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Speaker 1: Ridiculous Historians. We are returning to you from far far

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Speaker 1: away with a classic episode that we think you're gonna

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Speaker 1: really dig. We've got a lot of veterans in the crowd,

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Speaker 1: and usually if you're a veteran, you fight for just

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Speaker 1: one army. And then there's this other guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're talking about Yang kyung Chong, who didn't really

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Speaker 2: set out to become a soldier, but the wheel of

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Speaker 2: fate had other plans.

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Speaker 1: And we hope you join us in this episode from

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, where wherein we follow the travels of one

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Speaker 1: remarkable man through prisons, battlefields, and a gripping, harrowing experience

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Speaker 1: that ultimately leads to him fighting for not just one army,

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Speaker 1: but three armies during World War Two.

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Speaker 2: Let's roll It.

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome to the show,

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Speaker 1: Friends and neighbors. We are going to start today on

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Speaker 1: a very down note, but we promise we will get

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Speaker 1: to a good note by the end of today's episode.

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Speaker 1: Here's the downside. World War Two was the most dangerous,

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Speaker 1: deadliest military conflict in human history in absolute terms of

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Speaker 1: people that died. Over sixty million people were killed, and

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Speaker 1: that was about three percent of the world population at

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Speaker 1: the time.

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Speaker 2: That sucks.

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Speaker 1: That's terrible. That's terrible, But that is the context in

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Speaker 1: which we find today's very strange story.

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Speaker 2: I'm Ben, you are indeed Ben, and I A'm a

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Speaker 2: very chilled out nol very chill today, very chill today.

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Speaker 2: I'm feeling very chill, and I just want to say

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Speaker 2: props to Robert Evans from behind the bastards who put

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Speaker 2: this phrase in my head. Chock full of Nazis. I

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Speaker 2: love it, slash it terrifies.

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Speaker 1: He has used it in the past before, has he really? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's got away with words. He wrote for crack dot

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Speaker 1: Com for a very long time too. I'm a big

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Speaker 1: fan of Robert Evans, but I'm also and I think

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Speaker 1: you can get with me on this one. I'm also

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Speaker 1: a big fan of super producer Casey Pegram.

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Speaker 2: And super producer Casey Pegram is a huge fan of

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Speaker 2: military history.

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Speaker 1: Is that true, Casey, No, it's not true, Casey out

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Speaker 1: the case. I'm off the case on this one.

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Speaker 2: Guys, turn it in.

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Speaker 1: My Badge'll tell you.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you what you're gonna be on soon. My

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Speaker 2: man is a T shirt.

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Speaker 1: It's true.

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Speaker 2: Uh, Huh, you're gonna be wearing a robe and pounding

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Speaker 2: a gavel and you're gonna have a disapproving look on

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Speaker 2: your face.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think you know, when we had talked about

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Speaker 1: this off air, Casey, you were pretty excited about a

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Speaker 1: Law and Order esque type T shirt. Yeah, if we're

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Speaker 1: gonna get Sue do Oblivian for doing.

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Speaker 2: It, No, it's fine, man, it's fine. It's fair use.

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Speaker 2: You can get that shirt when it eventually becomes a

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Speaker 2: thing at teapublic dot com slash Ridiculous History. Just putting

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Speaker 2: that out there at the top.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that's true for anyone who tossed some ideas our

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Speaker 1: way in our community page Ridiculous Historians. We do want

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Speaker 1: to confirm that was not just idle chatter and Facebook

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Speaker 1: commentary I was throwing at you. We have indeed gotten

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Speaker 1: together and started making some T shirts. We even have

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Speaker 1: one just for the quister, and we'd love to talk

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Speaker 1: Casey into being the inspiration for some T shirt art.

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Speaker 1: So let us know what your ideas are.

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Speaker 2: Oh no, it's happening, my friend, it's happening.

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Speaker 1: And if you're listening to something in today's episode and

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Speaker 1: you hear a turn of phrase, or particular image pops

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Speaker 1: in your mind that you think would be a good

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Speaker 1: idea for a T shirt. Do not hesitate. Let us know.

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Speaker 2: I can't believe chok full and Nazis is already a

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Speaker 2: thing so good?

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Speaker 1: Is it just the assonance or what is it?

