Two-Fifths Thaw

When Philip Fecteau picked up the phone last week, he was sure it was another hoax. Someone on the other end who said he was Henry Kissinger told him that his son Richard would be released from a Chinese prison the next day. Philip hung up without giving the call much thought. Still, the man had a German accent. Was it possible? It was indeed. The following day the Chinese freed Richard Fecteau after 19 years in prison; they also released a girl from Palo Alto, Calif., named Mary Ann Harbert, who was thought to have drowned off the coast of China almost four years ago.

The freeing of the two Americans was not a Yuletide gesture of Chinese humanitarianism. When Kissinger traveled to Peking last summer, he emphasized the President's desire to have the American prisoners freed. By releasing two of the five Americans who are known to be languishing in Chinese cells, Peking demonstrated that in one case, at least, it is willing to go two-fifths of the way toward a thaw with the U.S.

Thwarted Mission. Along with another American civilian, John Downey, Fecteau had been shot down over China during the Korean War. The Chinese claimed that the pair had flown eleven Nationalist agents into China and had returned to drop supplies when they were hit. Downey, now 41, the ranking man on the mission, was given a life sentence, while Fecteau, 43, got 20 years. At first, the U.S. contended that the pair had strayed by accident over

Chinese territory. Last week, the State Department avoided a direct answer to the espionage question, thus implying that the prisoners were indeed spies.

Mary Ann Harbert, 26, on the other hand, was not on any U.S. mission. She was aboard a pleasure yacht with a companion, Gerald McLaughlin, when the craft disappeared near Hong Kong in 1968, apparently sunk in a storm. Even Mary Ann's family gave her up for dead. In fact, the yacht had drifted into Chinese waters 15 miles south of Hong Kong. The Chinese, ever alert for prowlers, took the two prisoner, jailed them without charges and elected not to tell anybody about it. McLaughlin "behaved badly," according to his captors, and killed himself.

Forgotten English. On their return to the U.S., Fecteau and Mary Ann were thin and wan, but doctors pronounced them reasonably fit. While Mary Ann was chipper and talkative, Fecteau was withdrawn. He had a hard time getting used to sunlight. "I've got to learn to talk to people again," he told one of his State Department escorts. After speaking to him on the phone, his daughter Sidnice had the same thought: "He hasn't spoken English for so lone he has forgotten a lot."

Neither Fecteau nor Mary Ann had harsh words for their captors, partly because they were warned not to say anything that might jeopardize the chances of the remaining American prisoners. Along with Downey, there are two airmen, Air Force Major Philip Smith and Navy Lieut. Robert Flynn, who were shot down during the Viet Nam War. When Fecteau was freed, the Chinese reduced Downey's sentence from life to five more years. But they may be reluctant to release the other Americans. They do not want to do anything more to offend their North Vietnamese allies, who are already alarmed by the forthcoming Nixon visit.

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