Word: cowart
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...choice of returning to his homeland up to each P.W. Among the Chinese and North Koreans held in the U.N. prison camps, 22,000 decided not to go home. Among American P.W.s, only 21 opted to live in Red China. Among them were Otho G. Bell, William A. Cowart and Lewie W. Griggs-and they had compelling reasons to stay with Communism. As a prisoner, Bell had publicly proclaimed that U.S. officers had ordered him to kill women and children, that President Harry S. Truman was a warmonger, and that he would gladly run a tank over the President...
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court found that Turncoats Bell, Cowart and Griggs, who had gamboled about Communist China for 18 months before changing their minds and returning to the U.S., were entitled to their U.S. Army pay from their capture until their dishonorable discharges. In January 1954, while all 21 turncoats were still in Redland, Defense Secretary Charles Wilson ordered the Army to give them dishonorable discharges. Normally, such a discharge is given only by court-martial, not by administrative decree. The total amount of back pay due Bell, Cowart and Griggs as a result of last week...
...William Cowart, 22, Lewis Griggs, 22, and Otho Bell, 24, recently of Communist China, the grim homecoming was a portent of a grimmer future. They faced punishment (maximum penalty: death) for acts committed against their country and fellow Americans while they were prisoners of war in Korea. Each was accused of the gravest crimes under military law-aiding the enemy and ratting on their brothers-in-arms...
Though the Army's case against the three-compiled from the testimony of hundreds of loyal ex-P.W.s-looked substantial enough, there was some doubt about the Army's right to try them. Technically, Bell, Cowart and Griggs are civilians-dishonorably discharged from the Army at the time they, and 18 other American turncoats, turned their backs on their homeland and families and disappeared into Red China. But since 1950, the armed forces have claimed the right to seize and court-martial civilians for major crimes committed while in military service. The legality of that claim...
Relieved to be out of Communist China at any cost, the three are reconciled to future trials. Said Cowart, with a political education born of bitter experience: "I would sooner have Hitler come back than have Communism. Hitler only destroyed the body, but Communism destroys the mind. The society of China is built on fear-fear of each man for the other...