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Speaker 2: Well, now, there's a coffee brand called chock full of Nuts.

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Speaker 1: M h.

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Speaker 2: So when you said chock full and Nazis, that's just

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Speaker 2: that's what I picture, is like a can of coffee

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Speaker 2: with like swastikas on him.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I see, I see.

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Speaker 2: Levels we're not entirely bsing here. The Nazis do come

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Speaker 2: into play in today's story, but that's not where it begins. No,

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Speaker 2: it begins in Manchuria.

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Speaker 1: That's right, Noel, it begins in Manchuria. In nineteen thirty eight.

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Speaker 1: There's a young man whose name we were probably not

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Speaker 1: going to pronounce correctly spoiler alert, because we are not Korean.

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Speaker 1: His name is Yang kyong Jong.

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Speaker 2: I'm so solid man, We'll see, we'll see.

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Speaker 1: He was eighteen years old in Manchuria and he was

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Speaker 1: conscripted by the Perial Japanese Army to fight against the

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Speaker 1: Soviet Union.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. In this little known at least to me, and

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Speaker 2: I think you were maybe tangentially aware of it. But

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Speaker 2: a conflict called a couple of different things. The Russians

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Speaker 2: referred to it as the Battle of Kulkan Gaul, and

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Speaker 2: then the Japanese side referred to it as something else.

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Speaker 1: The Nomenhan incident.

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Speaker 2: There you go, Yeah, what was the incident? What was

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Speaker 2: the beef?

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Speaker 1: Well, first, I want to point out that the Battle

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Speaker 1: of Kulkan Goal sounds like a spin off of a

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Speaker 1: Tolkien book, you know what.

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Speaker 2: I mean, Yeah, like something from Doune.

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Speaker 1: And that's why for the title alone, I'm going with

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Speaker 1: the Russian side on this one. But it was a

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Speaker 1: series of conflicts, as you said, that were undeclared between

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Speaker 1: the Soviet and Japanese forces do entirely disagreements about borders,

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Speaker 1: and they were fought along the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan

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Speaker 1: and Manchuko from lake across the year in nineteen thirty nine.

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Speaker 1: And this this mainly happened because these two forces were

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Speaker 1: attempting to expand their territory and their reach. The Japanese

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Speaker 1: forces maintained that the border between Manchuko and Mongolia was

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Speaker 1: this river, the Kalkan Gol or in English, the Calca River,

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Speaker 1: which flows into Lake Ur. But the Mongolians, who were

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Speaker 1: allied with the Soviet forces, said that the border was

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Speaker 1: actually sixteen kilometers or almost ten miles east of the river,

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Speaker 1: just east of the No Monhan village.

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Speaker 2: And this wasn't just a little scrap, my friend. Upwards

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Speaker 2: of fifty thousand men, or as Cotton Flynn would say,

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Speaker 2: fifty thousand men were killed. No small potatoes, man. But

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Speaker 2: you know who wasn't killed is are the hero. I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna call him the hero because I think he's a

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Speaker 2: total hero.

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Speaker 1: He's the protagonist for sure.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he was not killed, thankfully. He was in fact

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Speaker 2: captured by the Russians and sent to a labor camp,

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Speaker 2: and then he was drafted into the Russian Army.

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Speaker 1: And there are two reasons for this. So when he

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Speaker 1: was originally conscripted by the Imperial Japanese Army, he became

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Speaker 1: part of a pretty hardcore fighting force called the Kwantung Army.

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Speaker 1: This was the largest and most prestigious command in the

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Speaker 1: Japanese Army, so he already had some experience right as

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Speaker 1: an unwilling soldier. And the second factor that led to

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Speaker 1: his conscription again, his second conscription was that the Soviet

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Speaker 1: Union had a terrible, terrible, terrible problem with manpower.

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Speaker 2: Yeah they were short staffed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that barely even begins to cover it. They were

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Speaker 1: so desperate, in fact, that they were taking anyone, you know,

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Speaker 1: so they can scripted this guy, do you want to

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Speaker 1: stay in a gulag? Or do you want to fight

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Speaker 1: for the glory of Mother Russia? Yeah? Sure, easy, easy,

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Speaker 1: easy call. Have you ever been in a gulag?

