 Proudly, we hail. New York City, where the American stage begins, here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public Service Time has been made available by this station for your Air Force to bring you this story, as proudly we hail another airman of the United States Air Force. Hundreds of years ago, the poet said it when he wrote, Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. We're going to tell you about three men who believe just that in a story titled, Mission Accomplished. Our first act curtain rises in just a moment, but right now, here's important news for all ex-servicemen. You may be qualified to enlist in the United States Air Force at a higher grade and at higher pay than you realize. The Air Force needs men who are experienced in critical skills required to keep America's air defense strong. If you have training in these skills, the Air Force wants you, and they'll put you right on the job. For full details, write or visit your nearest Air Force recruiter right away. Today and tomorrow, you're better off in the United States Air Force. And now your Air Force presents the proudly we hail production, Mission Accomplished. It is the year 1951, and three members of the United States Air Force are prisoners of war in the Nagin compound in North Korea. Some 400 miles of hostile territory separate them from their outfits. Sit down, Jeff. Where are the rest of the guys? The butcher boy was here, rounded everybody up and marched them off to a class. And what? The usual? Re-education? How'd you get out of it? I didn't. I saw him coming and hit out in the back of the shack. You're going to catch it later on. I guess I will. Well, what'll they do? Take away another handful of rice? It's worth missing a meal if you can call it a meal. Listen, from now on, I'm not going to do anything to call attention to myself. I'm not going to miss any more meals. See, I'm going to save everybody's strength I have. Come here. Let's stand by the door so we can be sure none of these punk guards come strolling along. Yeah, I'm going to bust out of here. You're crazy. Oh, sure. Got to be just a little bit crazy. It helps. But you don't have a chance. When you and I got into our ship back at the base, we had a mission. It was to bomb our target and return. We didn't get back, Ed. Our mission hasn't been accomplished. It wasn't our fault, Jeff. We knocked off two of them before they shot us down. All I know is I won out. You're thinking of trying it alone? Yeah, if it comes to that. Although I'd prefer to have one guy or maybe two with me. Three's a good number. Who's the third guy going to be? You sure you want to do this? I decided I'd do it 34 days ago the minute we had to hit the silk. You got any kind of plan? No. All I know is we're going to do it. That's the beginning of every escape. A desire, a longing, a decision. And Captain Jeff Ellison and Lieutenant Edward Rackley had already jumped the first hurdle. They had made the commitment. Each had made the most binding agreement a man can make. An agreement he makes with himself. Quartered on the other side of an agent compound was Staff Sergeant Maurice Crane, two months a prisoner. He'd been a tail gunner. He knew Ellison and Rackley had been in the same squadron. One afternoon, he made his way over to their shack. Hey, I see where you picked yourself up a little cough, Captain. Yeah. Take this little bottle. It's cough syrup I swiped in. I've missed sweeping out the guard's barracks. Oh, thanks. I can sure use it. It's okay. You took a big chance just to get this. I had my eye on a couple of other things, too. I got some sulfur powder, some canned fish and a pocket knife. Hey. The biggest prize is a map. It's not much of a map, but you'll find a kid's geography book, kind of. I see you got ideas. Yeah. I keep getting more ideas every day. Any practical ones? Not yet, no. Maybe if I can pull mine with a couple of other guys, something might turn up. Look, I gotta beat it now that God is sure to be looking for me. Listen, I can let us have a volleyball game later this afternoon. Can you get out to watch it? Yeah. Because you and I and Lieutenant Rackley have a lot to talk about. And now the trio is set. Now there are three men ready and willing to undertake one of the most hazardous assignments known to man. Escaped from a prisoner of war camp. This is the beginning. Three men against an entire nation. Three men, unarmed, equipped only with willpower and their wits. Listen, guys, it couldn't be rougher. We're up in the northeast corner of the country. Just above us is the Chinese border. We're eight miles from the coast, but that's no bargain either because it's a good 700 miles to Japan. Well, we can't