WWII Prisoners of War

By guest host John Hockenberry:

War produces casualties, refugees, victories and defeats. War liberates people and it also takes prisoners. Prisoners of war are the human tokens exchanged between armies and nations when it is time to settle accounts and make peace.

But people caught in war's prisons live in a world of precarious rules and sudden lawlessness and brutality. Certainly, POW stories of today are filled with such horror and tragedy but what does history teach us?

Three remarkable men join us to share their stories of being prisoners of war during World War II and the long road to liberation and redemption after the guns fall silent.

--- Quotes from the Show ---

"They marched us up to the gate and an officer turned around and he says 'don't be foolish like this fellow was' and he pointed to a coffin that was near the gate. He never opened the coffin but you got the word." - Marcel Boisvert

"All [I was fed for two weeks] was grass soup ... and rotten potatoes." - Cosmo Fabrizio

"I was beaten because I didn't surrender ... and sexually assaulted." - Frank Molinari

Guests:

Cosmo Fabrizio, Sergeant and Mortar Man during WWII, spent 132 days as a POW.

Frank Molinari, Corporal with the Infantry, spent 129 days as a POW.

Marcel Boisvert, Sergeant and Tail Gunner on a B-17, spent 75 days as a POW.

Hal LaCroix, Writer who inspired the exhibit "Journey Out of Darkness: American Heroes in Hitler's POW Camps" at the Museum of National Heritage in Lexington,
MA