Exclusive: Comrade Of American Held In N.korea Recalls Friendship, Stealth Mission

[Ron Burgundy]

In early 1953, Merrill Newman and Allen Hedges were among a small group of U.S. servicemen hunkered down on a tiny, frequently shelled island off the west coast of North Korea. And so, Hedges said, they never did. Why Newman felt compelled to set foot in North Korea more than 60 years after the end of the Korean War remains a baffling question to Hedges and several other surviving members of the U.S. Army 8240th Unit. Newman, now an 85-year-old retired business executive living in California, was detained in late October while visiting North Korea on a tourist trip.

View the full article