False Confessions & Torture - Part 1

In 1954, Marine pilot Colonel Frank H. Schwable appeared before a Naval Board of Inquiry investigating his behavior while held captive by North Korea. Schwable was shot down on July 8, 1952 near Hwachon Reservoir. In the winter of 1952-1953, after undergoing both physical and psychological torture, Schwable "confessed" that the United States was using germ warfare against its adversaries. After a show trial, Schwable was ultimately convicted of war crimes by the Chinese. This confession came after months spent trying to break Schwable's will. During his confinement, at various times, Schwable was kept in solitary confinement, forbidden from shaving or washing himself, starved, forced to maintain stress positions, slapped and denied medical care. The North Koreans and Chinese did not subject Schwable to stereotypical types of physical torture (for a good history of torture, read Torture & Democracy by Darius Rejali)but Schwable and other U.S. airmen claimed that the psychological pressure applied by the Communists had a greater effect on their well-being than any physical techniques they employed. It was the psychological pressures that eventually "broke" some American P.O.W.s.