(Classified)'VERY SPECIAL CATEGORY' 7 YEARS TO GO IN RED CHINA PRISON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000300170013-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 2, 1998
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: October 3, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

Pago pa'w Paa4 ~!
` BOSTON, I4ASS.
GLOBE
11. 202,711
U CT. 3 1LVJ
roved For, Releas b?AI
icha'rd Fecteau of Lynn
ears to:Go in Rea China Prison
Tae Lan Tze Ht ung--t a Lane o t e Grass reen"
By WILLIAM G. MILLER
PY H ..Mist. I I -is. id
iftdollut &Q
China, Peking. Y 'i? where Fecteau has been held 13 years, ever since he
The recipient: Richard George ' Fecteau; 38, of.. ~ and John T. Downey', 41, of New Britain, Ct., were,,
Lynn Ica tured as agents of the Central Sntelli ence Agency.
'??ylecteew?~fla'1f4,rd!'~.,.CkQQtQ(~4$~OQ3._,~
 CPYRGHT
' D ~Oi~QIQ~ QO Vi
For 77 hours )unit; 1An ffr
6
ff?1 1~ t
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D
did
t
ohZ
a t on 0 1 x are
os
"Jack and I bot
they are cnufin al lrd in tlirtr mg
i game between Canton and Pe- . It won't be long be
loath, his letters home often , our hair
separate relic with nothing to :king Universities.
how ncluding a separate note for, fore we look like gold-domed
kn
"
ow
do except real and think i
1ou W111 11 about lost -years. pleased I was," Fecteau says the twin daughters he has not Buddhas"
in a letter home. seen since they we=e 18 months Reading helps fill the prison,
jr They are accused of train-I years, but all material is close-:
Yet, these unexplained` nnfl! Mold. :ly screened. From his mother?,
ing and parachuting Chinese~I L.be receives the New Yorker{
Nationalist teams 'into Red~i?infrcquent excursions spread The girls, ,15-year-old Sid National Geographic and thet
China for espionage. nice-and Suzon, live in Lynn sports pages from the news-1
over 13 years are mere breaks ivlth Fecteau's, ex-wife, Mar-papers. }
t The Americans were cap---:'in a pattern of prison We garet. His second wife died in 'Readers Digest, Time and!
tured in 1952,'when according marked by boredom' and iu other news and opinion sheetal
No Peking, their plane was activity. ';a Maryland fire after his are prohibited as anti-Coe- i
capture. monist. A Chinese n anti-Co
shot down over Manchuria'; et
Fecteau's days are topg and j, is provided.
while attempting, to pick up To-his children he wrote one Fectcau's only books have
ten agent and drop supplies to tedious though not as harsh as'
:his first two and a half ears Christmas: "If I were home, een the works of Marx, En
li ',I'd put a bike in each of our wls, Stalin, Lenin, Mao Tie
trtliers.. when he was held in solitar
The United States contends y' tun>; and the Western classics'
confinement. Then h' was not ,stockings. Where I am, I of. Dickens, Mann and Cer-,
the two 'are merles civilian 'couldn't get you a bag of jelly yant.es.
employees of the Defense 1)e- even allowed to -shave. I,be+rns."
I "That was, pretty tough" he Each month his 'mother is ? One of the primary funs-`
partme k ride o nt who were hitching a p'
ride on a plane that vanished .says. There; was no one to Hallowed to send two 11 lb. food bons of Grass Basket triton;
flight from Koreato ,''talk to and nothing to -read Parcels. A must item is coffee s. theergthoughtreforreform"
on a of,
rand nothing to do. I got a `'ax ounce jars of instant. 1
prix
Japan. k ecteau greeted the , last often last srberal searm
nervoys 'tick, but that's gone hatch ? witji: "Now I can pay! oners are induced-by study;
back the coffee to Jack which
The Red Chinese, who in-!,now." and self-examination = to ar-
dosed confessions from the t?'o'', From his solitary cell he owed him and build up a; rive at a feeling oC repentance
at their spectacular 1Q54 trial, , small reserve." and-develop a political awareI .I wrote to his mother,. Mrs: . Another mandatory item isl nets.
clearly regard them as no or- , Philip Fecteau, 15 Wyman .st.,' tea bags -=- something that noI }
dinars prisoners. Lynn: You know I can't stand doubt amuses the~,,Chinese, 1 Fecteau has never mentioned}
In 1960, Chinese Premier' tea-drinking people. any lectures in his letters`
?_!) that, Mother. I have to have H, r..,. , os?r
airborne secret, agents" the two someone to talk to. Fecteau also'looks toward to Downey said no educational)
ar.e in "a very special cate-JI Today, Fecteau as c ame jars of peanut butter, cheese, programs had been offered
gar y "one to talk to - a Chinese tuna fish and cookies. Cur- ? since his imprisonment.
In Crass Basket 200 to 400 rently en route is a fruit cake) Fecteau s mother managed tc~
celimate,who speaks English? send her son a Bible which hey
political prisoners undergo in- Fecteau himself inflow fluent that should arrive in time ford has read from cover to cover.
form" prior to their - ft cormaa ll in. both speaking and reading Thanksgiving. there are no ch ch serwicee
'
Chinese. The Lynn man weighed 205 'in the prison, so Sand y he+
trial. For most it is ft is a stop ; the day Fecteauisl.ens
on the road to larger jails. .'lbs. on his 5 ft. 11 in. frame comes
Several times, Fecteau has to classical music on the radio.
when captured in 1952: Today, ?
The attitude of the' Chinese; requested that he and DowneY; i 'And -.in one of those, un
toward -their "speciaprise d.,share the same cell, but this.' e says he's putting on weight.' explained Chinese gestUreu n
' has been denied. Fecteau and Downey ti "their
iA ert firs first two sides.' The exact nature of his
A rigid and forbidding,- ... four-day tour last Fall.?wer
Peking has become more len-,,However, the Americans get: prison diet is unknown, but allowed to enter a Peking store
t.ient in later years. Several' together for ttiyo hours each' he has some men" and at one and buy sheets for their cots.'.
times the Americans have been; afternoon during the exercise tune` said he