thedrifter
04-07-09, 06:45 AM
Number of POW groups rapidly dropping
By Nate Jenkins - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 6, 2009 18:34:12 EDT
LINCOLN, Neb. — Until Lorrie Stuto’s father joined a group for ex-POWs, the stories he told about World War II mainly consisted of rollicking good times with his Army Air Corps buddies.
But after the Nebraskan joined an American Ex-Prisoners of War chapter in the early 1980s, “he really opened up,” Stuto said, and the true story came out: Living on a potato a day for months on end in a German POW camp and fellow prisoners desperately trying to escape.
Now, such groups that were a place for POWs to heal their wartime scars, form bonds with other POWs and remove the stigma POWs had for years as quitters who succumbed to the enemy are dying.
On Monday, the Nebraska Department of American Ex-Prisoners of War officially closed down, the latest in a string of closures that national POW officials say is at the highest pace since the groups were started more than 60 years ago.
“I try not to track the numbers anymore because it’s so depressing,” said Clydie Morgan, national adjutant for the Arlington, Texas-based American Ex-Prisoners of War, the largest POW group in the country. “We’re losing two to three chapters a month nationwide.”
There were more American POWs in World War II than any other war, so the closure of chapters is inevitable as many aging veterans of that war die. But Morgan and some POWs say they are concerned that the shutdowns are removing an important public reminder of the sacrifices POWs made.
“What is sad about it is they’re no longer able to get together to meet with one another,” Morgan said. “And they’re less visible in the community.”
There are now 270 chapters of American Ex-Prisoners of War, down from 345 just five years ago.
In the early 1980s, after a letter from the group to national syndicated columnist Dear Abby gave it national name recognition and sharply increased membership, there were about 35,000 members. Now there are about 19,500, and more than a third are surviving spouses and children of POWs. Morgan said about 10 ex-POWs die each day.
Those that are still alive often can’t make it to meetings anymore because they can’t drive, or have health problems. In Nebraska, only wives and children began to attend some meetings in recent years, said Dennis Pavlik, who was commander of the POW group and spent 42 days in a POW camp during the Korean War.
He estimated there were about 100 members of the POW group in Nebraska, down from a peak of about 400.
“It’s a sad thing,” Pavlik, 77, said after the Nebraska flag representing the POW group was ceremoniously cased in a gray sheath at the governor’s mansion on Monday, officially marking the end of the group. “But yet, I sort of feel relieved. I’m getting tired.”
The sadness in Nebraska and elsewhere is laced with hope, as the closures are a sign that wars and foreign engagements aren’t producing large numbers of POWs like in the past.
“If these colors ever fly again it means service men and women have been held against their will,” said John Hilgert, director of the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
And 84-year-old Robert Mead of Friend, who spent a month in a German POW camp in 1945, said the closing won’t sever the ties he’s had with fellow POWs for decades.
“It doesn’t mean that much to me,” he said. “We’re going to continue our friendship.”
http://www.axpow.org/
Ellie
By Nate Jenkins - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 6, 2009 18:34:12 EDT
LINCOLN, Neb. — Until Lorrie Stuto’s father joined a group for ex-POWs, the stories he told about World War II mainly consisted of rollicking good times with his Army Air Corps buddies.
But after the Nebraskan joined an American Ex-Prisoners of War chapter in the early 1980s, “he really opened up,” Stuto said, and the true story came out: Living on a potato a day for months on end in a German POW camp and fellow prisoners desperately trying to escape.
Now, such groups that were a place for POWs to heal their wartime scars, form bonds with other POWs and remove the stigma POWs had for years as quitters who succumbed to the enemy are dying.
On Monday, the Nebraska Department of American Ex-Prisoners of War officially closed down, the latest in a string of closures that national POW officials say is at the highest pace since the groups were started more than 60 years ago.
“I try not to track the numbers anymore because it’s so depressing,” said Clydie Morgan, national adjutant for the Arlington, Texas-based American Ex-Prisoners of War, the largest POW group in the country. “We’re losing two to three chapters a month nationwide.”
There were more American POWs in World War II than any other war, so the closure of chapters is inevitable as many aging veterans of that war die. But Morgan and some POWs say they are concerned that the shutdowns are removing an important public reminder of the sacrifices POWs made.
“What is sad about it is they’re no longer able to get together to meet with one another,” Morgan said. “And they’re less visible in the community.”
There are now 270 chapters of American Ex-Prisoners of War, down from 345 just five years ago.
In the early 1980s, after a letter from the group to national syndicated columnist Dear Abby gave it national name recognition and sharply increased membership, there were about 35,000 members. Now there are about 19,500, and more than a third are surviving spouses and children of POWs. Morgan said about 10 ex-POWs die each day.
Those that are still alive often can’t make it to meetings anymore because they can’t drive, or have health problems. In Nebraska, only wives and children began to attend some meetings in recent years, said Dennis Pavlik, who was commander of the POW group and spent 42 days in a POW camp during the Korean War.
He estimated there were about 100 members of the POW group in Nebraska, down from a peak of about 400.
“It’s a sad thing,” Pavlik, 77, said after the Nebraska flag representing the POW group was ceremoniously cased in a gray sheath at the governor’s mansion on Monday, officially marking the end of the group. “But yet, I sort of feel relieved. I’m getting tired.”
The sadness in Nebraska and elsewhere is laced with hope, as the closures are a sign that wars and foreign engagements aren’t producing large numbers of POWs like in the past.
“If these colors ever fly again it means service men and women have been held against their will,” said John Hilgert, director of the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
And 84-year-old Robert Mead of Friend, who spent a month in a German POW camp in 1945, said the closing won’t sever the ties he’s had with fellow POWs for decades.
“It doesn’t mean that much to me,” he said. “We’re going to continue our friendship.”
http://www.axpow.org/
Ellie