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Speaker 2: Doesn't sound nice?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you get it. So they were forcing anyone they

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Speaker 1: could find to join up with the Soviet military. And

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Speaker 1: young does this for what about a year?

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Speaker 2: Noel, right, because you see, this was right on the

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Speaker 2: cusp of a little little scrap we like to call

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Speaker 2: World War Two. The previous episode, we talked about the

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Speaker 2: Nazis use of soccer, American soccer football as a propaganda tool.

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Speaker 2: We talked about this idea of appeasement and how the

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Speaker 2: Allies kind of kept Latin Hitler do his thing, Latin

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Speaker 2: to do his thing is he's gonna be fine, he's

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Speaker 2: gonna chill out. Finally he invades Poland and that's just

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Speaker 2: a bridge too far. And then here.

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Speaker 1: We are, right, because you're in the Pacific and Eurasian theater,

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Speaker 1: or even before the wars breaking out, we see these tensions,

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Speaker 1: these undeclared conflicts ratcheting up, and Yang is caught in

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Speaker 1: the middle of it. So, just to keep track, he

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Speaker 1: was not Japanese, but he got drafted to the Japanese Army,

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Speaker 1: he got captured, and then he got drafted to the

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Speaker 1: Russian Army, and he in nineteen forty two, who was

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Speaker 1: fighting in what they called the Red Army, he was

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Speaker 1: sent to the Eastern Front of Europe, was there for

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Speaker 1: a year, but then in nineteen forty three, during the

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Speaker 1: Third Battle of Karkhov, he gets captured by Wehrmont soldiers,

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Speaker 1: by German soldiers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. They were called the Ost Battalion, which

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Speaker 2: means East Battalion. Great article on not the most creative

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Speaker 2: website name but rare historical photos dot com has more

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Speaker 2: than a photo. It's got a real nice photo of

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Speaker 2: who we think this young man was. And it's very

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Speaker 2: intense because he just has a real, real hangdog look

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Speaker 2: on his face, and he's so young, he's so young,

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Speaker 2: and the kid, the kid next to him, it looks

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Speaker 2: even younger. He looks like he's like fifteen. It's crazy.

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Speaker 2: So but yeah, there's some good information on the site.

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Speaker 2: I recommend checking it out. It's's called Young Kyung jong,

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Speaker 2: the only known soldier to have fought on three sides

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Speaker 2: of a war in nineteen forty four. Spoilers, right, what

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Speaker 2: side he was next? What was the what side came next? Then?

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Speaker 1: So after he is captured by the Germans side, they

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Speaker 1: first off, they apparently don't bother with asking him how

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Speaker 1: he came to end up fighting in Ukraine for the Soviets. Right,

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Speaker 1: It's very likely that had circumstances been different, he would

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Speaker 1: have been executed, right, because the Nazis at this time

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Speaker 1: were not in the habit of allowing prisoners to volunteer

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Speaker 1: to serve in the army.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and she weren't they down with that whole white

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Speaker 2: supremacist master race thing. Hmmm, and they want to keep

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Speaker 2: it pure.

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Speaker 1: Well in this At this point in the conflict, they

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Speaker 1: were willing to take almost anyone who would throw in

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Speaker 1: for the cause, just another body to put in front

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Speaker 1: of the bullets, you know.

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Speaker 2: But they weren't like lou They weren't getting their asses

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Speaker 2: handed to them at this point. Yeah, this is just

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Speaker 2: the beginning of the war, they were still quite strong.

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Speaker 1: Right, but an experienced soldier is still an asset, that's true.

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Speaker 1: And so because they had fallen into the habit of

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Speaker 1: allowing again air quotes, allowing people to air quotes volunteer

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Speaker 1: for this, Yang was conscripted to fight and that East

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Speaker 1: Battalion or how.

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Speaker 2: Do you say it, no ost Battalion.

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Speaker 1: Perfect, thank you, man in the seven hundred and nine

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Speaker 1: Infantry Division of the Vermont. And these battalions were small

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Speaker 1: groups of men that were all volunteers quote unquote, volunteers

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Speaker 1: from the different regions of Europe that the Nazi regime controlled.

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Speaker 1: They were folded into larger units of German soldiers to

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Speaker 1: serve as shock troops and back up to more experienced battalions.

