11Sears
An American former prisoner of war spotted a brutal Japanese official from the POW camp shopping at Sears in Los Angeles in 1946. The official, who was now a US citizen, was subsequently the last person convicted of treason in the US to date.
12Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence, an actual World War 2 POW, tried to advise the director of The Great Escape, and was initially "shooed away for his impertinence."
13Jeremiah Denton
Jeremiah Denton was an American POW in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. During a televised press conference in which he was forced to participate, he repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse code spelling out “T-O-R-T-U-R-E.”
14Pierre Mairesse-Lebrun
During World War 2, a French POW cavalry officer named Pierre Mairesse-Lebrun escaped from Colditz and made it to the German-Swiss Frontier with no food, money, maps or papers, wearing a vest, shorts, and tennis shoes.
15Colonel George Hall
A POW named Colonel George Hall in Vietnam improved his golf game during his 7.5 years in capture by playing golf in his mind every day.
16Eric Lomax
A British ex-POW named Eric Lomax was captured in 1942 by Japanese forces. Many years after the war, he tracked down the Japanese man who had tortured him and forgave him.
17Kazuo Sakamaki
The only prisoner of war captured by Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor was Kazuo Sakamaki, who later strongly opposed war and refused to speak about it until he attended a historical conference in Texas where he cried after being reunited with his submarine.
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18Edwin Rose
A British prisoner of war named Edwin Rose missed the liberation of his camp because he fell asleep on the toilet and slept through the battle. He woke to find everyone else gone, so he shaved, put on his best clothes and walked out to freedom.
19German POWs
Many German POWs captured by the Allies in World War 2 were so horrified by footage of the Holocaust that they burned their uniforms and called on Germany to surrender and even volunteered to join the fight against the Axis.
20American flag
An American POW in Vietnam made an American flag in captivity. He and his fellow prisoners would recite the pledge of allegiance and salute it. One day, the Vietnamese confiscated his flag and viciously beat him. When they returned him to his cell, he started making another one.