1965 US Army deserter released from confinement News
1965 US Army deserter released from confinement

[JURIST] Former US Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins was released from 30 days military confinement at Camp Zama, Japan, Saturday so that he may begin a new life with his family and Japanese wife. In 1965, Jenkins, stationed near the Korean DMZ, told others that he was going to investigate a noise and then disappeared, allegedly deserting to North Korea. His family, however, still maintains that Jenkins was captured. At his court martial earlier this month, Jenkins, now 64 years old, appeared in military uniform and saluted the military police officer that received him. Following the investigation, he was demoted to private, dishonorable discharged, and sentenced to the 30 days confinement. In the four decades he spent in North Korea, Jenkins taught English at a university and married Hitomi Soga, who had been abducted from Japan in 1978. The couple had two children. On assurances of protection by the Japanese government, Jenkins returned to Tokyo in 2004 and started the process to clear his name with the US Army. The family now plans to move to the small town of Mano, where Jenkins hopes to find work. Reuters has more.