Operation Little Switch repatriation effort (first phase of Operation Big Switch), in which released prisoners of war (POW) from the Korean War are taken from Panmunjom, Korea to Japan, and then to the U.S. Cars carrying released sick and injured prisoners in litters drive towards U.S. Air Force Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter parked at Haneda Army Airbase at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Ambulance car backs up towards the aircraft. The U.S. soldiers in stretchers are taken aboard C-97 aircraft by U.S. military medical staff. Men stand in the background and under a wing of the aircraft. An Army General stands by.
Operation Little Switch for repatriation of former prisoners of war late in the Korean War (followed by Operation Big Switch in August). Released United States soldiers who were POW (Prisoners Of War) are in transport from Panmunjom, Korea to Tokyo annex in Japan. Medics load sick or injured U.S. Army soldiers aboard ambulances at the Tokyo annex. An African American soldier, former prisoner of war, smiles. Ambulatory former prisoners walk out. Several views of smiling African American patients. Mrs. Maruine Doran Clark, wife of General Mark Clark, shakes hand with repatriated U.S. Army soldiers at the airbase.
Operation Little Switch repatriation operation late in Korean War (followed by Operation Big Switch in August), in which released United States former POW (Prisoners Of War) are taken from Panmunjom, Korea to Tokyo, Japan. The liberated soldiers get dressed in clean uniforms. Red Cross workers make tags for the returnees. A Red Cross nurse smiles. A Greek patient reading in bed. The patient smiles.
Operation Little Switch effort underway for repatriation of former prisoners of war near end of the Korean War. Released POW (Prisoners Of War) had been taken from Panmunjom, Korea to Tokyo, Japan. A number of injured former POW U.S. Army soldiers are seen receiving Purple Heart awards from U.S. Army Colonel Kirkpatrick. Several views of Colonel awarding Purple Hearts to six soldiers, including two African American soldiers. The medals pinned on the robes of the hospital patients. (A larger Operation Big Switch followed, in August 1953).
Operation Little Switch (first part of Operation Big Switch) in which released POW (Prisoners Of War) are taken from Panmunjom, Korea to Tachikawa, Tokyo. Two repatriated soldiers play chess on a bed. The soldiers playing chess. A soldier with a cigarette. The soldiers in a group play dominoes in a hospital ward.
Japanese women welcome GIs in Japan. Japanese women wearing traditional kimonos dance on a dockside welcoming GIs from the United States. GIs on the ship approaching the dock watch the women dance. The women performing an angel dance wave small U.S. flags. The soldiers, bound to Korea as replacements, disembark from the ship holding their baggages.