Claude Batchelor

Claude Batchelor (born December 14, 1929) is a former United States Army soldier convicted by court martial of collaborating with China during the Korean War.

Originally from Kermit, Texas, Batchelor enlisted in the Army at age 16 and was deployed to the Korean Peninsula at the outbreak of the Korean War. He was made a prisoner of war (POW) in late 1950 after his company was overrun by Chinese forces. While interned at the Pyok-Dong POW camp, he evangelized a communist worldview to fellow prisoners and penned a letter calling for the United States to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula. According to Batchelor, his actions were the result of brainwashing. Repatriated to the United States at the end of the war, he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, though he ultimately served less than five.

Early life and education Claude Batchelor was born in Kermit, Texas, the second of eight children. His family was poor. While serving on the committee, Batchelor urged American POWs to sign a letter requesting the United States withdraw from the Korean Peninsula and to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. During his later court martial, some POWs testified that Batchelor had reported on them for transgressions of camp rules to the Chinese guards, though others stated that Batchelor had used his friendliness with camp officials to secure extra provisions for American prisoners.

At the conclusion of hostilities, Batchelor was among 21 American POWs who refused repatriation to the United States during Operation Big Switch. However, along with Edward Dickenson, Batchelor later changed his mind and was transferred back to the United States. According to Bert Cumby, who later interrogated Batchelor, he decided to leave as Chinese officials had decided to demote him from leading the defectors in favor of another prisoner. Batchelor himself, however, said he had decided to leave after reading an article about communism by Whittaker Chambers which appeared in a copy of the Reader's Digest he had acquired while a POW.

Upon return to the United States, Batchelor was promptly charged with collaboration. Joel Westbrook, a civilian attorney from San Antonio and officer in the Texas National Guard, represented Batchelor. Psychiatrist Leon Freedman testified for the defense, stating that Batchelor suffered from "induced political psychosis" and had been led to believe that he was "a potential savior of humanity". He was sentenced to dishonorable discharge and life imprisonment, the sentence later cut to 20 years by order of Gen. Isaac D. White. He was confined at Federal Correctional Institution, Texarkana, and paroled after serving less than five years.

In 1974, Batchelor was living in Chapin, South Carolina, according to an obituary published in the Odessa American for his father, O.L. Batchelor. In 2002 the Associated Press (AP) attempted to contact Batchelor; a reporter left several messages on an answering machine connected to a phone number thought to be his but did not receive a response. The phone number was disconnected shortly thereafter.

Personal life In 1949, while posted to Japan, Batchelor wed Japanese citizen Kyoko Araki in a Shinto ceremony. They were divorced on December 20, 1961, and he married 20-year-old Evelyn Butcher of East Union, Indiana, in a civil ceremony in San Antonio later that afternoon.