Korean War · Last known alive in Chinese custody · Never returned
Sgt. Gerald William Glasser, U.S. Army, in uniform.
Gerald Glasser in civilian dress.
Before the war
Jerry Glasser had “a fondness for autos and cute girls,” according to PIP’s research. He once borrowed the family car without permission and, while trying to chat up a young woman, smashed into a police car stopped in front of him. Somehow he got no ticket. From a North Korean prison camp he wrote his father about hunting and car prices, and wrote home to order a new Studebaker.
Sixty-six returning Americans reported Glasser in Camp 1. After China admitted taking Richard Desautels, his niece Phyllis Glasser said: “I think that our government needs to pursue my Uncle Jerry’s case even harder.”
What is known
Sgt. Gerald William Glasser of Pennsylvania served with A Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, and was captured in mid-May 1951 during the fighting on the No Name Line. DPAA carries his case in its Active Pursuit category. Jerry Glasser became a well-known resident of Chinese-run POW Camp 1 in North Korea. Sixty-six returning Americans would later report having seen him there.
He wrote to his father from the camp about hunting and car prices, and to his mother about the neighbors back home. He was philosophical about his situation. “Things are pretty rough over here at times, but I shouldn’t complain because I joined the Army. Although I never expected to be in a predicament like this.”
On Easter Sunday 1953, a few months before the end of the war, Glasser wrote to his mother: “I believe that the time has come for us to be released. I mean I believe that I will be home before this letter arrives.”
In the spring or summer of 1953, Chinese officers drove up to the camp in a jeep and took Jerry Glasser away. “(T)here was nothing to indicate his removal from camp was in the nature of an arrest as he and his camp companions were given candy and cigarettes before leaving,” according to Army intelligence.
He was not repatriated.
What remains unresolved
Where Glasser was taken, and what became of him, is unknown. He is one of a number of U.S. prisoners held in Chinese-run camps who were last known alive but never returned at the end of the war.
The account of his removal from the camp comes from Army intelligence reporting and from fellow prisoners. What is missing is any record from the Chinese side: who ordered his removal, where he was taken, and what happened afterward.
Why the case matters
Glasser’s case is documentary rather than speculative. His presence in the camp is attested by 66 returning Americans. His removal is described in Army intelligence reporting. The gap is not whether he was alive in Chinese custody late in the war — it is what happened to him after that jeep pulled away.
That pattern connects this case to the wider question of whether some American prisoners were moved out of the disclosed camp system in North Korea and into facilities inside China. See Secret U.S. POW camps in China.
Evidence and sources
- Reports by 66 returning American prisoners placing Glasser in Camp 1.
- Glasser’s own letters home from the camp, including the Easter Sunday 1953 letter to his mother.
- U.S. Army intelligence reporting on the circumstances of his removal from the camp.
- Account by Phyllis Glasser, his niece, of a fellow prisoner’s report.
- Related background: “President Xi Jinping: What happened to the US POWs China has never returned?”, American Thinker, September 2015 — read it here
Request for information
“Another POW stated that he was on a truck with Uncle Jerry heading to be repatriated (in 1953) when the Chinese pulled up in a jeep, stopped the truck, and made Uncle Jerry go with them. He was never seen again and he was never repatriated.” — Phyllis Glasser, niece
Please contact us if you can help with any of the following.
- Accounts of Glasser after Chinese officers took him from Camp 1 in 1953, from former Chinese personnel, drivers or fellow prisoners.
- Information on other Americans secretly taken from the known POW camps in North Korea to China.
- Reports on U.S. prisoners held in China during and after the war.
Sixty-six returning Americans saw him in Camp 1. Chinese officers took him away with candy and cigarettes, and he never came home. Was he taken for what he knew or what he could do, as Desautels may have been? Did he die in Chinese custody? Or was he moved on to the Soviet Union?
中文
杰拉尔德·格拉瑟中士（Gerald Glasser），美国陆军 —— 朝鲜战争期间被中方关押，未被遣返
杰里（杰拉尔德的昵称）·格拉瑟是朝鲜境内由中方管理的第1战俘营里广为人知的一名战俘 —— 后来有六十六名返回的美国人报告曾见过他。
他从战俘营写信回家，谈打猎、谈汽车价格、谈家乡的邻居。1953年复活节，也就是战争结束前几个月，他写信给母亲：“我相信我们获释的时候到了。我是说，我相信这封信寄到之前我就已经到家了。”
那一年晚些时候，中方军官乘吉普车来到战俘营，把杰里·格拉瑟带走了。据美国陆军情报部门记载：“没有任何迹象表明他被带离营地属于逮捕性质，因为他和同营战友离开前还领到了糖果和香烟。”
他从未被遣返。
我们希望了解：一、1953年中方军官把格拉瑟从第1战俘营带走后他的下落，包括曾在当地服役的中方人员、司机或难友的回忆；二、其他从朝鲜境内已知战俘营被秘密转往中国的美国人的情况；三、战争期间及战后在中国境内关押美军战俘的情况。
安全提示：请勿向我们提供任何属于国家秘密或未公开的官方档案。我们欢迎个人和家庭的回忆、已公开出版的书报、地方志、家书和老照片。如您身在中国境内，请优先考虑自身安全。
“另一名战俘说，1953年他和杰里叔叔同乘一辆卡车准备被遣返，中方人员开着吉普车拦下卡车，把杰里叔叔带走了。此后再也没有人见过他，他也从未被遣返。” —— 菲利斯·格拉瑟（侄女）
他的家人想知道杰里·格拉瑟究竟怎么了。我们的目的是查明这些人的下落，而不是追究战争年代任何人的责任。未经允许，我们不会公开消息来源的姓名。
请联系我们：contact@powinvestigativeproject.org