Larry Zelle Elul 14, 1988 William Holbeck Evans Dear Bill: It was a total unexpected pleasure and surprise to visit with you on 9 July 1988 at the las/Eort Worth Airport. Until you Contact 5 me by phone last week, I was unaware that 3111 Evans, Sr. had a son who surViveo he Korean War. first saw your father, William Evans, Sr. when he was brought by the North Korean Communists to the room where I and other American prisoners were being held near the city of Pyongyang the last par-t or July 1950. Due to American bombing, the city of 2yongyang had been evacuated by the North Koreans a few days before your father arrived. As a consequence of that evacuation, I and five other Americans were moved out of the Internal Security prison in Pyongyang to a school house located about five miles north--east of the c;ty. Also i that school house were citizens of other countries who were being heLd as prisoners and strictly segarated according to nationality. A group of British civilians was headed by Captain Vyvyan Holt, Minister of the British Legation in Seoul and the French Dy IL Georges Perruche, Consul-General of the French Legacion in Seouli I: is significant, 1 think, that your father admitted his American citizenshp to the North Korean Communists and had to take Lhe consequences for it. There were many times wnen we Americans were harassed more than the others, just because we were Americans. Your father, who spoke Japanese, Korean and English fluencly could have told the Communists that he was some oLher nationality, had he so wished. Throughout the unt his death sometime between November 30 and December 24, 1950 i; the North Korean village of Ha yang-nee (also known as Haijang--nee) your father was always identified by the Communist authorities as an American. The date of November 30 stands Out in my mind as it was the page two of three last day that we were able to dig graves in the fast freezing earth. It was also my birthday. After this date, I regret to say, we were not able to give your father or anyone else a proper burial. All that we could do was cover their bodies with snow and large stones. The American soldiers who were prisoners of war and living in the same village were obliged to do the same. -Your.father.was-buried about three hundred yards south of the It Was-the-same area where all_of our _dead were buried in Haejangenee. _This public-well is located on ?the.south-side of the small village_and was very probably the only peblic Well in the village at that.time. You might also be interested in learning that when I was sent back to South Korea by the U.S. Air Force in February 1987, I was contacted by members of the U.S. Army who were assigned to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission. After one of my speeches to U.S. Army personnel at Camp Red Cloud I was interviewed by Armed Forces Korea Television. In that interview, I stated that I was with approximately 750 American soldiers who were prisoners of war at a place called Ha-jang-nee and that more than 500 had died during the winter of 1950. Most of this group was composed of members of the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division. Major John J. Dunn was the senior ranking officer of the group. I was then contacted by Tom Ryan, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and taken to meet Lt. Col. Gilbert H. Echrich, U.S. Army, Assistant Secretary, United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission. I later met with Col. Donald W. Boose Jr., Secretary to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission. I was then told by Lt. Col Eckrich the reason for their interest. The United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission had been in negotiations with the North Koreans and the Chinese People's Volunteers at Panmunjom for approximately -two years concerning the return of the remains of prisoners who had died or were killed in North and South Korea during the war. In those negotiations, the North Koreans had never mentioned the village of Hawjangenee as a place where American prisoners of war were held. In fact, the American negotiators were not aware that there were any survivors among the prisoners who were held there. It was at one of those interviews at the United Nations Headquarters in 1987 that Lt..Col Eckrich read through a list of names of North Korean prisoners whose whereabouts was unknown to him., The name, Bill Evans, was one of the names that he read I out. page three of three . While working with the United Nations personnel, I annotated maps showing the location of the three burial sites in the three North Korean villages where we were located during the winter of l9SO?l951. Our losses were especially heavy that winter. That5 location has now been giVen a name, the "Apex" area, due to the; pecular bend of the Yalu River at that point. Though most of the deaths occurred at Hamjangwnee {where your father died) therep_ were other deaths and burials at Chung?gang?jin and AneDong. Before I left Korea in February 1987, I promised the United Nations Command that I would send them a roster of perhaps I75 names of individuals who were with me at Ha?jangenee in 1950 and o-could verify-whatHI-had told-them.-With the names that I had provided, the United Nations Command was able to_contact many of those prisoners who were with me and who could supply additional information on the matter. On 26 May 1987, in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom, at the 482nd Secretaries Meeting, Col. Boose and Lt. Col. Eckrich turned over to the North Koreans the data that they had obtained both from me and the other survivors. The North Koreans accepted the data and stated that they would pass the information to an ?appropriate authority." I will write to the Speaker of The House of Representatives, Congressman Jim Wright about the matter of your American citizenship. It comes as a surprise to me to lean that you are having difficulty establishing that your father was an American Citizen. With every good wish, I am, Sincerely yours, Enclosure: Copy of United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission map of the "Apex" area North Korea, showing the location of burial sites of United Nations prisoners.