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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 75 (Monday, May 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6237-S6238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORCED MARCH OF AMERICAN 
                  PRISONERS OF WAR FROM STALAG LUFT IV

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today we commemorate the 50th anniversary 
of the end of World War II in Europe. Victory in Europe Day is one of 
the milestone dates of this century. I rise today to honor a group of 
Americans who made a large contribution to the Allied victory in Europe 
while also enduring more than their fair share of personal suffering 
and sacrifice: The brave men who were prisoners of war.
  I believe it is appropriate to commemorate our World War II POW's by 
describing one incident from the war that is emblematic of the unique 
service rendered by those special people. This is the story of an 86-
day, 488-mile forced march that commenced at a POW camp known as Stalag 
Luft IV, near Gross Tychon, Poland, on February 6, 1945, and ended in 
Halle, Germany on April 26, 1945. The ordeal of the 9,500 men, most of 
whom were U.S. Army Air Force Bomber Command noncommissioned officers, 
who suffered through incredible hardships on the march yet survived, 
stands as an everlasting testimonial to the triumph of the American 
spirit over immeasurable adversity and of the indomitable ability of 
camaraderie, teamwork, and fortitude to overcome brutality, horrible 
conditions, and human suffering.
  Bomber crews shot down over Axis countries often went through 
terrifying experiences even before being confined in concentration 
camps. Flying through withering flak, while also having to fight off 
enemy fighters, the bomber crews routinely saw other aircraft in their 
formations blown to bits [[Page S6238]] or turned into fiery coffins. 
Those who were taken POW had to endure their own planes being shot down 
or otherwise damaged sufficiently to cause the crews to bail out. Often 
crewmates--close friends--did not make it out of the burning aircraft. 
Those lucky enough to see their parachutes open, had to then go through 
a perilous descent amid flak and gunfire from the ground.
  Many crews were then captured by incensed civilians who had seen 
their property destroyed or had loved ones killed or maimed by Allied 
bombs. Those civilians at times would beat, spit upon, or even try to 
lynch the captured crews. And in the case of Stalag Luft IV, once the 
POW's had arrived at the railroad station near the camp, though 
exhausted, unfed, and often wounded, many were forced to run the 2 
miles to the camp at the points of bayonets. Those who dropped behind 
were either bayonetted or bitten on the legs by police dogs. And all 
that was just the prelude to their incarceration where they were 
underfed, overcrowded, and often maltreated.
  In February 1945, the Soviet offensive was rapidly pushing toward 
Stalag Luft IV. The German High Command determined that it was 
necessary that the POW's be evacuated and moved into Germany. But by 
that stage of the war, German materiel was at a premium, and neither 
sufficient railcars nor trucks were available to move prisoners. 
Therefore the decision was made to move the Allied prisoners by foot in 
a forced road march.
  The 86-day march was, by all accounts, savage. Men who for months, 
and in some cases years, had been denied proper nutrition, personal 
hygiene, and medical care, were forced to do something that would be 
difficult for well-nourished, healthy, and appropriately trained 
infantry soldiers to accomplish. The late Doctor [Major] Leslie Caplan, 
an American flight surgeon who was the chief medical officer for the 
2,500-man section C from Stalag Luft IV, summed up the march up this 
year:

       It was a march of great hardship * * * (W)e marched long 
     distances in bitter weather and on starvation rations. We 
     lived in filth and slept in open fields or barns. Cothing, 
     medical facilities and sanitary
      facilities were utterly inadequate. Hundreds of men suffered 
     from malnutrition, exposure, trench foot, exhaustion, 
     dysentery, tuberculosis, and other diseases.

  A number of American POW's on the march did not survive. Others 
suffered amputations of limbs or appendages while many more endured 
maladies that remained or will remain with them for the remainder of 
their lives. For nearly 500 miles and over 86 days, enduring 
unbelievably inhumane conditions, the men from Stalag Luft IV walked, 
limped and, in some cases, crawled onward until they reached the end of 
their march, with their liberation by the American 104th Infantry 
Division on April 26, 1945.
  Unfortunately, the story of the men of Stalag Luft IV, replete with 
tales of the selfless and often heroic deeds of prisoners looking after 
other prisoners and helping each other to survive under deplorable 
conditions, is not well known. I therefore rise today to bring their 
saga of victory over incredible adversity to the attention of my 
colleagues. I trust that these comments will serve as a springboard for 
a wider awareness among the American people of what the prisoners from 
Stalag Luft IV--and all prisoner of war camps--endured in the pursuit 
of freedom.
  I especially want to honor three Stalag Luft IV veterans who endured 
and survived the march. Cpl. Bob McVicker, a fellow Virginian from 
Alexandria, S. Sgt. Ralph Pippens of Alexandria, LA, and Sgt. Arthur 
Duchesneau of Daytona Beach, FL, brought this important piece of 
history to my attention and provided me with in-depth information, to 
include testimony by Dr. Caplan, articles, personal diaries and 
photographs.
  Mr. McVicker, Mr. Pippens, and Mr. Duchesneau, at different points 
along the march, were each too impaired to walk under their own power. 
Mr. McVicker suffered frostbite to the extent that Dr. Caplan told him, 
along the way, that he would likely lose his hands and feet--
miraculously, he did not; Mr. Pippens was too weak from malnutrition to 
walk on his own during the initial stages of the march; and Mr. 
Duchesneau almost became completely incapacitated from dysentery. By 
the end of the march, all three men had lost so much weight that their 
bodies were mere shells of what they had been prior to their capture--
Mr. McVicker, for example, at 5 foot, 8 inches, weighed but 80 pounds. 
Yet they each survived, mostly because of the efforts of the other 
two--American crewmates compassionately and selflessly helping buddies 
in need.
  Mr. President, I am sure that my colleagues join me in saluting Mr. 
McVicker, Mr. Pippens, Mr. Duchesneau, the late Dr. Caplan, the other 
survivors of the Stalag Luft IV march, and all the brave Americans who 
were prisoners of war in World War II. Their service was twofold: first 
as fighting men putting their lives on the line, each day, in the cause 
of freedom and then as prisoners of war, stoically enduring incredible 
hardships and showing their captors that the American spirit cannot be 
broken, no matter how terrible the conditions. We owe them a great debt 
of gratitude and the memory of their service our undying respect.

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