[mware]

My next door neighbor was shot down over Germany during WW2 and spent 2 years as a POW. When he jumped from his plane he was hit in both of his legs. He would take that shrapnel in his legs with him to his death in 1998.

When he spoke of Hogan's Hero's he would laugh and say, they don't have any idea.

[Inspectorette]

Sounds a lot like my father-in-law.

His B-17 was shot down, and he had a bad parachute landing - broke both knees. They got caught, and were part of the infamous "Sagan Death March". He spent 18 months in a POW camp. Went in weighing 180, came out weighing 120. This was toward the end of the war, and he said that the Germans barely had enough food for themselves. He had no bitterness whatsoever.

[proudofthesouth]

I agree. I had a good friend and neighbor when I lived in Cincinnati. He was a bomber pilot who along with his crew was shot down off the coast of France. He didn't tell a lot about his time but he did tell me that he was tortured by the Nazi's at a camp in France. He also suffered life long nightmares and other stress related problems due to the way he was treated.