Forgotten POW flag now a memorial

ALTAMONT, New York (AP) -- A soldier held in Japanese prison camps in World War II secretly painted stars and stripes on pilfered paper hidden from his captors, then held the flag up high to greet American planes flying overhead when his camp was liberated.

After returning home, Cpl. Millard Orsini consigned the object of his secret work to a closet. He rarely mentioned the war or the moldering flag, and died in 1978 from a heart attack.

"He was really a hometown hero who got lost in the cracks," said Tony Ferraioli, who led the effort to restore the flag.

Its dark red stripes and 48 stars have been restored and it now hangs in a frame at the Homefront Cafe, a World War II-themed restaurant in Altamont, Orsini's old home village near Albany.

Orsini was one of seven brothers who served during World War II. The combat engineer was captured early in the war in the Philippines.

In April 1942, he and some 70,000 fellow prisoners were herded into the 55-mile Bataan Death March, during which up to 10,000 marchers died.

The next 39 months in Japanese prison camps were nearly as brutal. A book on the death march, "Horror Trek," described his punishment in 1944 for stealing potato peels from a trash heap: "(H)e was slugged and beaten by a dozen guards until he collapsed -- then he was kicked in the face."

He painted the flag on a newspaper-sized piece of pulpy paper, maybe a window shade or wrapping paper, using stolen or creatively mixed oil paints. The craftsmanship is meticulous.

It is believed that he hid the flag under floorboards while his fellow prisoners kept watch. "If he got caught, it would have been the end of him," said his brother, Joseph Orsini. (snip)

The protected will never know just how sweet the taste of freedom really is.

A Soldier Died Today

He was getting old and paunchy;
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he had fought in,
And the deeds that he had done.
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, everyone.

And 'tho sometimes, to his neighbors,
His tales became a joke.
All his buddies listened,
For they knew whereof he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer,
For a soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary...
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Quietly going on his way.
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state.
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories,
From the time that they were young.
But the passing of a soldier,
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution,
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise,
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow,
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country...
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend,
And the style in which he lives,
Are sometimes disproportionate,
To the service he gives.

While the ordinary soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal,
And perhaps a pension...small.

It's so easy to forget them,
For it is so long ago,
That our Bob's and Jim's and Johnny's,
Went to battle, but we know.

It was not the politicians,
With their compromise and ploys;
Who won for us the freedom,
That our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand;
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier,
Who has sworn to defend,
His home, his kin and Country,
And would fight until the end?

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin.
But his presence should remind us,
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
Then we find the Soldier's part,
Is to clean up all the troubles,
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor,
While he's here to hear the praise.
Then at least let's give him homage,
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline,
In the paper that might say,
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

Author Unknown

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