I hope that the future of the present US prisoners of war will be as rosy.
Altough it will not be for those who have been tortured to death.

>Tracy;
>
>I met two POW’s from WWII. One was German, and interned in Cincinnati, Ohio, along with other German POW’s. He was allowed to start a Mushroom garden, which became a good paying business. After the war he had to return to Germany and then returned to the United States to continue his business and became a United States citizen as well as a millionaire.
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>The second POW was an Italian, named Bruno Piva. He was from Genoa, Italy. He was interned in the San Francisco Bay Area. Italian POW’s were allowed to either stay in the barracks, and within the compound or they could become cooks. Many choose to be cooks and the Army personnel really enjoyed the dishes they prepared.
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>On Saturday nights the Italian POW’s attended a dance where they met Italian and Italian American civilians, who lived in the Bay Area. Many of the POW’s felt bad as they had good food and living conditions while their families in Italy were going through hardships. A neighbor Agnes Pinto, attended the dances where she men Bruno.
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>After the war Bruno had to return to Genoa, and a few months later Agnus (who was native San Franciscan) and Bruno were married. They then returned to San Francisco, where Bruno established a business.
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>By the way Bruno was my neighbor and I went to Catholic school with two of his daughters. Our families were very close. A story about the Italian POW’s was on PBS and Bruno’s wife, Agnus appears on the documentary, and gave many details about the story of Italian POW’s that I did not know.
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>Tom
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>>Wow, talk about a different perspective. When I was stationed in Germany in the 80s I met a fellow who was an enemy prisoner of war during WWII and was interned in California. He spent the rest of the war picking fruit and vegetables in California. He said he was treated well and ate better than he had in his entire life. He always wanted to go back and visit because he loved the country and the weather.
>>
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>>>>You might get a kick out of this and I apologize if it is not appropriate.
>>>>
>>>>A friend of mine Hugo Schneider is from Berlin, Germany, and moved to the United States many years ago. He was in the market for a home in Augusta, Georgia and had an interesting conversation with the real-estate agent.
>>>>
>>>>Real-estate agent: “Mr. Schneider, we southerners have something in common with Germans”!
>>>>
>>>>Hugo: “What is that”?
>>>>
>>>>Real-estate agent: “We both lost the war”!
>>>>
>>>>It seems funny but perhaps not to everyone.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Tom
>>>
>>>Since I didn't fight in either of those wars, I really don't have any stake in them. That means I can laugh about them. For those who fought in them, or suffered because of them, they have a problem laughing. I used to drink coffee with a man named Saul Stein every morning, and he was a really neat man. But, he had nothing but antipathy for the Germans. You see he had been incarcerated in one of the prison camps during WWII. I had bought a Mercedes for my wife and was telling him how much I liked the car when I found out how much he disliked them. Guess you can't blame him though.
>>>
>>>Anyway, back to the subject at hand. You have to have a sense of humor to live in the South! But even so, I'd rather live than most places- cept maybe somewhere in the Rockies.
>>>
>>>John