Prisoner Of War

IT IS NOT too late for Washington to declare loud and clear that the Geneva Convention must be observed for all prisoners held by all parties in the war in Afghanistan. To refrain from doing so would be folly. The Taliban and al-Qaida probably have fought more determinedly since the murders of prisoners by the forces of Northern Alliance warlords in Mazar-e Sharif and Kunduz last month. Confidence of humane treatment would induce more surrenders and save lives on both sides. Afghanistan's recent traditions include mass murders of prisoners but also negotiations to avoid actual fighting.

Richard A. Hartman, former president and CEO of the Automobile Club of Maryland who fought at the Battle of the Bulge, died Feb. 28 of complications from cancer and renal failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The former longtime Cedarcroft resident was 91. "Dick was the most ethical person I have ever known. He did everything that was right, and he demanded that out of the people who worked with him. He was truly a wonderful person," said William U. "Bill" Bass, who succeeded Mr. Hartman as president of the Automobile Club of Maryland when he retired in 1987.

Edwin S. Huson, a career member of the Maryland National Guard and a World War II prisoner of war, died Wednesday of interstitial fibrosis at the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air. He was 83 and lived in Kingsville. Born in Dallastown, Pa., he moved to Franklinville in Baltimore County as a teenager and attended Bel Air High School. Before entering the Army in 1942, he earned his General Educational Development certificate. As a member of the 8th Army Air Corps, 92nd Bomb Group, 327th Bomb Squadron, Mr. Huson was a technical sergeant stationed in England, where he served as a waist gunner on a B-17 bomber.

When pilot George W. Holdefer was sitting aboard a ship "off some port in England" at the end of World War II, he recalled what life had been like in Stalag Luft 13, a POW camp at Langwasser, a district of Nuremberg. "As I sit here with my belly full, I can clearly remember the days at Nuremberg when we got up in the morning to a cup of coffee, usually without sugar or milk, and two slices of bread with something spread on them as thin as possible," he wrote in a fuller detailed account of his days as a prisoner of war. Holdefer, a retired civil engineer, was 87 when he died last month at the Edenwald retirement community in Towson.

Dr. Louis Haberer Tankin, a retired Baltimore urologist who wrote of his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II, died from complications of a stroke Thursday at Ruxton Health and Rehabilitation Center. The Pikesville resident was 92. Dr. Tankin was born in Baltimore and raised on Milton Avenue near Patterson Park. As the son of a surgeon, he was from an early age interested in a medical career. "He didn't want to be a doctor for money or status. He wanted to be a doctor because he loved and wanted to help people," said a son, Alan C. Tankin of Newburg, Mo. He was a 1932 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1936.

It's been seven years since retired Vice Adm. James B. Stockdale served -- like a fish out of water -- as Ross Perot's running mate in the 1992 presidential race.During a visit this week to his alma mater, the Naval Academy, the former test pilot and prisoner of war was more in his element, talking enthusiastically and poetically about how pain shaped his life.Stockdale spent three days lecturing to and having lunch with midshipmen who weren't even born when he was released from a North Vietnamese prison in 1973, after 7 1/2 years of torture.

Jerry Sage, 75, the World War II prisoner of war portrayed by Steve McQueen in the movie "The Great Escape," died Friday of cancer at a Dothan, Ala., hospital. During his captivity in a German POW camp, Mr. Sage helped work for 15 months on the huge, three-tunnel escape project that formed the plot for the movie and his book, "Sage."

Peppi Simmeth considers himself one of the lucky ones. Simmeth, a Bel Air resident, is a German World War II veteran who fought in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and then survived six years in a Russian prisoner-of-war camp. "I don't hold anything against anyone," he said to students at John Carroll School last week. "A war is a war, people react differently in a war." Simmeth, who will turn 80 next week, was invited to speak at John Carroll as part of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, said Ed Miller, Russian language teacher at the school.

During his confinement as a prisoner of war during the Persian Gulf war, U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Wetzel dreamed about going to a baseball game after his release."

On September 3, 2005 IRVIN H. JETT, beloved husband of the late Thelma E. Jett (nee Caricofe) loving father of Jackie Brandenburg, Jo Ann M. Jett and the late Darlene Jett, loving grandfather of 4, devoted brother of Audrey Schwemmer and the late Pete Jett, also survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Survived being a Prisoner of War, in Germany, during WWII. Relatives and friends are invited to call Schimunek Funeral Home Inc., 9705 Belair Rd (Perry Hall) on Wednesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. where funeral services will be held on Thursday at 11 A.M. Interment will follow at Moreland Memorial Park.

