POW

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143 Men Captured While Fighting Nazis Honored

They were imprisoned in notorious Swiss camp

(Newser) - After more than 70 years, the Pentagon has finally decided that 143 American airmen who served time in a tough prison camp after being captured while fighting Nazi Germany were prisoners of war who deserve recognition. The men weren't recognized as POWs until now because they were imprisoned not...

Taliban Ends Talks With US Over POW Release

Army PFC Bowe Bergdahl has been held since 2009

(Newser) - The Taliban has put the kibosh on prisoner-exchange negotiations with the US, citing the "current complex political situation" in Afghanistan for ending what was considered America's best shot at securing the freedom of POW Bowe Bergdahl, a 27-year-old Idaho native who's been held captive since 2009. The...

US Sweetens Taliban Deal in Bid to Get POW Back

Sources say officials are willing to set 5 Gitmo prisoners free at once

(Newser) - Time is ticking away for the US to extract American POW Bowe Bergdahl before the bulk of US forces withrdraw from Afghanistan this year, and the Obama administration is now once again considering a prisoner swap. The administration is looking to re-open talks with the Taliban about trading the Army...

WWII POW's Treasured Ring Finds Its Way Home

After 1.5 years in prison camp, David Cox traded it for food

(Newser) - Last week, David Cox Jr. opened a package that had been sent to Raleigh, NC, from Germany. In it was a ring—and with it an amazing story. The gold aviator's ring had belonged to the 67-year-old's father, David Cox, who had been given it by his parents...

Pics Show POWs Performing in Nazi Camp

Germany used Oflag VII-A to dupe the Red Cross

(Newser) - Photos have emerged from a Nazi POW camp that show officers performing theater and playing music—signs that Germany used the camp to help conceal the Holocaust, Der Spiegel reports. Reports of Polish officers enjoying some cultural life at Oflag VII-A, in Murnau, Germany, have circulated for years, but were...

Korean War POW Finally Buried After 60 Years

Artie Hodapp died of starvation in or near a POW camp in 1951

(Newser) - For 60 years, Artie Hodapp's family agonized over a heart-rending mystery: Where had the young man, known for his rollicking sense of humor, come to rest after dying in the Korean War? The answer was among 17 boxes of remains that the North Koreans turned over nearly two decades...

Great Escape Tunnel Set for Excavation

'George,' a lesser-known tunnel, was dug after initial escape

(Newser) - It's called "George," the lesser-known tunnel of the Great Escape, and historians hope to uncover World War II equipment or personal effects when engineers excavate it. Prisoners of war dug “Tom,” “Dick,” and “Harry” for the famous 1944 escape attempt from the Nazi...

Pentagon Steps Up Hunt for Missing WWII Soldiers

Search intensifies as aging witnesses die

(Newser) - After years of searching for missing US soldiers in the jungles of Southeast Asia, the military's POW/MIA Accounting Command has intensified the hunt for the 74,000 WWII troops still unaccounted for, reports the New York Times. Searching for the nearly-65-year-old remains is a race against time, however, as historians...

Solitary Confinement: Looks a Lot Like Torture

(Newser) - Rhesus monkeys raised in isolation are anti-social, catatonic, and profoundly disturbed even after they are introduced to their peers. The same is true of humans kept in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time, whether as hostages or prisoners, writes Atul Gawande in the New Yorker. As months roll on,...

Don't Question McCain's 'Nam Heroism
Don't Question McCain's 'Nam Heroism 
OPINION
Oct 19, 2008 4:24 PM CDT

Don't Question McCain's 'Nam Heroism

Mac was an inspiration to fellow POWs

(Newser) - There’s plenty wrong with John McCain, but questions about his heroism in Vietnam just don’t stand up, biographer Matt Welch writes in the LA Times. McCain “gave great strength to his fellow POWs,” and “unless you think that inspiring your fellow prisoners to resist and...

