Hooked on History: Tuscarawas man was a prisoner of war for 33 months during Korean War
When Alva Greenwood Jr. returned home to Uhrichsville after spending 33 months in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean War, thousands of people turned out to welcome him home.
Sept. 20, 1953, a Sunday, was proclaimed "Alva Greenwood Day" in Tuscarawas County. At a ceremony held at Main and Third streets in Uhrichsville, he was given the key to the city by Mayor George Creager. Common Pleas Judge J.S. Hare gave an address on the principles of the flag and quoted the words to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." This was followed by a parade through town, with residents lining the streets.
The parade was led by the American Legion Post No. 230 color guard, with Greenwood and his parents, Alva and Chestina Greenwood, following in a convertible. Other participants included the Uhrichsville High School band, the Dennison High School band, the Dover Legion drum and bugle corps, color guards from the Gnadenhutten and Fort Laurens Legion posts and the Boy Scouts.
He was the only POW from Tuscarawas County during the war.
Alva's sister, Melva Greenwood Beckley, was 6 years old at the time. She remembers that the parade was beautiful, but her brother didn't care for the celebration.
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"He was backward. He didn't know if he wanted all that glory," Beckley said.
Greenwood joined the Army at age 17
Alva Greenwood was born April 8, 1932, in New Philadelphia, but grew up in Uhrichsville. He left school after the eighth grade and joined the Army in 1949 when he was 17. He went through basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., and additional training at Fort Lewis, Washington. He became a member of the 38th Field Artillery Battalion of the Army's Second Division.
With the beginning of the Korean War, the Second Division was shipped overseas in the summer of 1950.
When the Communist Chinese joined the war that November, the Second Division was ordered to head north to face them. Greenwood wrote his parents on Nov. 22, telling them, "We just moved north today."
According to a history of the division, "On the night of 25 November a large-scale Chinese assault overwhelmed the division. In the ensuing battles one of the regimental command posts was overrun and the division was nearly enveloped, escaping complete destruction only by doggedly fighting through a series of roadblocks in its retreat to the south. Suffering from very heavy casualties and the loss of most of its equipment, the Second Division was placed in reserve on 1 December."
Greenwood and seven others walked into a trap
On Nov. 30, Greenwood and seven others who had been cut off were trying to work their way back to the American lines when they walked into a trap near the 38th Parallel. "We were hit hard one night," he told The Times-Reporter in an interview in 1991. "The next morning we saw below us what looked like an American truck convoy. We rushed down to join it and about 300 Koreans jumped up and surrounded us."
They were marched to a holding camp and then to a permanent POW camp, known as Camp Three. It was Greenwood's home for the next 33 months. It was an experience he was reluctant to talk about, but he did share some details in the T-R interview.
On one occasion, he was in a group that tried to escape from prison, but the group was betrayed by a fellow prisoner. Greenwood was caught and spent 17 days in solitary in a small trench building large enough for one man to lie down. During that time, his feet were frozen.
He was in a group that had smuggled a Bible into camp.
"Our Bible was a very small-sized edition," Greenwood said. "We had one guy I think who memorized it. Ours was a morale booster. We would quote passages to one another in passing. The Koreans could make no sense out of what we were saying and they let us do it."
His parents learned in December 1950 that he was missing in action. A short time later, a Communist propaganda broadcast picked up in San Francisco reported that he was a prisoner of war.
Parents received letters in August 1951
On Aug. 2, 1951, his parents received two letters from their son.
The first, an undated letter, said, "Just a few lines to let you know that I'm just fine and I hope to find you all the same. I am sorry it happened this way but I hope you had a nice Xmas and Happy New Year. Well, I'm getting fed good and the Chinese people are taking good care of us. So you don't have to worry about me."
The second, dated Feb. 11, 1951, said, "Well, I hope to be home soon. I'll be home a lot sooner if they hurry up and end this war. The Chinese people say later on you won't be able to send boxes. If you get to, send me lots of candy, cigs and cookies."
Printed on both envelopes carrying the letters was "Via the Chinese People's Committee for World Peace and Against American Aggression." They were both postmarked Canton, China.
Celebration marked Greenwood's release in 1953
Alva Greenwood was finally released from captivity on Aug. 26, 1953, along with 10 other American POWs from Ohio.
He returned home around 2 a.m. on Sept. 19. His parents drove to Pittsburgh to pick him up. His first stop was the old family home at 442 E. Fifth St., Uhrichsville, where his sister Winifred Gibbons lived. Gibbons got on the phone and started calling relatives. About 30 to 40 of them came to welcome Alva home.
Then everyone headed out to the new Greenwood home, a 77-acre farm just outside of Tippecanoe, to wake Alva's brothers and sisters and continue the celebration. "When we looked out the window, there was a line all the way down the road of cars coming," Beckley recalled. Her brother gave her a locket he had purchased for her in San Francisco. She still has it.
"Greenwood says he is feeling fine and members of the family commented on him looking well," the Uhrichsville Evening Chronicle reported on Sept. 19. "He is now slightly heavier than when he first entered the service, but he was only 17 years old then."
Following his return to Tuscarawas County, he worked for the Universal Sewer Pipe Co., the Pennsylvania Railroad and Federal Ceramics in Mineral City.
Beckley said that Greenwood's time in the POW camp took a toll on him emotionally and physically.
He died Oct. 21, 1996, at age 64.
Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter and can be reached at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: History: Korean War POW from Uhrichsville received warm welcome home
