One day last week Brigadier General Francis T. Dodd, commander of the U.N. prison camp on bloody Koje Island, was standing at the gate of Compound 76, talking to a group of prisoners inside, most of them hard-core Communist North Koreans. With him was one of his staff, Lieut. Colonel Wilbur Raven. As they talked, the compound gate was opened to let a work detail out. Suddenly a group of prisoners darted out, seized the two U.S. officers, and started to drag them into the barbed-wire enclosure. Raven saved himself by clinging to the gatepost until U.S. guards rushed to his rescue; even then the prisoners would not let go until one had been bayoneted in the face.
Dodd was spirited away to some hideaway inside the compound. It was equipped with a straw mat, a built-in bunk, even a vase of flowers. The Reds showed at once that they had not only planned the coup carefully in advance but counted on its success. Within minutes of Dodd's abduction, they began displaying large banners: "We captured General Dodd. If our problems are resolved, his security is guaranteed. If there is brutal act or shooting, his life is in danger."
Thus began the most bizarre and humiliating (to the U.S.) of the innumerable Communist rebellions on the prisoners' island of Koje.
Prisoner Rule. General Dodd is a candid, friendly man who has admitted openly that he does not understand Communists. A 52-year-old, Indiana-born West Pointer, he is a former deputy chief of staff of James Van Fleet's Eighth Army. After Koje's most violent riot last February, he was sent to the island to take over command from Colonel Maurice Fitzgerald. He found a bad situation. U.S. personnel were reluctant to enter some of the fanatical Communist compounds. The Communists elected their own leaders and councils, ran their enclosures like self-contained Red fortresses, organized their own drills and classes, flew illegal Communist flags, established liaison with other compounds, engaged in forbidden trade with Koje natives. Once before, they had seized Colonel Raven, held him for three hours, complained of their food and tried to force him to eat some.
Compound 76 and several others successfully resisted the screening of Communist and non-Communist prisoners, in spite of the appearance of completeness in the balloting figures which the U.N. published last month. It was a half-promise to talk about screening that brought General Dodd to the gate of Compound 76 last week.
"Immediate Ceasing." The Eighth Army sat on the story of Dodd's kidnaping for two days, then released the bare facts. Brigadier General Charles F. Colson was rushed to the island to take command. At Communist request and on Colson's orders, a telephone was passed through the barbed wire of Compound 76 and connected to a sentry box at the gate. Over this line General Dodd sent frequent bulletins on his treatment and on his parleys with his captors. He said they were treating him fine. U.S.-cooked meals were sent in to him.