swim that far. That's for sure. Wait a minute. That guard doesn't like this conversation. I can't believe we're watching again. Hey! Now the way to go, boys! Back it down, man. Where do you think the front is now, Jeff? I don't know. I think we took Seoul back from him. That's 300 miles from here. That's air miles. I think you're another good 100 across country. Every inch of the way, hostile too. We got an idea of what a lot of the country looks like from there. It's not going to be much help when we're down on the ground. We can spend the next couple of months finding out about the country. We don't have the time. What we have now so far is our health and strength. A couple of more months on this diet, we're going to take losses in both. Okay. You guys are right. All right, then this is it. Look for a way out of here, grab the first chance we get. General direction south. Basic idea, hide by day, travel by night. Step number one. How do we get out of here? No one has to say anything, but word gets around. A man here and a man there gets an idea that an escape is being planned. Before you know it, there's a little group of friends willing to help with ideas and supplies. Because the trio will need all the assistance it can get. Tiny, almost inconsequential things on the face of it. But in the grim world of a prison camp, things that are worth a king's ransom. Some tins of meat and fish, a small bag of rice, a few precious cigarettes, a fish hook, some aspirin tablets. But just as important, advice and information. Jeff, 20 miles do south of here they got about 20,000 guys in the training camp. It's in a valley marked by six distinct mountain peaks. Circle it. Hey Ed, we got our hands on some money, you fellas better take it. And we got a compass for you too. Crane, listen, it's not so good. Andy, me and George have cased the whole perimeter of the fence. It's not a single weak spot. You can't break through anyways. No, I'm against a tunnel. It'll take forever to dig and who knows where you can come out. We can forget about trying the fence. It gunners down in 15 minutes. Hold it guys, hold it. The way out is staring us right in the face. All we have to do is grab it. What do they do twice a month? That's it. Sure, when they take us out of the compound of the river so we can wash our clothes. Look, we'll have two of the guys start a fist fight to distract the guards' attention. Then we run for it. That sounds like the best chance we can ever get. Well there's one thing wrong with it. They take out a different group each day and I'm not in the same group with you two. I'm with the enlisted man. Jeff, we've got to figure out a way for the sergeant to be with us. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I've got an idea. It'll take some cigarettes. Can we spare about six of them? Sure, take them. That's what they're for. Hey corporal. Hey, listen. Next time I go to wash clothes when officers go, okay? Can I? We're done. Well, officers want me wash clothes for them, huh? Rules say no. I wash clothes for officers. They give me cigarettes. Hey, I'll give you cigarettes. How much cigarettes? Three. Make six? Okay, six. Can do? Can do. Our group goes out to wash clothes a day after tomorrow. Then that's it. Frank and Bob are going to stage the fight. It should be a real Pier 6 brawl. They know we need every minute we can get. One little detail can blow the whole thing up in our faces. Like you say, we need time to make for cover. I suppose the guard doesn't let him fight. I suppose he steps in with his rifle butt. Maybe he blows his whistle for quick help. This thing will never get off the ground, you know. Crane's right, Jeff. This whole ball game depends on the attitude of the guard. That's one thing we can't figure on. Maybe we can. Of such tiny imponderables has made the stuff of escape. The personality of a sentry, for example. But you can get to know a sentry if you're a prisoner. You can get to know him better than his own brother because you've got nothing to do all day every day except to watch him. You know his every move, his every expression. You know, for instance, by the way he walks in in the morning, what kind of night he had, and therefore what kind of day you're going to have. He comes on shift holding his rifle, look out. If it's slung over his shoulder, breathe easy. Would he step in to break up a fist fight? There's only one way to find out. Stage one the day before. On I shoot! Oh, no, no, wait a minute, wait. Let him settle it. This has been boiling up for a long time. Oh, say no. Well, look, what do you care if a couple of Americans beat each other up? Sergeant, come along. I pay. Well, look, tomorrow we go out, wash clothes, no sergeant