News-Info-Alerts

Re: Helping the Survivors Heal

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: June 24, 2003

"A support group helps ex-POWs recover from old wounds

BY BARBARA MILLER Of Our Palmyra Bureau

LEBANON - They endured the worst. Their diet consisted of scraps of black bread. Guards beat them. Lice covered their bodies. Their feet froze.

When the horror ended, they couldn't talk about it.

"We tried to forget. We didn't want to be involved in anything," said Harry Fritz of Camp Hill, who was shot down during a bombing raid during World War II and spent nine months as a prisoner of war in Bucharest, Romania. "That's the worst thing you can do. You should get it out of your system."

His wife, Lillian Fritz, said loved ones heard little about the men's experiences as prisoners of war.

"We went on with our lives," she said. "But the men were in a difficult state."

Jim DeLong of Leesport spent 33 months as a prisoner on the border of China and North Korea during the Korean War.

Then he spent years enduring a nightmare. In his sleep, he would see a soldier who fell in front of him during a forced march.

"I had to step over that kid. For years, I had nightmares over him," DeLong said. "That's when I knew I was a POW, and I was at their mercy."

When DeLong met with other former POWs 20 years ago at the Lebanon VA Medical Center, he found himself able to share with the other men and their wives.

In this, the 20th anniversary month of their first meeting, the group of 18 POWs and their spouses from across the midstate said they have found help, solace and friendship.

"We've all been through a lot of trauma, and we have a common bond," Fritz said.

"Hell" best describes their ordeal, said Tony Varano of Palmyra, who spent six months in Stalag 9B in Bad Orb, Germany, after being captured in the infantry front lines during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

"We never changed or took a bath," Varano said.

POWs were literally "lousy." Lloyd Dull of Lancaster, who was held in Stalag 12B in Germany during World War II, said he still has scars on his chest from lice.

"We all went hungry," said DeLong, who served in the Seventh Infantry Division in Korea.

Lester Lutz of New Holland spent 81/2 months in Stalag 12A until he was liberated in 1945.

"The clothes I had on were the same clothes I had on the day I was captured," Lutz said.

"You just had a smell of your own, that's all," DeLong said.

And yet each of their experiences is unique.

"All POWs are not the same," Varano said. "When I came home, would you believe, some people made fun of me because I was not fighting -- I ended up as a POW. I rarely ever talked about it until I was with this group."

At first, the women and men met in separate sessions.

"All our men had a lot of the same problems and hang-ups," including nervousness and anxiety, said Audrey DeLong. "You know what makes them tick now."

Eventually, the husbands and wives started meeting together, growing close over the years. Many attend POW reunions, where some have met fellow prisoners they thought had not survived.

"My best friends are right here in this room," Fritz said.

The war in Iraq launched a flood of feelings in the group. The first meeting after the war began, Dull said, "The guys wouldn't talk at all."

"We all joined hands and prayed for the troops," Fritz said.

Jackie Woodworth, a VA social worker who has led the group for three years, said the members still talk about their war experiences, but many have turned their captivity into something positive, speak to schools and other groups and are involved in advocacy for veterans.

"They are turning more outward and are not afraid to talk about it," Woodworth said. "I think they are more proud of their experience and how they've adjusted."

"The reason we are here today is because of our determination," Dull said, adding that he saw some soldiers die because they gave up.

"We were young and dumb," DeLong said. "We took life one day at a time. That's how I survived."

BARBARA MILLER: 832-2090 or barbmiller@patriot-news.com

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