65 years later, the suvivors of Stalag 17B gather for ceremony
Video at link~
By Lorena Anderson | The Sun News
In his still-affected hands and feet, Charles Vogel bears a daily reminder of the year and 14 days he spent in the Stalag 17B German Prisoner of War Camp in Krems, Austria.
His extremities were damaged by the bitter cold as he shared barracks built for 240 with thousands of other captured airmen.
He still remembers the weeks-long, 281-mile forced march across Austria as Russian forces closed in on the camp that began 65 years ago. The men slept wherever they could and ate whatever they could find, including grass."I swiped a chicken one night and slept on it all night so I could cook it the next morning," Vogel said. "It was the toughest chicken I ever ate."
The prisoners were eventually rescued from the Germans by Gen. George S. Patton's men.
It is to the memory of Vogel's service, the service of the 900 survivors of Stalag 17B and the memory of the soldiers who gave their lives for the country that the American Former Prisoners of War gathered Sunday for a prayer ceremony.
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http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/05/03/1454158/reunited-in-prayer.html