near, no other guards near, no one to tell on you. They must settle one steel girl from other back home. You know how he feels? Anybody ever one-time steel girl from you? But no fight here. Settle tomorrow, when no one else see. And so that all important little detail is taken care of. The guard will be distracted for at least a few minutes. The rest of the group will be sure to block his vision. The escape will begin. The jumble will be made out of the frying pan into the fire. That night the tiny horde of supplies is wrapped into an extra shirt. Short quiet goodbyes are said to good friends. The prayers and hopes of so many men ride with three. The next day passes slowly. Finally late in the afternoon the group is assembled. It is marched out of the compound down to the river bank. Better make believe you're washing that shirt. Oh, yeah. Where are they going to start the fight? When I give them the high sign, three of us better start moving off to the left. We'll head for that bend in the river that gets us out of his sight. That's back toward camp. That's north. Yeah, I know. Okay, watch out. Here it goes. Oh, when I was a lad, I started to care nothing about... This way, this way. Come on, it should be right here. Just past those bushes. What? Crying out loud. Where is it? It's supposed to be behind these bushes along the side of the hill. Are you crazy? What are you looking for? Oh, yeah. He was right here in his... Looks like a cave. I give that man a prize inside fast. Sit down and relax. I can't stop now. He'll be after us in a couple of minutes. Look, Captain, you're in charge, okay, but when you change plans like that, you ought to let... I know, I know. I should have told you about it. I didn't find out about this cave till a half hour ago, and then there was no chance to talk. Well, yeah, but they'll search and find this cave and then goodbye. But they won't figure that we'd run back toward camp. They won't start any real searching until they get past the river, which is where they know we started from. All right, look, I admit it's a chance. If you guys say no, we can still get out and run. Oh, this way makes sense to me. We're playing the whole thing by ear, Jeff. One way's as good as another. The guys brought us all the time they could. Okay. We'll just sit tight and hope we did the right thing. Got the rations crane. Yeah, wrapped up in the shirt. Okay. We'll divvy them up. Three tins of sardines apiece. Ten tins of meat for each. Crane, you carry the bag of rice, huh? I'll carry the blanket. Nobody can say we're not traveling light. All right. You have absolutely no reason to start searching around here. No reason at all. Yeah, that's what I keep telling them down at the office. Well, just sit tight. We'll be okay. I hope. You're listening too proudly we hail. We'll return to our second act in just a moment. When you make an investment, you wanted to pay off, right? Well, man, how about those years you invested in the armed forces, learning skills, gaining experience valuable to yourself and your country? You can make those years pay off in big dividends today by becoming a member of the United States Air Force. Your Air Force recruiter has a folder full of details, so write or visit him right away. Ask for the prior service man's folder and you'll know why today and tomorrow you're better off in the United States Air Force. And now for the second act of the proudly we hail production of Mission Accomplished. The sky's overcast, there won't be a moon. It should have a good eight hours before daylight. Take a look outside the cave, Ed. Can't see a thing. How do we know about directions? We'll have to keep checking the compass every few minutes. It should be southeast. Keep your eyes and ears open. If it's in the cards for us to be captured, please don't let it happen here within sight of the camp. At least let's give them a run for their money. And so they set out, stumbling through the darkness to a goal so far away it might just as well have been on another planet. At any moment they might stumble into a patrol. Through rice paddies they struggle through underbrush. They have to fight to gain every precious mile of ground. Every hour they stop and fall to the ground, breathe deeply, try to relax for just a few minutes. And then they journey forward again. After what seems an eternity, there's a faint light in the east. And now a problem. Where to hide through the daylight hours that will soon be on? Directly ahead they can make out the shape of the hillside thickly covered by bushes. And where they must take cover. Make sure you keep low and out of sight. We can eat one tin of meat apiece and chew a handful of rice. Somebody's coming. I