This page is dedicated to the Prisoner Of War exchange
The prisoner of war exchange was during July & August 1953,
and was called "Operation Big Switch"
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Prisoners loaded onto buses for transportation to the LST1122
Armed Marine guards formed an aisle for prisoners to be loaded onto buses |
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Prisoners were allowed topside for sun and exercise. The more peaceful prisoners were even shown movies while in transit.
Some of the prisoners were seeing their very first movie. |
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ten pens were built holding 100 prisoners each below decks.
We carried 1000 prisoners each trip. I don't know how many Marines, armed with automatic weapons, were aboard to guard these prisoners, but it seemed a lot. |
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The wounded and sick prisoners were transferred first, This part was easy.
Later we transferred the more radical and suicidal communist prisoners. They were more troublesome, but the Marines did a good job in calming the uprisings. |
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Prison camp at Koje Do
Koje Do was an Island a few miles from the coast of Korea. The Marines maintained a war prison here. A watch Tower can be seen on the left. This is where we picked up the prisoners.
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Loading prisoners and Marine guards
The LST 1122 nosed up on the beach and opened the bow doors to load prisoners. |
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Loading prisoners
The Marine guards took great pains loading anti-american prisoners, toward the end of this prisoner exchange operation. These prisoners had anti-american tatoo's and shouted anti-american slogans. |
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