Former POW says both sides obligated to treat prisoners humanely
By Jerry Gunn
GAINESVILLE - Former Vietnam prisoner of war Ben Purcell said Thursday at Brenau University that in war both sides are obligated to treat POWs humanely.
The retired Army colonel, a POW for five and a half years, spent more time in solitary confinement that any other American captive and escaped twice, only to be recaptured.
Purcell was first captured in 1968 and remained a prisoner until 1973.
Purcell said fair and humane treatment of captured enemy soldiers is required by the Articles of War but Vietnam did not abide by them while Vietnamese POWs probably fared much better in American hands.
"There's a way of being honorable about whatever you do."
Purcell, a guest lecturer for Brenau's Vietnamese history and literature course, shared his wartime experiences and displayed prisoner artifacts.
He responded to a question about alleged American mistreatment of captured Iraqis.
"If you disarm a person, then you are nothing but a brutal beast if you take advantage of that position," Purcell said. "There's a way of being honorable about whatever you do."
Purcell observed it has taken less time for the Iraqi War to become unpopular, saying Vietnam lasted almost five years and cost 58,000 lives before Americans demanded withdrawal, but Iraq is different.
"After three years and the loss of 2,400 people, the demand is, let's get out," he said.
Purcell said Mankind needs to become smart enough and humane enough to do away with war as a method of resolving conflicts between nations.
Now in his late 70s, Purcell raises Christmas trees on his farm near Clarkesville in Habersham County.
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