How Being A Prisoner of War Changed My Life

I want to share with you a letter my American mother sent out from Vienna, after encountering a dying Austrian man whose favorite memory is the time when he was a prisoner of war on US soil.

Do allow me this Reader's Digest moment, if you don't mind...

Dear friends,

As some of you know, I volunteer regularly at a local hospice/palliative ward in Vienna. Yesterday I had an encounter there that made an unusually deep impression on me. The patient I was privileged to meet was an 85-year-old retired medical doctor who seemed rather subdued when I introduced myself. But as soon as I revealed to him that I was a native U.S. American he became very animated. “I lived in Virginia for 2 years”, he told me “and those were 2 of the best years of my life.” Of course, I asked him when that was and why he had been in America. “It was 1944-45 and I was a prisoner of war”, he promptly told me. That was the beginning of a 90 minute story that fascinated me from beginning to end.

Dr. A. was 14 when Hitler & Co. occupied Austria. He readily admitted that as an impressionable teen-ager he was fascinated by the Nazi propaganda and joined the Hitler Youth organization. When he was drafted into the army at age 18 (1942) he thought he was headed for a big adventure but was immediately confronted with the cruel realities of WWII. In the spring of 1944 after the allied forces had finally captured Montecasino (Italy) from the Germans, he was part of a small band of German/Austrian soldiers sent on a reconnaissance mission up to the top of the mountain. They successfully reached the high plateau only to find themselves surrounded by American soldiers. Dr. A. continued: “My American miracle began the minute the Americans captured us. I knew that if the situation were reversed the Germans would have shot the Americans on the spot. But we were simply ordered to put down our weapons. Our identities were established but no one beat, let alone tortured us.” Soon Dr. A. was brought to Naples where he was put on a ship bound for Norfolk, VA.

He has no idea how long the rough crossing lasted but he remembers begin full of fear at the thought of landing on “enemy soil” and being thrown into an American prisoner of war camp. He had witnessed how badly the Nazis had treated their captives and wondered if he would be strong enough to survive the anticipated suffering. When the ship docked in Norfolk Dr. A. was told they would be taken by train to the POW camp. “In Europe we soldiers had always been transported in cattle cars, so you can imagine my amazement when we were escorted to shining silver trains and allowed to sit in well padded seats. At that moment, I fell in love with America.” Dr. A. recounted in detail how respectfully he was treated during his captivity. Even though he sometimes had to clean latrines he felt grateful for his “good luck”. At times the prisoners worked outside the camp on near-by farms. He was absolutely incredulous when at noon-time the farmer’s family invited him and his fellow prisoner to join them at their dinner table. “Such humanity! Such generosity! That goodness created such hatred in me for the Nazis and all they had done and all the lies they had told us. Even being held prisoner in a democratic country was a 1000 times better than living under Fascism. I wanted more than anything for the Allies to defeat the Nazis so I could return home to a democratic Austria.”

Dr. A. was 21 when he returned home. He was too exhausted yesterday to tell me the rest of his story but he did emphasize that even though the American government has done some things over the years that he did not agree with, he has always defended America to its critics because of his POW experience.

I was moved to recount this story because it reminded me so painfully of how far America drifted from that POW camp in VA to the black hole of Guantanamo and other CIA prisons. Dr. A. was an enthusiastic young supporter of the Nazis when he went off to war and he had been convinced that America was his enemy. He was converted to the principals of Democracy by being treated according to the morals and values upon which our country was founded. Generous and humane treatment planted the seeds of democracy in a young soldier and the results were life-changing.

Peace,
J.