Valley of the Shadow

by Maj. Ward M. Millar, Gen. O. P. Weyland (Introduction)

Overview

U.S. Major Ward M. Millar was the third and last of three Air Force pilots captured during the Korean War to make his escape from the Communists. This is his story, first published in 1955, simply told, and one of stubborn and single-minded determination. Parachuting down in enemy territory, with two broken legs, Millar was picked up by some Chinese soldiers, treated minimally, interrogated at length, and finally taken to a “hospital,” which was no more than an infirmary. His first escape attempt—crawling on wooden skids—failed; his second, with walking sticks and padded galoshes for shoes, was more successful. He managed to hobble at the rate of a mile a day, lived on raw corn, was gradually weakened by dysentery and hunger, and fell into the hands of Kim—a friendly North Korean who was able to complete his escape and escort him to Seoul....

“A modest, matter of fact account—which has (and perhaps needs) no pretensions beyond the bare, spare facts of this experience.”—Kirkus Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787207059
Publisher:	Borodino Books
Publication date:	07/19/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	170
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

WARD M. MILLAR (February 5 1923 - January 27, 1999) was a U.S. Air Force Major. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and served in the military during World War II and the Korean War. He recounted his experiences as a prisoner of war in both conflicts in his book, Valley of the Shadow. He retired from the military after 25 years of service, and later held executive position with the American Red Cross in Los Angeles and Consolidated Micrographics in Laguna Niguel. Millar was married with five children. He died in Laguna Niguel, California in 1999, aged 75.

OTTO PAUL WEYLAND (January 27, 1903 - September 2, 1979) was a highly decorated U.S. Air Force General and the post-World War II Commander of Far East Air Forces during the Korean War and of Tactical Air Command. A BSc graduate of Texas A&M University (1919-1923) in mechanical engineering, he rose through the ranks within the U.S. Army Air Service to major-general by the end of World War II, having commanded the XIX Tactical Air Command in support of Gen. George Patton’s U.S. Third Army across Germany in the spring of 1945. During the Korean War he served as vice commander for operations at Headquarters Far Eastern Air Force in Tokyo and on returning to Tactical Air Command in 1951 was promoted to lieutenant-general. He became commanding general that same year, returned to Tokyo, and was involved in 10 major campaigns in Korea, earning him a promotion to four-star general in 1952. He returned to the U.S. in 1954 to serve as Commanding General of Tactical Air Command. He retired from the Air Force in 1959 and died 1979, aged 76.