NEVER LOST HOPE, FECTEAU ASSERTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00764R000300070004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 1999
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: December 16, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

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NEVER LOST ROTE,
)IlK 3,ZUE9
*If 3-00o4R000300070004-9
CPYRGHT
Mr. Fectcau' who is 43 years
old and whose home is in Lynn,
M
9
ass,
Li on three of the
-J .11.x;'( American n prisoners as John T.
FEC E Y ilJl 7 ASSER~S~
howney 41 of New Britain
,
Says He Was Alone 'So Long
He Isn't Used to Talking
PTT(~HNTxVTTTn, n T'J 1'e
(UPI)-Richard G. Fectcau sai(
today that during his 10 year:
of imprisonment in China 11,
was in solitary for so mucl
time I'm not tised to conversa
Lion.?'
Mr. Fectcau made the stale
meet at the first news confer.
cnce, held since he and Mary
Ann Harbert were released by
China on Sunday. Both were
taken to the Valley Forge Army
Hospital here yesterday.
Speaking in a, barely audible
voice and wringing his hands,
Mr. Fectcau, who is 6 feet tali
and weighs about 175 pounds,
said that during his entire pe-
riod of captivity "I never gave
up hope." He said, "you get
used to" solitary confinement,
then added, "that's my prob-
lem."
Miss Harbert, captured in
Chinese waters while on a
pleasure cruise between Hong
Kong and Japan iii April, 1968,
posed for 10 minutes for pho-
tographers a short time after
Mr. Fecteau's news conference
but would answer no questions.
A hospital spokesrtian said she
would hold a news conference
at 1' P.M. tomorrow.
Responds to Questions
Mr. Fectcau, wearing a `blue
hospital robe over his pajamas,
stood before a brightly lit
Christmas tree during the news
conference, which he opened by
saying:
"I came in here to give a
short. statement but I do not
wish to answer questions at
this time. I'm in good health."
But then he began to respond
to questions relating to some of
his experiences - during his
captivity.
He said lie was in a prison
camp either in or 'near Peking
and that the only other prison-
ers in his cellblock were other
Americans. He said that during
the middle years of his im-
prisonment, he had a Chinese
cellmate but that other times
he was alone.
Conn.; Capt. Philip Smith, 37
of the Air Force, and Lieut.
Comdr. Robert J. Flynn of the
Navy.
Mr. Downey, who is still in
prison, was captured with Mr..
Fectcau when their military
aircraft was forced down in
Chinese territory in 1952, dur-
ing the Korean war'.
No Comment on Spy Charge
The United States has said
only that the Iwo were civilian
employes of the United States
Army at the time of their
capture. Unoffiical sources
identified them as employes of
the Central Intelligence
Agency.
Asked at the news confer-
ence if lie was a spy, Mr. Fec-
tcau replied, "No comment."
Miss IIarbdrt, 26, of Palo
Alto, Calif., sat on a couch,
with a nurse in lyr second-
floor hospital room clad in a
light green dress when she met
photographers. She smiled
broadly when a newsman
shouted, "Welcome home," but
said nothing.
Mr. Fectcau said he was able
to read newspapers and niaga??
nines during his imprisonment.
He said lie knew the United
States had put a man on the
moon, that President Nixon
planned to visit China and that
lenry Kissinger the presidential
adviser had been to China.
A medical bulletin released
by the hospital said Mr. Fectcau
and Miss Harbert were fatigued
but otherwise ? normal. Both
complained of eye disorders,
which Chinese doctors diag-,
nosed as trachoma.
The hospital said both had
been eating and sleeping welll.
For R1ea'e -1999110912
1writing and walking outside
 111AL1IINGTOti FO3
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U.S. ~won't Concede.
Or Deny Fecteau
was on Spy fission;
clined to concede that one of
the two Americans released by
China was on an espionage
mission when captured in
1952. But it was learned they
o longer deny the charges.
Expressing reluctance yes-
terday to talk about "so
darned sensitive a matter,"
government sources neverthe-
less said "we are not arguing"
any more with the Chinese
who insist that Richard Fee-
teau and John Thomas Dow-
ney were engaged in ! espio-
nage when arrested.
Fecteau was' released Mon-
day after serving 19 years, of a
turned to the United States
along with Mary Ann Harbert,
an American from Menlo
Park, Calif.,`who was arrested.
In 1968.
Downey remains in China,
but his sentence was reduced
from life to a term scheduled
to end in about five years. ?
Speculation , that Fecteau
and Downey might have been,.
dropping Nationalist Chinese
agents on the mainland as
charged was raised to a possi
billty Monday when Fecteau's
former wife was reported by'
several newsmen as saying'
that "the Chinese haven't been
lying."
She was said to have ex
plained, "It's very involved
and I'm not supposed to get?
into it. He was a civilian work-
ing for the U.S. government. I
know what'he was doing, but I-
:can't 'say. Let me put it this
way-?the Chinese haven't
been lying,"
Mrs. Fecteau denied later
that she said this, but she
would not elaborate. Two re
porters who interviewed Mrs.;
Fecteau quoted the same lan-
guage in their Monday stories..
When asked about Mrs. Fee-
teau's reported assertion,.
State Department spokesman
Robert J. McCloskey said yes-
torday, "I don't see any use-
ful basis on which I could, at
this time, discuss his previous
employment."
But other officials said pri-
vately that the administebtion`
no longer is following, the:
original U.S. cl aracterization
,that the charges , against' Fete
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