War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its size,

and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history

through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. host, James Early. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Key Battles of American History.

This is your host, James Early.

As always.

And as promised, I am back with the third of three topical episodes on topics related to the Korean War.

Of course, two weeks ago, we talked about the Air War. Last week, we talked about the Naval War.

And this week, as promised, I'm going to talk about a topic that is very near and dear to my own heart.

Something I always find very interesting, and that is prisoners of war.

The situation with prisoners of war in Korea, of course, it has many similarities to prisoners

of war in other wars.

You've got guys held captive in some kind of compound.

Some of them get sick.

Unfortunately, people are brutalized.

They die for a variety of reasons because of disease or exposure.

A lot of them are not a lot, but some try to escape and so on.

So in that regard, the experience of a Korean War POW-O-W is very similar to that of a prisoner

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