Characters:

 

Dan Welch is no stranger to hardship and death. For generations his family had worked and died deep in the coal mines of West Virginia. Life in the mountains instills self-reliance and independence, but nothing prepared him for the inhumanity he faced in the prison camps of North Korea or the betrayal that would occur back home. 

 

Leo Jawaski is a fast talking young man from Brooklyn. His courage and honor is unquestionable as witnessed by a senior Chinese officer who gets him needed medical attention, branding him as a collaborator in the minds of some of his fellow POWs.

 

Howard Lowe is a family man and farmer in central Kentucky. After serving with distinction in WW II he is called back to service in Korea. Severely wounded he is captured and sent to a POW camp.

 

Martha Lowe teaches first through the eighth grades at Tabor, a one-room schoolhouse in central Kentucky. On a summer afternoon in 1952 she kisses her husband goodbye as he is recalled to war. Her strength is tested when she receives a telegram informing her that Howard is missing in action.