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Speaker 1: You can find this right up to on todayifound out

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Speaker 1: dot com by Carl Smallwood site. Yeah, I've been digging

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Speaker 1: it as well, highly recommended. We don't know who they are,

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Speaker 1: we just think they do fun stuff. So there he is.

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Speaker 1: Now he's in this other army. What happens next?

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Speaker 2: So now he's gonna fight for his Reich to party, huh,

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Speaker 2: I'll allow it. Thank you, Ben, You're very kind in

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Speaker 2: nineteen forty four. He gets sent to France where he's

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Speaker 2: going to join the wire marks Host battalion, and there

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Speaker 2: are tons of Soviet prisoners, much the same way that

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Speaker 2: he was conscripted by the Japanese. Very similar deal. Right,

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Speaker 2: it becomes kind of like slave labor, right, or like

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Speaker 2: slave soldiers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not forced. He's saying join or die, maybe

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Speaker 1: as explicitly but seems implied. But yeah, to quote Dennis

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Speaker 1: Reynolds from It's Always sunny in Philadelphia, there's the implication.

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Speaker 1: So we have to admit it's not as if this

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Speaker 1: kid was just rare and to go for war. He

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Speaker 1: was trying to stay alive and had done it successfully.

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Speaker 1: So he goes to this cotinin peninsula in France, shortly

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Speaker 1: before the Allies attempt to storm the beaches in an

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Speaker 1: historical event known today as today Today. That's right d Day,

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Speaker 1: where the Allied troops are storming the beaches at France.

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Speaker 1: You've seen it depicted in so many war films here

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Speaker 1: in the West. Well, it turns out this kid is

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Speaker 1: on the other side, the Axis side, and he's trying

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Speaker 1: to prevent the Allies from storming the beaches.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he's defending it on behalf of the Nazis, and

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Speaker 2: he he gets captured again.

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Speaker 1: He gets captured again. I can tell you quick aside.

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Speaker 2: Just something I learned from today I found out dot

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Speaker 2: com was that the actor who played Scottie on Star Trek,

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Speaker 2: his name's James Douhan. He was among the Canadian soldiers

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Speaker 2: who stormed the beach at Normandy and he got shot

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Speaker 2: six times. Believe he lost a finger, got shot through

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Speaker 2: the hand, several shots in the leg, and one in

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Speaker 2: the chest. That would have ended his life if it

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Speaker 2: hadn't a been for this age old movie trope. What

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Speaker 2: do you think it was, ben age old movie trope?

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Speaker 2: What saved his life?

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Speaker 1: Oh? Was it a Bible? Was it a flask?

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Speaker 2: Cigarette case?

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Speaker 1: It was a cigarette cass?

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Speaker 2: Okay, So I just I love that because it's such

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Speaker 2: a trope, and it's a trope because gosh darn it

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Speaker 2: that it happens.

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Speaker 1: So the Germans eventually get overrun. This is not all

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Speaker 1: entirely US propaganda. It really does happen. The German are

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Speaker 1: eventually getting overrun by the Allies, and this time Yang

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Speaker 1: is captured again, but this time by the Americans and

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Speaker 1: Kid can't catch a break, his kid, Can I catch

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Speaker 1: a break? Or maybe he's catching all the breaks. It's

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Speaker 1: you know, it's an interesting question. It's kind of a

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Speaker 1: half full, half empty glass thing.

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Speaker 2: Right, It's a very Forest Gumpian kind of situation. He's

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Speaker 2: still alive, right, He's alive.

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Speaker 1: At this point, So that's that is I think the

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Speaker 1: probably his number one priority at that point. But there's

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Speaker 1: a wrinkle. There's a problem here. When he's captured. He

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Speaker 1: can't speak German, he can't speak English. The officers who

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Speaker 1: originally found him and captured him, among them, there was

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Speaker 1: Lieutenant Robert Brewer of the five h sixth Parachute Infantry Regiment,

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Speaker 1: one hundred first Airborne and he thought that this guy

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Speaker 1: was a Japanese soldier in a German uniform. And he reported,

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Speaker 1: somewhat puzzled that regiment had captured four Asian people in

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Speaker 1: German uniform and that no one could talk to them,

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Speaker 1: and so they just sent them to a pow camp

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Speaker 1: in England.

