe that the south Koreans, backed by the United States,
had started the war, that the United States was solely responsible for
delaying the peace talks and that the type warfare conducted by
United States forces was inhumane. All of the foregoing was tied in
periodically with the fact that my only salvation was to confess to germ
warfare and hence to hasten peace.

 While I was never directly threatened with bodily violence, there were
three unmistakable threats constantly applied to me. Often I was
reminded that there had been serious riots at Koje Island and
according to the Chinese Communists, excessive terror and brutality
had been applied. I was then also reminded that my own captors
followed a lenient policy towards POWs, AS LONG AS THE LATTER
COOPERATED. That threat needed no elaboration! There was the
second threat, that of a Korean winter in that little stick and mud leanto. Some knuckles on my right band had already become frostbitten,
the ink on my pen would freeze after every several words written and I
was unable to take exercise to try to stimulate my circulation for
warmth, yet I bad been I told that I would not be shifted to a more
protected main camp area unless I cleared this problem. I was
convinced that at my age and condition, I would freeze to death in that
exposed little hovel during the winter at that camp. The final threat
was direct, forceful, and unmistakable. The Colonel commanding the
Pick Up camp informed me at a formal hearing before his tribunal that,
"Unless you clear this problem, you will never leave this valley – not
even after the peace is signed.” That statement in modified form was
repeated over and over to me, and was further elaborated upon to the
extent that I was considered a war criminal for my alleged connection
with germ warfare and that I would not therefore be treated as an
ordinary POW under the Geneva Conventions and would not be
repatriated unless I confessed. I had absolutely no doubt whatsoever
that the Chinese Communists had every intention of carrying this
threat to its natural conclusion and I am still convinced of this fact. I
am positive in my own mind that I had not capitulated to them, I would
today still be either a prisoner of war or else in my grave!
As to humane treatment in accordance with the provisions of the
Geneva Conventions, I was given shelter, inadequate as it was, at all
times; I was never starved although tbe food was miserably skimpy at
times and many times I went without water; I was given heavy winter
clothing, quilts and a blanket but exposed as I was and restricted from
exercising during the critical period of my interrogation period, I was
bitterly cold and partially frostbitten; I was unable to obtain dental
treatment for a broken tooth or medical treatment for my back of
which I complained long after my problem bad been cleared. I don't
know what the Geneva Conventions say about mental cruelty nor
whether having to sit as I did for so long in confined spaces in
continuous solitary confinement is physical cruelty but I, having
undergone both, consider that I was subjected to extreme torment in
order to force a false confession from me.
Since I had only been on duty in Korea a comparatively short time
before being shot down but more important, since I was assigned duty

 as the Chief of Staff of the First Marine Aircraft Wing, I flew no missions
that could in any conceivable way be construed as being germ bomb
raids. As a matter of interest, the Chinese Communists did accept this
one fact and charged me not with participating directly in the delivery
of bombs on the target but rather with planning such operations and
conducting normal staff functions in connection with bacteriological
warfare.
When the Chinese Communists first broached me on the subject of
germ warfare in Korea and China, I could not believe they were serious
since I was certain that I would. have had some inkling of it had any
United States forces actually employed this means of warfare. I had
never heard of its use in Korea or China or elsewhere other than
through Chinese propaganda, nor had I ever heard of a proposal for its
use; it was utterly incredible to me that the Chinese Communists could
be truly serious about this fantastic propaganda program that they
were evidently preparing and when they insisted beyond all reason,
logic and just plain common sense that germ warfare was being used
by my own unit, then I was convinced that everything they said on the
subject was an utter lie, that they didn't believe it themselves, but that
they were going to carry out orders from higher authority to extract a
false statement from me one way or another. And upon this false,
fraudulent, and in places absurd confession, I stand formally convicted
by the Korean Democratic Peoples Republic as a war criminal, being
notified of this fact at a solemn ceremony conducted before four
Chinese and one Korean officer on 3 September 1953, just prior to my
departure from the Yalu river area for Panmunjom and freedom.
(Signed) Frank H. Schwable
FRANK H. SCHWABIE
Colonel (c4429), U. S. Marine Corps
The foregoing statement, consisting of 10 typewritten pages, including
this page, was subscribed and sworn to before me this 25th day of
September, 1953·
(Signed) A. T. Mason
A. T. MASON
Colonel, U. S. Marine Corps
Chief of Staff