When given the option of joining the U.S. Armed Forces or going to jail, he decided to enter the Army in hopes of getting education and learning a trade.

[3] Veneris had served in the South Pacific during World War II and said he re-enlisted because he couldn't find anything else to do and hoped Army life would provide security.

Veneris and fellow former POW Howard Gayle Adams stayed in Jinan through the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, sheltered by their factory co-workers and an announcement by Premier Zhou Enlai calling them "international freedom fighters".

After he chose to live in China, the U.S. Army gave Veneris a dishonorable discharge and refused to provide back pay for his time in prison camp.

The Chinese gave him a stipend and moved him to Shandong province, where he was given a job in a state-run pulp factory in Jinan that turned discarded cloth shoes into toilet paper for export to Hong Kong.