see him. It's an old guy. Looks like a farmer. Is he alone? Yeah. What's he doing? Seems like he's looking for something. Hope he's not looking for us. Why should he be looking for us? Probably rewarding and foreign. Hey, he's headed this way coming right at us. What are we going to do, Jeff? Can't be. He knows we're here. I can tell by the way he's standing there. Jeff, his lad will go back and get help. Americans? Uh-oh. Americans, you come quick with me. I have house. I am alone. No one see. No one know. You hide. Soldiers, come here quick. Look all over hillside. Can we trust him, Jeff? I don't know. If it are dark, we could take a chance and run for it, but now in the daylight... Hey, look, way off there in the valley. Soldiers heading this way. Quick. Come quick. Fellas, we have to take a chance. You safe here. Soldiers search last night. They not come again. Here. Think more tea. Well, thanks. You know, I feel a hundred percent better. Tell me, why do you do this for us? You can get shot for it, you know. Uh, hey, bad people. Promise peace. They take away my two sons. Make them soldiers. I'd never see my sons again. Where'd you learn how to speak English, old man? Oh, high school teacher. They not like me. Call me re-actionary. Because I know teach what they say. Take away job. You think tea, eat, seep. I stand guard. I watch. He was a very old man, with a deeply lion face and troubled eyes. Perhaps he would betray them in the end. Perhaps this was just a trick to detain them. But an escaping prisoner develops a sixth sense. They felt they could trust this man. Besides, they had no other place to go. Finally, they fell asleep in the warm heart. You must go now. I think soldiers are coming back. Okay, pal. Thanks. Go east toward Seashore. Tomorrow, holiday. Fishermen stay home. No work tonight. You find boat, maybe. Yeah, that's an idea. Beats walking. All right, guys, we better get out of here. Listen, pal. We, uh... Why don't you take this money? No. Come on, pal. You can use it. No. I do this for my sons. My sons like you. Tore, strong. Not afraid of anything. Please. No money. Bless you, pal. Go east toward Beech. It is still light as they walk through the wooded and hilly terrain, and suddenly their hearts beat faster because to the rear and approaching toward them, they hear voices, many voices. This must be a patrol, and it seems like a large patrol, one that means business, and it's spread out beating the underbrush. Their only chance is to out-distance it, and so they move faster. But up ahead lies a new peril. Hey, wait a minute. Listen. It sounds like a convoy, then, must be a road we're coming to. Patrol's in back of us, a road with a convoy on it ahead of us. Which way, Jeff? That's probably their strategy. They've beaten the bushes hoping to flush us out toward the road. There's no place to hide around here either. Jeff, do you hear that convoy? We haven't got a chance in a million at getting across the road. It's our only chance. Keep hoping it gets good and dark before that patrol forces us to the road. It's not a chance. I can hear him coming now. Okay. Convoy will be moving fast. Let's get to the road and make a dash for it. What else can we do? Hey! It's the 26s. They're strafing the convoy. Yeah. Hit the ground! This should take everybody's mind off us for a while. After this pass, get across the road quick. It had been right. The shoreline was deserted. They saw the dim outlines of fishing boats, but no people. Most of the boats were too big to handle, but finally they found one that seemed just right. It was about the size of a lifeboat. It had a mast in place for oars. They pushed her into the water. None of them knew very much about sailing, but they were able to figure out how to raise the sail. After considerable trial and error, they were able to set a course and hold her to it. Then everyone seemed to remember something no one had taken into account before. Water. But their luck was still in. There was a locker in the stern and the inside had a huge earthenware jar. It contained about a gallon of water. I estimate daylight in about an hour. Should we look for a place to put in, Jeff? We can do that. Or we can stay out here. During the day if we head south by east and lose the coastline. We can keep moving 24 hours a day that way. Yeah, for how long? Till our food and water give out. We also stand a good chance of being spotted. Well, our chances are no better on the land. Ed, you're a navigator. Can you take us out daytime and bring us closer at night? I'm not that kind of navigator. Send me upstairs with my instruments. I'll navigate you anywhere in the world. Right here I'm navigating by the seat of my pants. Okay, new course