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Speaker 2: Oh, and I believe they were ethnic Georgians, isn't that right?

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Speaker 1: Right? Yeah, that's that's the current. That's the current debate,

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Speaker 1: because you could see how someone from the West without

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Speaker 1: experience in this part of the world or these cultures

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Speaker 1: might just quickly categorize them, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: totally and and it's like there are there's only one

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Speaker 1: type of person that I could think of who would

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Speaker 1: be here and looks like this, they must be Japanese.

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Speaker 1: Take them away, book them, dan oh oh.

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Speaker 2: I actually have it here as that they were from Turkestan.

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Speaker 1: Turkestan, okay, so still in Eurasia because I found I

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Speaker 1: found that they were from Georgian descent.

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Speaker 2: Interesting, Yeah, there's there's not This is kind of a

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Speaker 2: murky story. It's a it's a lot of a lot

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Speaker 2: of hearsay, and not much as known about this young

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Speaker 2: man's life prior to, you know, being conscripted into the

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Speaker 2: Japanese army. Little but what is known is that he

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Speaker 2: didn't stick around after the war ended, he alorady didn't

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Speaker 2: go back home either. He went to America.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he was transferred to a prison camp in the US,

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Speaker 1: and then he was released from captivity in nineteen forty

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Speaker 1: seven and he said, you know what, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: stay here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, land of opportunity and all that.

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Speaker 1: He moved to Illinois and lived there. Cool yeah, and.

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Speaker 2: That's where out the county, right, Yeah, which is is

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Speaker 2: that Chicago area?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, Chicago area. And again I don't I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you've found anything on this, but I found

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Speaker 1: that his life gets murky again. He sort of falls

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Speaker 1: from the historical record.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's where the story ends, at least as far

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Speaker 2: as rare historical photos is concerned. They say that they

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Speaker 2: found that he quietly passed away in nineteen ninety two,

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Speaker 2: but there's really not much information about what he did

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Speaker 2: with the rest of his life. But man, you look

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Speaker 2: at the picture of what who was supposedly this young dude.

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Speaker 2: He has seen some.

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Speaker 1: He's got that thousand league stare so common with people

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Speaker 1: who have experienced PTSD or traumatic events. But there's a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a fictional side to this that he

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Speaker 1: would have enjoyed had he gotten the chance to experience it.

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Speaker 1: There was a film made about his journey called My

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Speaker 1: Way in two thousand and eleven, and it's entirely based

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Speaker 1: on Yang Kyong Jong's I don't want to say adventures, nol.

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Speaker 1: His experience is hopping from one army to another all

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Speaker 1: the way to Illinois. Can you imagine the stories this

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Speaker 1: guy must have Nope? Can you also? Also? Additionally, could

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Speaker 1: you imagine going to see a movie that was inspired

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Speaker 1: by true events in your life? Would you do it

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Speaker 1: or would you want to skip it?

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Speaker 2: Like go see my movie? Yeah, I think it'd be cool.

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Speaker 1: I think it depends on who plays like I would

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Speaker 1: want to know who played me.

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Speaker 2: Well, I would obviously have final say on that.

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Speaker 1: I think we have to.

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Speaker 2: This came up on movie Crush, the mini crushes that

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Speaker 2: I do with our buddy Chuck from Stuff You Should Know.

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Speaker 2: A listener asked who we would get to play ourselves

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Speaker 2: in our movie. Chuck said he would get Jack Black

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Speaker 2: to play him. Cool, I said, I want Bradley Cooper

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Speaker 2: to play me, and I want him to really do

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Speaker 2: some acting, man, you know, put on some pounds, you know,

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Speaker 2: do the work. Put in the work. Bradley Cooper, I

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Speaker 2: want to see your chops.

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Speaker 1: Nevermond say, hey, let me know who you would want

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Speaker 1: to play you in a film adaptation of your life

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Speaker 1: or a really interesting story in your life. I always

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Speaker 1: think that's an interesting question. I've never I've never saw anyone.

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Speaker 1: I would just play myself. There's the technology where I

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Speaker 1: could play the young.

