American Prisoners of War in China! Part 5/5 documentary
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Transcript
00:00Our economies are so close together that we have to be friends because both of our economies
00:07now would suffer if we didn't cooperate with each other.
00:12Thank you, thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you, man. Bye-bye.
00:28Clarence Adams' return with his family to his hometown Memphis ended 12 years of an exceptional life in China.
00:39I wasn't very warmly receptive back here in America. We had some very hard times when I finally reached the shores here.
00:49I couldn't have time to work. In other words, the news media had really ruined me.
00:59And everybody wanted hands off, even fellows that I had gone to school with, they were afraid of me because I was painted as a red.
01:10And, of course, then later on, the government subpoenaed me and I had to go to Washington where they were trying me for treason.
01:20He wanted knowledge. He wanted education. He wanted an opportunity. And that's what he told those people, the senators who subpoenaed him.
01:32He says, why? Because I'm a black man. I don't have the right to make a life for myself. You've done this all over the world.
01:40You've gone anywhere you wanted to go and you did whatever you wanted to do to gain what you need to gain.
01:45But I'm a black man and I can't do the same thing. I can't get a better life for myself. He had every right.
01:57Clarence Adams, still working at 70, in his Memphis chop suey restaurant on Elvis Presley Boulevard, died in his daughter's arms.
02:09President Nixon's visit to China in 1972 ended the hostility between our two countries.
02:22The USA was no longer an enemy. And Venerus could at last visit his American family after being away for 26 years.
02:34He visited his family in the U.S. and the U.S.A.
02:42I was hurt. For what? It was a mistake. From the U.S. to Korea. For what? I don't know.
02:52How many people were hurt? Children, old people, everything was hurt.
03:05Don't stand. I hate standing.
03:11Living and working in China for half a century, respected and loved by coworkers and students alike,
03:20James Venerus was regarded by all as a symbol of international solidarity.
03:27He has never died. He has just disappeared. Well, Venerus, old buddy, I wish that I got to see you one more time.
03:37But I'm not too far behind you.
03:42I'm very sorry that I was not able to come and visit when he was alive.
03:48Have a good sleep, old buddy. We'll see you later.
04:19I wanted to know if she would like to be, if I could be her grandpa.
04:25Then I'll have grandkids at home and I'll have grandkids in China. Halfway around the world. That's great.
04:33Most of the 22 POWs have passed away.
04:40They carried the label of turncoats and traitors and lived under the clouds of dishonorable discharge and disillusionment.
04:52They struggled to make a living after returning to their homeland.
04:59But they are heroes to me for trying to build bridges between enemies.
05:06There should not be forgotten.
05:10We're not going back to the country we love because the humble but sincere effort we have put forward as prisoners of war of the Korean and Chinese side
05:21to the cause of peace would only bring us unmerciful persecution at the hands of a few peace haters now ruling the states.
05:33We not only want peace, but we want to fight for it.
06:33You