Behind Enemy Lines: 20 Facts About Prisoners of War

11Edwin Rose

Edwin 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.


12German POWs

German 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.


13American flag

American 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.


14Ernest Brace

Ernest Brace

A POW named Ernest Brace during Vietnam war escaped a bamboo cage after a month of imprisonment, got captured again for 7 months (now with his legs in stocks and bolted), escaped again and got buried to his neck for 7 days after being captured again.


15Italian and German POW

Italian and German POW

World War 2 Italian and German POW's were held in relatively secret NC camps. They worked on military bases, on local farms, and in pulpwood harvesting. In some cases, they were allowed to visit movie theaters and restaurants under the cover of US uniforms.


16Wayne A. "Johnnie" Johnson

Wayne A.

In 1950, an 18-year-old American POW named Wayne A. "Johnnie" Johnson in Korea began keeping a secret list of all the deaths he saw while in Chinese captivity. His list was lost by the Army and rediscovered in 1995 at a veteran's reunion, granting closure to more than 400 families.


17Canada POW

Canada POW

During World War 2, prisoners of war in Canada were treated so nicely that they didn't want to leave Canada when released.


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18Denis Avey

Denis Avey

A British POW during world war 2 called Denis Avey, broke into Auschwitz, befriended a Jewish inmate, smuggled his way into the inmate's camp by exchanging uniforms, and later broke out of the camp in 1945.


19Captain Charles Upham

Captain Charles Upham

Captain Charles Upham was taken as a POW during World War 2 and tried to escape on multiple occasions. Once, he climbed the camp's fences in broad daylight, becoming entangled in barbed wire. When a prison guard pointed a pistol at his head and threatened to shoot, Upham ignored him and lit a cigarette.


20Aidan MacCarthy

Aidan MacCarthy

Aidan MacCarthy, an Irish doctor in the Royal Air Force, was being held as a Prisoner of War by the Japanese during which time he survived two torpedo attacks and the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

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