POW

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Photos Capture Plight of Ukrainian POWs

The AP counts more than 200 deaths amid allegations of brutal treatment

(Newser) - More than 200 Ukrainian POWs have died while imprisoned since Russia's full-scale invasion three years ago. Abuse inside Russian prisons was likely a contributing factor in many of these deaths, according to officials from human rights groups, the UN, the Ukrainian government, and a Ukrainian medical examiner who has...

Ukraine: Russia Is Executing More POWs

It alleges there has been a spike in such incidents

(Newser) - Russian forces are increasingly opting to execute Ukrainian soldiers rather than holding them as POWs, Ukraine's prosecutor general office alleges. It tells the Washington Post that in violation of the Geneva Conventions, Russian troops are more often killing Ukrainian soldiers as they attempt to surrender, in some cases shooting...

Under Pennsylvania Soil, Remnants of a POW Camp

Researchers say they've found remnants of Camp Security in Yorktown, Pa.

(Newser) - Researchers say they've solved a decades-old riddle this week by finding remnants of a stockade, and therefore the site of a prison camp in York, Pa., that housed British soldiers for nearly two years during the American Revolutionary War. The location of Camp Security was thought to have been...

Russia Frees 10 Foreign Fighters, Including Americans

Men were released, flown out of country under deal brokered by Saudi Arabia

(Newser) - Hours after Vladimir Putin announced that he was stepping up the war in Ukraine by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists, there was good news for the families of two Americans who fought for Ukraine. Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, who were captured in June , were among 10...

Revered Chaplain's Remains ID'd After 70 Years

Capt. Emil Kapaun, a Medal of Honor recipient, died a POW during Korean War

(Newser) - Ever since Capt. Emil Kapaun was reported to have died while being held prisoner in Korea in 1951, his family has been without remains to bury. Although relatives sought answers, the chaplain was among the 7,500 service members unaccounted for from the Korean War, CNN reports. But Kapaun was...

Gun Collector Gets 7 Years for His 'Piece de Resistance'

Vietnam vet Alfred Pick had illegal M14

(Newser) - The fully automatic M14, spotted at a Texas gun show in the early 1980s, reminded Alfred Pick of the weapon he'd carried as an Army lieutenant in Vietnam. So he bought it, even though the gun was illegal to own and its serial number had been scratched out. Decades...

They Experimented on Live POWs. Now, Names Released

Members of Japan's Unit 731 conducted germ warfare experiments during WWII

(Newser) - It had the boring and bureaucratic name of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department. But this secretive unit of the Japanese army during World War II—better known as Unit 731—conducted germ warfare and other lethal experiments on live prisoners of war, explains the Guardian . Now, at the...

Using Ink and Urine, He Secretly Recorded the Nazis' Horrors

Anthony Acevedo was a medic captured at the Battle of the Bulge, kept in Berga

(Newser) - After the Pearl Harbor attack, Anthony Acevedo was determined to defend his homeland—which meant returning to it. Acevedo was born in 1924 in California to Mexican parents who were deported 13 years later; he and his siblings went to Mexico, too, and he re-entered the US at age 17...

After 50 Years, Pyongyang Still Has Captured US Ship

Crew of USS Pueblo was released after 11 months

(Newser) - Fifty years after it was seized by North Korea, the USS Pueblo is the only US Navy ship held captive by a foreign government. And though mostly forgotten in the United States, the "Pueblo Incident" for North Korea remains a potent symbol of military success. The spy ship, attacked...

One of the Most 'Disgustingly Brilliant' Escapes of All Time

WWII POWs spent months toiling away in excrement to escape from the Germans

(Newser) - A 25-year-old Texan named William Ash and a 21-year old from Quebec named Eddy Asselin climbed into a toilet and dropped into a sewage pit—and that's how the story of "one of history's most disgustingly brilliant escape schemes" begins on Narratively . Stephen Dando-Collins presents this excerpt...

Story of How US Soldier Saved 200 Jews Finally Told

Roddie Edmonds honored for his remarkable move in POW camp

(Newser) - Roddie Edmonds is the first US soldier to receive Israel's Righteous Among the Nations honor, 70 years after he risked his life to save 200 Jews. The native of Knoxville, Tenn., was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and held at German POW camp Staleg...

McCain: Trump Should Say Sorry to POWs, Not to Me

'To denigrate that service in any way is offensive to veterans,' senator says

(Newser) - Donald Trump has been vocal in his refusal to apologize to John McCain, whose war hero status Trump mocked Saturday. Trump doubled down on that to the Today show's Matt Lauer this morning, saying, "I'm not a fan of John McCain. He's done a horrible job...

Trump on McCain Diss: 'I Will Say What I Want to Say'

The Donald doubles down, won't be apologizing to former POW

(Newser) - Donald Trump does what he wants, and what he apparently wants is near-universal condemnation—including that of the vast and diverse field of fellow Republican presidential contenders, which has apparently found one thing they can agree on, and that is Trump's attack on John McCain's time as a...

Exhibit Details Japanese Experiments on US POWs
Exhibit Details Japanese Experiments on US POWs
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Apr 12, 2015 7:29 AM CDT

Exhibit Details Japanese Experiments on US POWs

American prisoners had organs removed, were injected with seawater

(Newser) - The crew of an American B-29 bomber brought down in May 1945 by Japanese fighters were able to bail out, but the 11 men who survived met with only horror on the ground. Now their fate is being documented as part of a new exhibit at a museum on the...

ISIS Claims It's on an Execution Spree in Syria

Rights group says up to 65 soldiers slaughtered; militants say 200

(Newser) - The Islamic State group has killed dozens of Syrian soldiers it captured after overrunning a military base in northeastern Syria, shooting some and using knives on others in the latest brutal mass killing attributed to the extremists, activists said today. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants rounded...

10 Russian Troops Caught in Ukraine Before Peace Talks

Moscow calls it an accident, but Ukraine thinks otherwise

(Newser) - Ten Russian paratroopers have been captured by Ukraine after crossing the border during a patrol yesterday, the AP reports. Russia says they crossed by accident, but Ukraine isn't buying it. Regardless of who's right, the detention of the men raised tensions as talks got underway in Minsk between...

Meet the Guy Whose Face Is on the POW Flag

Jeffrey Heisley wasn't actually a prisoner of war

(Newser) - Jeffrey Heisley was never a prisoner of war—but his silhouette has represented POWs for decades. Suffering from hepatitis, Heisley had to leave the Marine Corps' officer candidate program as a young man. In the course of the illness, he tells Fox News , "I had all my hair cut...

WWII POW 'X-816' to Be Dug Up After Lawsuit

Family says the remains belong to Bud Kelder

(Newser) - An anonymous POW buried in an American war cemetery in the Philippines isn't "X-816," it's Bud Kelder, say family members who have finally won their fight to have the remains disinterred. The 26-year-old Army medic survived the Bataan Death March but died in a POW camp...

Bergdahl Was Kept in Shark Cage for Weeks

US officials also say he's in decent shape physically; mentally still unready

(Newser) - Bowe Bergdahl tried in vain to escape his Taliban captors, US officials tell the New York Times , and as punishment, he says "they kept him in a shark cage in total darkness for weeks, possibly months," says one official; that's a drastically different scenario than the Taliban...

Bergdahl Was a Deserter: Fellow Soldier

He's no 'hero,' writes Nathan Bradley Bethea

(Newser) - Bowe Bergdahl's release is being widely celebrated, but some soldiers from his platoon are calling for him to face trial for desertion —and in the Daily Beast , a soldier from his battalion delves into more detail about what really happened to Bergdahl in 2009. Nathan Bradley Bethea was...

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