for the day. South-east. They made distance that day and night and in the three days and nights that followed. But on the fourth day their food was about gone. And on the fifth day, there was no water left in the jar. Then they got water, more than they had bargained for. A heavy wind sprang up and lashed the seas into gigantic waves. The angry wind and water hurtled the boat forward at a frightening speed. Wave after wave threatened to engulf the tiny craft. What miraculously, each time she would write herself and plunge forward again. They had no way of knowing how far they had come. Finally a huge wave lifted them out of the water and sent the boat crashing onto the beach. The bottom of the craft splintered from the impact. Slowly, painfully, each of them rose from the ground and started walking. It was broad daylight. Easy, Jeff. Try to find a place to rest. Any idea of where we are at? No, I don't know. That storm knocked out all my calculations. I don't know how far we came. What's that over there? Looks like an old storehouse of some kind. Should we take a chance? Yeah. Looks kind of deserted around here. The sides are starting to rain again. We need shelter. We better help them in. I'll be all right. They might just lean on us. The door's open. The place is deserted. What floor, Jeff? Sorry, we lost the blanket. It's a stove over in the corner. Maybe I can get a fire going in. I don't know if we should take a chance. The captain's pretty sick. It's a well outside. Here's a tin can. Just got a little bit of rice left, but we'll boil it up. Yeah, we could only do something hot. What we need right now is to rest and get warm. Boy, that storm ruined us. I'll get the water. See if you can start a fire. How is he? Sleeping. You don't look too good yourself. I got a fever. How about you? I don't know. All my bones ache. I feel a little bit dizzy. None of us in too good shape, are we? Well, we can get some rest. Keep warm in here so far. But if we don't get some chow soon, I don't know. It's been days since we really ate. You still got that fish hook? Yeah. Let me have it. I can use my shoelaces for a line. I'll try to dig up some bait. Maybe we can catch a square meal. Better go right now while I fill up to it. Wait a minute. I hear somebody coming. Sounds like a lot of people. Jeff, Jeff, come on, wake up. I think they finally got us cornered, boy. Fellas, I, uh... I just about had a... Help him up. Try to get out the back way. No, I don't want to hold you back. Two of you run for it. It's no good. The three of us started. The three of us finished. Come on, hold onto me, Jeff. Let's go. Out that back door. Hey, hey! What do you think I am? What's your idea? Slug me. Ed. Ed, look, he's an American. Crane. Ed, Americans. We're prisoners of war. We've escaped from an agent compound. An agent compound? Holy mackerel, how'd you guys make it all the way down here? Uh, where's the... Where's the 12th Bombardment? Who can get a message through to Colonel Downing? We'll notify your buddies, sir. I guess we'll need a couple of days in the hospital. The old Colonel will be back in a week. Ed. Crane. Let's get a little bit of sleep. We earned it. Oh, and, uh, listen, when you get word to the Colonel, don't forget to say mission accomplished. There were three men, and they decided to buck the odds and make their escape. It took a combination of many things to make it. It took courage, luck, ingenuity, determination. But most of all, it needed the spark. The spark which makes so many men keep on going until they can say the most satisfying words in any language. Mission accomplished. Today and tomorrow, you're better off in the United States Air Force. Right now, plenty of former servicemen are discovering the truth of that slogan. They're taking a look at the new advantages available under the Air Force's liberalized reenlistment policy, and they're signing up for a profitable, interesting tour of duty with the Air Force team. You see, the new Air Force policy offers a choice of U.S. and overseas assignments, plus a paid 30-day delay in reporting if requested. And listen, even before you enlist, the Air Force may be able to guarantee you technical training in critical skills. So remember, veterans, regardless of your former service or how long you've been in civilian life, you'll do well to find out about the new liberalized reenlistment policy of the United States Air Force. Talk it over now with your nearest Air Force recruiter. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station. Proudly We Hail is produced by the Recruiting Publicity Center in New York for the United States Air Force. This is Ralph Roland inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.