George W. Holdefer, a retired civil engineer who during World War II flew Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, became a prisoner of war after his plane was damaged over Germany and recorded his experiences in a diary, died March 10 of multiple organ failure at the Edenwald retirement community. The former Campus Hills and Mays Chapel resident was 87. Mr. Holdefer, the son of an American Can Co. engineer and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces and was trained as a B-17 pilot at an airbase in Bradenton, Fla. He joined the 8th Air Force 486th Heavy Bomb Group based at Sudbury, England, northeast of London.

John H. "Jack" Meyers Sr., a retired Domino Sugar supervisor and decorated World War II veteran who was commander of a state ex-prisoner of war group, died of cancer Thursday at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center. The Glen Burnie resident was 86. Born in Baltimore and raised in Ferndale, he was a 1942 graduate of Glen Burnie High School and played football for the Linthicum Heights Athletic Association. He joined the Army during World War II and trained with an infantry unit in Africa.

Milton O. Price Sr., a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. statistician who had been a prisoner of war during World War II, died of a heart attack Saturday at Perry Point Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He was 89. Mr. Price was born in Baltimore and raised on Garrett Avenue. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1937, he served for four years in the Naval Reserve before he began working at BGE. Drafted into the Army on April 23, 1941, Mr. Price was to have served one year of active duty.

Vice Adm. James B. Stockdale, a pilot who died in 2005 at age 81, is perhaps best known for his heroic turn as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Shot down while on a mission Sept. 9, 1965, he landed in a small coastal village, where he was beaten by a mob. He spent the next 7 1/2 years in the Hoa Lo Prison, where he was kept in solitary confinement for four years, tortured and denied medical care. Yet Stockdale, who was the highest-ranking naval officer at the prison, managed to organize a system of communication and help buoy the spirits of his fellow prisoners.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain's years in a Vietnamese prison camp forged connections with soldiers that are paying dividends as he enters the final stage of his campaign for president. Fellow prisoners, including some who now live in Maryland, have become outspoken advocates of the Arizona senator, sharing McCain's life story at a convention designed in part to impress undecided voters who may not be well-versed in the candidate's background. "We drew our strength from each other," Everett Alvarez Jr., a resident of Potomac who was held in captivity longer than all but one serviceman, said yesterday.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - "624787." In his first national campaign ad for president, Sen. John McCain is shown reciting his rank and serial number as he lies in a Vietnamese hospital bed as a prisoner of war. The ad describes him as "a real hero." Let's be clear: Senator McCain is running for president as a war hero who plans to win the campaign based on character and honor. On the surface, it seems churlish to critique the idea of a war hero. And criticizing a tribute to courageous and self-sacrificing soldiers would be disrespectful.

Lois Gould, 70, a writer known for her fictional depiction of women's intimate lives, died of cancer Wednesday in New York, according to her son, Anthony Gould. Ms. Gould was well known for her first novel, Such Good Friends (1970), which told the story of a woman who discovers her dying husband's diary, written in code, detailing his extramarital affairs. The book, which became a best seller and a film, was in part autobiographical. After Ms. Gould's first husband, Philip Benjamin, died suddenly in 1966, she discovered such a diary among his papers and cracked the code to learn of his affairs.

Gerald "Dode" Bemrick Sr., retired supervisor of maintenance at Fort McHenry and World War II prisoner of war, died Sept. 15 of heart failure at Veterans Medical Center in Baltimore. The Brooklyn Park resident was 87.He worked at Fort McHenry for 40 years and retired in 1973.He served as a grenadier with the Army in Europe during World War II and was a prisoner of war near Munich. He was liberated by American forces and discharged in 1945.Born in Superior, Wis., he moved to Baltimore in 1920 and graduated from City College.

BERTRAM JAMES, 92 Made "Great Escape" Bertram "Jimmy" James, one of the few British prisoners to avoid being executed for joining in the "great escape" from a German prison camp in World War II, died Jan. 18 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in central England after a brief illness. Mr. James was a pilot on a Wellington bomber that was shot down near Rotterdam in the Netherlands on June 5, 1940. He was captured the next day. Attempting to escape, he once remarked, "was our contribution to the war effort."