Prisoners of War in World War II :: World War II History

Prisoners of War in World War II If you have never been a Prisoner of War (POW), you are extremelylucky. The prisoners of war during the World War II, (1939-1945) weretreated poorly with no respect or consideration and were given the livingconditions worse than animals. It was an extremely bad military post that nohuman being could survive. They were mistreated, manhandled, beat and evenshot defending their country. No one wanted to go to war, but for thosemen who did, and for those who survived as POWs depart always regret it. The Prisoners of War were kept in concentration camps, where it wasday to day unending dying and suffering and separation of the family withunconditional weather. 1 They had no real shelter, and kept busy byworking, and the odd time even got a chance to play baseball, soccer orsome athletic bouncing to stay in shape. 2 They were surrounded by twenty-fourhour guard surveillance in the middle of nowhere, so it would be quite futile to attempt t o escape, especially at the risk of being gunned downat any given time. The POW were always having to turn their back and keepan centre of attention out for one another. They were considered to be hostages and weretreated like the enemy. The concentration camps were not very large but were numerous. Theycontained about 500-600 warriors and were divided into groups of undersixteen, older than sixteen, and of fertilise by gender (Male and Female). 3 This caused many problems with the POWs as they were split from theirfamilies, and in a lot of cases, never saw one another again. The Prisoners of War were killed by the hundreds as malnutrition andhygiene eventually caught up with them. They were put to work for lengthyperiods of time, and we treated harshly for volunteering to go to war. Oncecaught, they were taken and placed in a camp, and it was the beginning ofthe end for the ally. It is not like a prisoner in todays society. Theprisoners had to live with leftover scra ps of food, dirty water, and nohope of exiting, plus the constant shooting. They were not prisoner whomhad committed a crime, rather brave warriors whom stood up to defend us. 4 It is a life no one wants to encounter, and we pray no one does, and we