"You only live once. Let's keep trucking. If we don't do that, who's going to do it for us? We have to be happy. Why hate?" — Anthony Acevedo.
From the most recent Chicago Tribune Sunday edition. Obituaries:
"Anthony Acevedo, 93, Army medic in World War II who was captured and sent to various German prison and labor camps while being mislabeled as Jewish and who after the war had to sign an affidavit pledging not to discuss what he witnessed - - meant to be a short-term security measure."
I KNEW THERE WAS A STORY HERE AND YES THERE IS!
"Acevedo and other survivors of Berga were instructed to sign a document that swore them to secrecy regarding their experiences at the Nazi camp. The U.S. Army maintains it was to protect escapees and the local populace who helped POWs,"
German civilians giving aid and comfort to American soldiers during World War Two? Have never seen this mentioned anywhere. Such persons perhaps organized into an Escape and Evasion [E and E] network in the aftermath of the war? I just do not know but speculate here.
"Acevedo himself was subject to abuses at the hands of the Gestapo, including being raped as part of his torture."
Rape as a weapon of war quite common. Man-on-man rape during wartime much less common but not unheard of. Degradation, humiliation, abuse of a sexual nature destroying the self-esteem of the POW. As was the case during the Great War, British officers subjected to man-on-man rape ordeal by their Turkish captors.
Truly I find ideas for blog entries at the most surprising sources!
coolbert.