The following was taken from a tape my father, Russell Kingston, made for me several years ago. He shares some of his experiences growing up, as well as his time as a prisoner of war in North Korea. I would like to point out a couple of things up front: One, these are not all of his P.O.W. stories. Some are just too disturbing to include here. There are times I wish I hadn’t heard them myself. Two, Dad jumps around a lot in his telling. I could tell when listening to the tapes that he became emotional and had to switch back to the farm years, or something else more comforting. The words are his, just as he spoke them, with no changes.
I’m happy to add that, as of this writing, Dad is very much alive and doing well. –Wade Kingston
This is Russell Kingston. I’m gonna tell a few things of my life history. I was born 12/21/31 to John and Gola McKinney Kingston. I have lived on a farm all of my life, my childhood, and when I became a teenager I decided I would go in the army, which I did. I joined the army May 11, 1950, went to Ft. Knox, taken seven or eight or ten weeks training and I was sent home for 18 days delay in route. I went to Chicago, transferred from that train to another and went to Seattle, Washington and stayed there for a day or a day and a half, caught a plane and went to Tokyo, Japan. I spent one afternoon, one night and part of one morning in Tokyo. Caught a train and went to Sasebo (Nagasaki), Japan. From Sasebo I caught a ship which they said was Japan’s second-best ship and when I woke up the next morning I was in Pusan, South Korea and when we got off the ship, they told us to take a look at our enemy, which there were prisoners lined up on the railroad as far as you could see—North Koreans, so they issued us more ammunition and told us to go to our outfits. I asked them where was I going and they said “You are going to the First Cavalry, Eight Regiment, K Company,” and I said, “Where is it?” and they said “Somewhere between here and the 38th Parallel.” I said, “How will I get there?” And this officer said, “Well, soldier you have two feet don’t you?” I said, “Yes, sir.” And he said, “Well, use them.” Continue reading “Russell Kingston–From Farm Boy To Prisoner of War”