'Right-Wing Freak Machine' Hit Me: Clark

General thanks bloggers for defending his McCain remark

(Newser) - Wesley Clark told a netroots conference last night that he was attacked by the “great freak show” after saying John McCain’s POW experience wasn’t sufficient qualification for the presidency, the Huffington Post reports. “This is a playbook operation by the right-wing freak machine,” Clark said,...

McCain's War Record Now Fair Game
McCain's War Record Now
Fair Game
Jun 30, 2008 12:10 PM CDT

McCain's War Record Now Fair Game

Pro-Obama retired general Clark turns up volume on whispers

(Newser) - Wesley Clark's answer to a question on Face the Nation yesterday has exposed a simmering campaign issue, Politico reports: whether John McCain’s Vietnam ordeal translates to relevant experience for the presidency. "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be...

Hanoi Captor Endorses McCain, Denies Torture

Duyet calls ex-POW a friend

(Newser) - John McCain’s Vietnam War jailer says he would vote for him because of McCain's willingness to forgive and look to the future, the AP reports. In the same breath, Tran Trong Duyet denied that McCain was tortured during his 5-year imprisonment and accused him of making up the stories...

Vietnam Stays With McCain
 Vietnam Stays With McCain 
Jun 23, 2008 2:35 PM CDT

Vietnam Stays With McCain

Philosophy rooted in visits continues to influence candidate

(Newser) - After 5 years as a POW, John McCain returned to Vietnam in 1974 and 1985, trips that inextricably linked him with the war in American minds. They also helped color the way he thinks about foreign policy and helped him learn to make amends with onetime enemies when it meant...

China Admits Burying US POW From Korean War

Move could open door to records of others

(Newser) - China has for the first time admitted holding an American prisoner from the Korean War on its soil, AP reports. The Vermont man, just 18 when he was captured, died in China and was buried there, officials said. China authorities, who said the prisoner was mentally ill, had previously insisted...

'Bogus' McCain, Bush Oppose New GI Bill
'Bogus' McCain, Bush Oppose New GI Bill
OPINION
May 6, 2008 11:42 AM CDT

'Bogus' McCain, Bush Oppose New GI Bill

Particularly when GOP heavies spend so much air, funds on war

(Newser) - The so-called new GI bill, which would update the famed original to fund education for veterans, should be an obvious ‘Yea’ vote for any legislator, but, the New York Times' Bob Herbert points out, John McCain and President Bush are fighting it. The bipartisan bill is “an investment”...

McCain Keeps His God to Himself
McCain Keeps His God
to Himself
Apr 3, 2008 2:05 PM CDT

McCain Keeps His God to Himself

Dems more vocal on religion; Mac's silence called 'soldier's faith'

(Newser) - John McCain is notably reserved about his religious faith. He rarely refers to God on campaign stops, in marked contrast to the two presidents who preceded him and, in a role reversal, to his Democratic opponents. His reticence is a throwback to the days when religion was kept out of...

India to Help US Hunt Lost WWII Crews

Expedition to India for MIAs

(Newser) - US bomber crews that went missing in the Himalayas during World War II may be recovered after more than six decades, reports the Military Times. While experts have long identified potential crash sites, the US military has been unable to access the dangerous border region between India, China, and Burma....

Steinem on McCain's Vietnam Years: So What?

Feminist campaigner speaks out against militarism at Clinton event

(Newser) - Uber feminist Gloria Steinem downplayed John McCain's experience as a Vietnam POW in a stump speech for Hillary Clinton, and said Americans have behaved since George Washington "as if killing people is a qualification for ruling people," reports the New York Observer. Speaking of McCain's years as a...

McCain Blasts Mailer Attacking War Record

Confident he'll win SC, dismisses claim he sold out fellow POWs

(Newser) - Citing "deceitful smear tactics" by "fringe elements," John McCain's campaign is on the offensive against a flier circulating in South Carolina attacking his war record—an echo of the attacks that derailed his 2000 candidacy. The flier, sent to some 80 newspaper editors, claims McCain betrayed his...

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