Ex-POW among veterans in Ephrata parade

EPHRATA - Fifty-five years after he was released from a Korean POW camp, Coulee City's Garlyn Tupper is able to say why he survived a physical and emotional ordeal that claimed others.

"I think a lot of it was I grew up in Northern Minnesota in really cold country. I knew how to take care of myself in really cold weather," 77-year-old Tupper said Tuesday. "Mainly, they starved us to death. I was lucky I made it."

His nearly three years of captivity started on Dec. 1, 1950, after the Chinese crossed the Yellow River in Korea. A battle of about three days or four days followed.

"Our division was left to hold back the Chinese until the other units got out," he explained. "But there wasn't enough of us left to follow anyone out."

Tupper, then an Army combat engineer, and the soldiers were overrun as they tried to protect the wounded, he explained.

Upon capture, they went through marches similar to the World War II marches of Bataan and Corregidor, except they experienced a "bitter cold winter," he said.

The lowest point for Tupper was during the marches north because of the harsh weather and not having any food, he recalled.

The prisoners were marched 30 kilometers during the night to avoid bombings from American planes and forced to sleep in caves and old buildings during the day, he said.

Although the soldiers tried to help each other along, many "dropped out" during that time and were never to be seen again, he said.

Tupper was held at two camps during his captivity. One camp was called "Camp 5," where he stayed for about six months.

He was transferred to a second camp after an escape attempt. He tried to cross the Yellow River by floating on a log.

But the attempt was foiled as camp guards were waiting for Tupper.

He and another solider were placed in solitary confinement for 11 days as punishment. They were housed in a tin building typically reserved for goats.

Tupper and about 300 other prisoners were transferred to a reactionary camp because they were pegged troublemakers and considered uncooperative, he said.

During his captivity, he lived on a diet of crack-corn millet boiled in water, which he compared to chicken feed. The menu gradually changed to a watery, meatless, vegetable soup.

The prisoners were put to work unloading barges and carrying wood to camp for winter fuel.

Nearly three years after his capture, he regained his freedom.

An agreement for the release of POWs was reached during armistice negotiations at Panmunjom, he said.

Fifty American POWs were set free each day in exchange for the release of 500 Chinese POWs, he said.

Out of about 7,000 Americans captured in Korea, 2,700 survived, he said.

Tupper was released to the Great Lakes Naval Hospital where he spent about six weeks building his body back up and receiving dental work, he said.

He ended up marrying, having four children, retiring from the National Park Service and spending his later years in Coulee City.

Tupper rode in a Veterans Day parade on Tuesday in Ephrata with other Columbia Basin veterans who served in World War II, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, the Gulf War and Iraqi Freedom.

Mike Montaney, the parade's chairman, said about 150 people marched in the parade, including area scout groups, the Othello Pathfinders and Girl Scout Daisy and Brownie troops.

Members of the Ephrata-based 1161st National Guard unit, Ephrata America Legion, the Coast Guard station in George were also represented, he said.

Montaney spent 22 years in the Marines, serving overseas tours in Vietnam and Asia. He said he enjoys the parade.

"We do stuff like this for fun," he noted. "It kind of makes up for going to funerals. That's no fun."

Joyce Board of Ephrata was watching the parade from downtown Basin Street to show her support, she said.

"I wouldn't miss it," she said. "We have a lot to be thankful for when we see this"