34 Months: Attitude and Survival as a Korean POW

By: Troy Liposec, Felix Ferranto

Narrated by: Derek Botten

For 34 months, while wounded and struggling to survive in Korean War prison camps, Felix Ferranto recited the Lord's Prayer daily and dreamed of being free and with his family.

Proper "attitude" and having learned enough of the Chinese language and culture during his time with the American Legation Guard in Peiping, China would be critical for his survival. A radio relay platoon commander in the 1st Marine Division, Felix was wounded at the time of his capture by Chinese forces in November, 1950. During the time he was in captivity, he kept meticulous notes of the other prisoners he met. When one died, he put a rectangle around his name, hiding the papers from his captors in a shaving cream canister that he had emptied.

Meanwhile, his family in Oceanside, California, clung to its only thread of hope: a letter his wife received shortly after his capture. The letter was snuck out of the prison camp by a Chinese doctor. It was the doctor's way of repaying Felix for saving his life during an attack by Allied aircraft.

In an attempt to electrocute a North Korean major, Felix rigged a radio. The effort was unsuccessful, leading to prolonged solitary confinement.

His "attitude," while in the depth of unimaginable, life or death circumstances is what kept him alive.

©2019 Troy F. Liposec (P)2020 Troy F. Liposec