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Speaker 2: You don't have the time, man, Well, you got too

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Speaker 2: much going on.

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Speaker 1: We'll make the time. We'll make the time. I'll do

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Speaker 1: it animated.

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Speaker 2: Well, speaking of making time, why don't we make a

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Speaker 2: little time for some listener mail?

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Speaker 1: Yes, listen to mail. I'm not gonna do that voice

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Speaker 1: the whole time. But we do want to say thank

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Speaker 1: you to Aaron who wrote to us on Facebook and said,

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Speaker 1: wasn't there talk about you guys having some ridiculous history

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Speaker 1: T shirts made? Is this actually in the works? And

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Speaker 1: then while we're in the thread, I asked you, if

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Speaker 1: you were on ridiculous Historians to suggest some cool T

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Speaker 1: shirt ideas, and I'd like to No, I'd like to

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Speaker 1: just laundry list a few of these. Did you see this? No?

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Speaker 2: I didn't surprise me.

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Speaker 1: All right, So Aaron says, didn't you guys throw out

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Speaker 1: the idea for a squatched T shirt using sasquatch as

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Speaker 1: a verb. I think it's a home run. You got

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Speaker 1: squatched son, Yeah, And then Oliver says a bear with

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Speaker 1: super dilated pupils holding a honey jar with skull and

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Speaker 1: crossbones for hallucinogenic honey, and then all caps for sure,

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Speaker 1: Napoleon getting attacked by rabbits.

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Speaker 2: I love all of these.

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Speaker 1: These are great, these these folks are you guys are

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Speaker 1: knocking it out of the park. And then we've had

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Speaker 1: people go through and list things that they thought were

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Speaker 1: T shirt worthies, such as the West Point eggnog Riot,

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Speaker 1: the gold Rush egg War, Harvey Wiley's poison Squad. The

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Speaker 1: list goes on. So thank you to everybody who wrote

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Speaker 1: in it, and please feel free to jump on that

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Speaker 1: thread and give us more of your suggestions. Hashtag poison squad,

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Speaker 1: poison squad.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I got one here. Subject is yeah, my ears

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Speaker 2: are happy.

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Speaker 1: I know this one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. So our buddy Jacob w had written to

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Speaker 2: us previously to alert us to the fact that we

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Speaker 2: mispronounced a word that particularly triggered him and sent him

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Speaker 2: into a blind rage. But thankfully he seems to chilled out.

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Speaker 2: Portmanteau pronounced correctly. And I know it was me Man,

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Speaker 2: It was me, I said port Man too. I don't

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Speaker 2: know why I know how to pronounce it. I just

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Speaker 2: got caught up in the moment.

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Speaker 1: Oh, you're beating yourself up, he says.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if it was my pedantry in the

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Speaker 2: message it was I sent you all from your site,

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Speaker 2: or if there were more of us bothered by that

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Speaker 2: little detail. Either way, it shows that you do listen,

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Speaker 2: we do, and you're willing to change. We are sometimes

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Speaker 2: admirable traits my boys. That was my interjection to my boys,

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Speaker 2: keep up the good work.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for writing in. This concludes

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Speaker 1: our listener mail, but not our show. Tune in for

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Speaker 1: our next episode, when we look at the vital role

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Speaker 1: potatoes played in World War Two. In the meantime, you

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Speaker 1: can find us on Instagram. You can find us on Facebook,

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Speaker 1: you can find us on Twitter. You can summon us

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Speaker 1: at a crossroads at midnight say our names three times

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Speaker 1: into an unlip mirror.

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Speaker 2: No, that's for the other show.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean that's how I get around. Okay, cool, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: You do you my man. And hey, we totally forgot

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Speaker 2: to give our thankes on the last episode because we

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Speaker 2: were so taken by Robert Evans's glorious extra credit segment.

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Speaker 2: So literally, nothing we can do about the past, but

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Speaker 2: we are now in the present, at which time I

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Speaker 2: would like to thank We would like to thank super

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Speaker 2: producer Casey Pegram Alex Williams, who composed our theme.

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Speaker 1: Our researchers eve's Jeff Coate and Christopher Hasiotis as well

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Speaker 1: of course, as you. Thanks so much for tuning.

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Speaker 2: In, folks, See you next time. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.