WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: 'Let it be known'

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: CNN

LOMA LINDA, California (CNN) -- Anthony Acevedo thumbs through the worn, yellowed pages of his diary emblazoned with the words "A Wartime Log" on its cover. It's a catalog of deaths and atrocities he says were carried out on U.S. soldiers held by Nazis at a slave labor camp during World War II -- a largely forgotten legacy of the war.


Anthony Acevedo served as a medic during World War II. He was captured and sent into a Nazi forced labor camp.

"He died in my arms. He wouldn't eat. He didn't want to eat," says Acevedo, now 84 years old. "He said, 'I want to die! I want to die! I want to die!' "

The memories are still fresh, some 60 years later. Acevedo keeps reading his entries, scrawled on the pages with a Schaeffer fountain pen he held dear. See inside Acevedo's diary »



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/11/acevedo.pow/index.html

[Mabus]

1. And someday there will be diaries about what we have done to those in Iraq

The sick cycle of continues.

K&R

[emilyg]

2. 60 years - and sometimes it seems like yesterday.

[blue neen]

3. "The world is full of hate, yet they don't know what they want."

Mr. Acevedo is a wise and brave man, indeed.

A salute to all of our nation's service men and women. :patriot:

[newscott]

5. Profound statement from a humble man.

[unkachuck]

4. "Let it be known," he says. "People have to know what happened."

....absolutely....my hat is off to you, Mr.Acevedo....may you find peace in speaking the truth....

[grilled onions]

6. We Cannot Afford To Forget The Past

because we cannot afford to repeat the horrors of the past!

[Lisa]

7. what an amazing man

I'm glad he is alive to tell his story.