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Charles Ross was celebrated by Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 at the beginning of April for National Former Prisoner of War Day. 

The chapter’s members and Ross’s daughter, Barbara, attended the dinner in honor of Ross at Copper River Grill. The chapter also raised money to install a ramp for Barbara’s home for Charles and put up flags on her home while doing the work and upkeep for the flags. 

Rolling Thunder, in addition to assisting and celebrating veterans, also brings attention to Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. They work to bring full accountability for Prisoners of War in previous wars, including by bringing them home, and to prevent service men and women from being left behind in the future. 

The Korean War lasted three years and saw human rights violations by all participants, including by the United States and the United Nations. This is the story of an American Prisoner of War. 

Ross is a 96-year-old veteran born and raised in South Carolina who was a prisoner of the Korean War for three years. He has three children, several grandchildren, and even more great-grandchildren. Charles said he’s often told he doesn’t seem like he’s 96, being as sharp as a tack. 

He loves his late wife, Janet, dearly, and her portrait is next to his chair in the living room. He said he can’t walk without a walker or without leaning or holding on to something, but since 2013, he’s been doing several 15-minute walks around the house a day and using his 8-pound weight every morning.  

Charles enlisted in the Army at 18 in February of 1947, a little under a year after graduating high school. 

“I was 16 when WWII ended. I turned 18 in December of ’46, and I enlisted in ’47. When I graduated, I started driving a truck for an ice cream delivery service. I didn’t get along well with the shipping clerk, so I decided to quit,” Ross said. 

Afterward, he was left wondering what he would do with his life. “I was on a bus in Colombia, South Carolina, and saw a sign. It said U.S. Army Recruiting Station. A light went on in my head, and I said, ‘That’s what I want to do!'” Ross said that because he grew up during WWII, he knew many soldiers and liked the camaraderie between them. 

When asked why he joined the Army, Ross told me, “I wanted some adventure in my life.” After seeing the sign, he thought it would be an interesting life. He took basic training in Port McClellan, Alabama. After basic training, he spent three years in Germany with the 1st Infantry. By mid-June 1950, Charles was able to come home from Germany. The Korean War started in late June 1950.

Charles had arrived in Korea with the 1st Provisional Battalion in August 1950. Charles was then assigned to the provision that became the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division. Only a month and a half later was the Battle of Inchon. “North Koreans just almost vanished,” Charles said about the battle that resulted in a United Nations victory. He recalls that in the days between this victory and the Battle of Pyongyang, “We were told that the war was all but over because the North Koreans just stopped fighting.” 

After Pyongyang, The Battle of Unsan was long and treacherous. Charles’ battalion of about 900 men got on the road one night after a command. Around 10-20,000 Chinese soldiers soon surrounded the U.S. Battalion. “We fought ’em off for three days and nights. Of course, we lost a lot of people during that time. But we ran out of everything; we ran out of food,” Charles said. He recalls that during the battle, there were trucks not far away on the road ahead with the battalion’s supplies, rations, ammunition, and winter clothing. 

On the fourth day, Charles said the Chinese Army started shelling chemical rounds of White Phosphorus. In the thick smoke, those who were still able to run did and crossed the Nammyon River. “When I went into the water, I took my helmet off and dipped it in to drink because we didn’t have water for a couple of days. We went on until dark, and we stayed in some Korean houses,” he said. 

A couple of days later, after moving south to find the rest of the American forces, Charles and the others who had escaped from the Battle of Unsan ran into the Chinese forces. Charles said during the fighting, he and his fellow serviceman, Donald from North Carolina, broke off from the crowd and hid until the firing stopped. 

Until their capture a couple of days later, they had stayed in abandoned Korean houses and searched for food, sometimes finding a radish or a piece of fruit. Charles remembers that during this time of searching for food, an older Korean civilian helped the two find shelter in a cave dug from a hillside that he put rocks in front of. He brought them warm broth and water. The next morning, the two left and were found, and soon after, they surrendered to the Chinese Army.

They were taken to a field unit where the two had stayed a few nights ago. In this part of his captivity, the Prisoners of War had to stay in the house in the daytime and would march at night. “They’d generally feed us about a handful of corn at night. That’s all we had to eat. We had some people who still had wounds, untreated, and then people began to get diarrhea and get sick. At that time, we had about 20 Americans and 100-150 South Koreans,” Charles said. Within the home the men were to sleep in, laid side-by-side with feet-to-heads, some areas were warmer than others due to the floor-heating system. Charles said the prisoners worked out a deal for people to switch sleeping areas every week. 

In January 1951, Charles and other prisoners were taken to Camp 5 in Pyoktong. Charles remembers his time at this camp as his worst time as a POW. “The detail I hated most was burial detail. Burying our fellow prisoners when they died, and we had them dying by the hundreds. It was nothing unusual to be called out for burial detail with 10-15 bodies to bury. They were our friends and our comrades.” Ross said. 

“It was a combination of untreated wounds, disease, and starvation. How I survived, I don’t know. I was 21 years old; I was in pretty good shape. I weighed somewhere around 170-175 pounds (before Korea). When I was released, I weighed 138 pounds.”

In the winter, Charles said Korea’s frozen ground was as hard as a wooden floor. Prisoners of War burying comrades would have to break through around 8-inch layers of ice to dig a hole. For everyone he helped bury, Ross said he took the man’s field jacket or shirt and put it over the head of the body to prevent dirt from throwing in his face.

Ross still suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) today. His memories generally come back at night. He said his mind sometimes goes to his imprisonment. 

The Korean winters permanently altered Ross’ feet. “My feet were so frozen at one time it took like 3 or 4 days until the normal feeling came back in, and there was this constant itching that you can’t scratch. It was like it was under the skin. You can scratch and scratch and rub and rub, but it didn’t satisfy the itch. I suffer from that foot damage today,” he said, adding that he has neuropathy in his feet. 

In August 1951, the Non-Commissioned Officers in leadership roles were taken to Camp 4. He stayed at Camp 4 until August 20, 1953, when he was released. 

Ross said that, as far as he remembers, there were no deaths at Camp 4 from 1951 to 1954. “Our food got better, and we had a much cleaner living space. We were allowed to go to this little spa, river, or creek, and we were allowed to take a bath and wash our clothes.” 

“We were not beaten. But, we were punished. At times, they withheld food from us and gave us these lectures.” Charles said, explaining that high-ranking Chinese officials told the men about the faults of capitalism in favor of communism. 

On the first of September, Ross was released from Camp 4. He was soon reunited with the American Army and was swiftly promoted to Master Sergeant. He had been promoted while still in captivity.

In 1970, Charles retired from the Army as a Command Sergeant Major, the top enlisting grade. 

Sometimes, Charles said he’d like to forget the memory, but it is an experience he can’t forget, and he said he owes it to “them to remember it. They were my comrades. As sorry as it is, some of them are still there. Not all of them were returned, but some were returned. Literally thousands had died over there.” 

For a detailed video interview and transcript with Charles Ross, go to https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/charles-ross/