A Soldier's Disgrace

U.S. Army Maj. Ronald Alley survived three years in a North Korean prison camp only to be charged with collaboration on his return to freedom. Found guilty, he was dishonorably discharged and sent to Leavenworth, the only U.S. officer in this century to receive such a sentence. This riveting book reveals what Sen. William Cohen of Maine, a partisan of the late Alley, has called a gross violation of justice. Novelist Snyder (Veterans Park recounts his obsession with the case, his alliance with Alley's widow and Cohen, and their combined efforts to lobby the Army Board of Correction of Military Records to reopen the case. These efforts included locating former POWs, at least one of whom testified against the major in the 1955 trial. After some five months of deliberations, the board ruled that the original verdict had been ""manifestly correct.'' Snyder argues convincingly that Alley was neither a collaborator nor a traitor but a victim of the McCarthy-era witch-hunt. Photos. (September)