BEACON – Joined by veterans and community leaders, Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) announced on Friday that he has bipartisan support for a bill to fix a loophole that shortchanged American soldiers who were held captive by North Koreans during the Korean War.
The issue was brought to Congressman Ryan’s attention by Korean War POW Ray Mellin, 95, and Dick Randazzo, both of Cornwall. Ryan is trying to rectify the issue with the passage of the “Never Forgotten Korean War POW Act.”
Randazzo said the change is not about the money owed, but the recognition to the men who served and were taken captive.
“Now, I think finally, after 70 years, these surviving Korean War POWs will be given what they were entitled to 70 years ago when they left,” he said.
While being held captive by the North Koreans, the American soldiers did not receive their combat pay. Mellin has been trying to get the issue fixed for several years. Years ago, he was pressing former Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney and became frustrated, telling Mid-Hudson News at the time, “The senators and the rest of them would rather raise their own pay than worry about things like this. I am so tired of looking at politics where Democrats and Republicans are fighting among themselves instead of doing things that could really help this country.”
Mellin was a 19-year-old soldier when he arrived in Japan. He was there for 10 days before the North Koreans invaded and took him prisoner. He spent 37 months in captivity, including being forced on the Tiger Death March which killed more than half of the 845 POWs. He described his treatment at the hands of the Koreans as “brutally inhumane” when speaking at Castle Point a while back. Conditions, he noted, improved slightly when the prisoners were turned over to the Chinese after the 13-day march. During that entire time, Mellin was not paid by the US government and Rep. Ryan seeks to correct that.
“Today and every day, I’m…
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