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If you were a veteran of the 720th MP Battalion or any of its subordinate units, and recognize any of the events listed on this page, or you are a surviving family member of a Battalion veteran from this era and would like to contribute Information, personal stories, documents, media articles or photographs, please take a moment to contact the History Project Manager at the Email Link provided above for instructions or assistance. Your contributions are extremely important to the Battalion history and always welcomed.

LTC Alvin B. Welsch then LTC Weldon Cox are listed as Battalion commanders in 1953. It is unclear what their dates of assignment or departure were. According to a chronology written by LTC Welsch, the transfer of command occurred in the late summer.

Exact date unknown LTC Welsch presents to CPL Paul M. Love, of Headquarters Company, the Battalion Solider Of The Month award for May.

August 5 - December 23 Operation Big Switch Unidentified elements of the 720th MP Battalion participated in the operation. It has yet to be discovered how many personnel, what organic units were involved and what their duty location and assignments were.

     Operation Big Switch was the final exchange of prisoners of the Korean War by both sides, was marked by controversy over voluntary repatriation and, later, by allegations of brainwashing and torture of United Nations Command (U.N.C.), POWs by the North Korean Communists. The issue of forced repatriation of POWs proved the major stumbling block to successful conclusion of the truce talks. Communist insistence on the return of all captured nationals held by the U.N.C. was strenuously opposed by the U.S. and South Korean governments, although a number of the other governments who had committed forces to the U.N. command in Korea argued that the principle of voluntary repatriation should not be permitted to obstruct an early conclusion of hostilities. Eventually it was agreed that a U.N. Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (N.N.R.C.), chaired by India, would take responsibility for prisoners who had indicated a desire to remain with their captors. During a 90-day period in which the N.N.R.C. held custody of the "non-repatriates," a series of "explanations" was provided during which the nonreturnees were advised strongly to return to their home nations, generally without success.

     The U.N.C. returned 75,823 POWs (70,183 Koreans, 5,640 Chinese); the Communists repatriated 12,773 U.N.C. POWs (7,862 Koreans, 3,597 Americans, 946 British). The vast majority of the 22,600 enemy non-repatriates were Chinese, most of them former Chinese Nationalist veterans. Only 137 Chinese agreed to return to their homeland before the expiration of the ninety-day period stipulated in the armistice agreement. Only 357 U.N.C. prisoners indicated a desire to remain with the Communists (333 Koreans, 23 Americans, one Briton), and of these, two Americans and eight Koreans chose to return within the allotted time for the changing of one’s mind. The U.N.C. released all remaining former POWs thereafter, the Communists following suit a few days later.

28 September The 12th Anniversary of the Military Police Corps was celebrated in with an MP ball at the Rocker-Four Open Mess located in Tokyo. All U.N. servicemen, Department of the Army civilians, and their guests were invited to attend.  The tickets, $3.75 each, were sold at the Ernie Pyle Theater and the 720th MP Battalion Headquarters in the NHK building. The tickets provided for access from 1800 hours to 2300 hours, to dancing, an elaborate buffet supper, and refreshments. The event was sponsored by the 720th and cosponsors were the MP units from the Tokyo Quartermaster Depot, Ordinance Depot, and Tokyo Shore and Air Police.

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