The Press: Deported

Two U.S. newsmen who vanished behind the Chinese Communist bamboo curtain more than a year ago were reported released this week. I.N.S. Correspondent Donald Dixon, 26, and National Broadcasting Co. Correspondent Richard Applegate, 38, were captured by a Red gunboat while vacationing aboard their sailboat Kert in waters west of Hong Kong. Along with their U.S.-born captain, Dixon and Applegate were taken prisoner, accused of “intruding into China’s waters.” Repeated U.S. attempts to have them released failed. This week the Communist Peking radio announced that they and their skipper had been “deported” from Red China and were on their way home.