"Montblack" wrote in message
...
I don't for a second admire that he was a POW. It wasn't his choice. He
didn't want to be one. Having been raised by a POW and seen the
long-term effects of what subhumans did to him, there's nothing about
his experience to admire. One can only respect them and remember to
give thanks.

If you would, come back at this again, maybe even from head on, but do,
please, take another swing at this. It's an interesting thought, and
perspective.

I was raised by a former POW who was shot down and then tortured by the
Gestapo because his dogtags were missing and he "looked German"; imprisoned
at Stalag XVII-B and later left to die at KZ Mauthausen. I admire him for
his courage, having served as an aerial gunner. I certainly don't admire
his experience as a POW; he would have thought such a thing crazy.

Having said that, the lessons one learns from the experience of such a
parent are both difficult to articulate and impossible to forget.

Just a reader trying to sort out: the experience, choice, the man, give
thanks, respect, and admire.

I honor the integrity and strength of character that made him who he was in
spite of the happened to him, but I cannot "admire" his experience because I
would never want to see men, women and children stripped naked and machine
gunned into mass graves or shredded alive by SS dogs, nor would I want to
see my name on the wall at Andersonville. Whatever strength it might bring
to my character simply wouldn't be worth it.

Hope that makes more sense. If he were to have entered the political arena,
we might have disagreed bitterly on some issues, but I would never have
attempted to devalue his wartime courage or service to this country. This is
what I perceive to be happening to decorated veterans by politicians for
political purposes.

-c