When Cecil Phipps joined the U.S. Army, he signed up for overseas deployments so he could see the world. Before long, the U.S. would be at war in Korea and Phipps would be among the first troops there. He arrived in August 1950 and would stay there for more than three years - most of that time as a prisoner of war.

In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Phipps describes the rapid U.S. advance into North Korea, the shocking arrival of Chinese forces into the war, and his capture by Chinese forces in November 1950.

Phipps also describes the horrific marching over more than three months in the bitter cold of a Korean winter, the squalid conditions at his prison camp, what it was like to see prisoners succumbing to the elements and harsh treatment of the Chinese, dropping down to just 75 pounds, and how he remembers breathing air as a free man after 33 months in captivity.