9 Former POWs Recognized by VA

They were prisoners of war decades ago, but the nine men recognized Tuesday by the Veterans Administration vividly remember what they endured.

Martin Christie, 77, even recalled the Japanese words for his prisoner identification numbers when he was a POW in Japan.

Christie, of West Hills, was a corporal with the 4th U.S. Marine Regiment when Japanese forces captured him in the Philippines in 1942. He was a POW for 3 1/2 years, suffering from malaria and several injuries from beatings that hinder him to this day--two fractured vertebrae, a neck injury and the loss of a kidney.

Flashbacks keep him from sleeping well, and he remembers eating rats fried in motor oil and rice filled with worms to survive.

“We ate the worms,” he said. “No one threw them away.”

Nine former POWs from several wars gathered at the VA’s ambulatory care center and nursing home in North Hills, where they were honored for their service to the country.

“The purpose is to heighten community awareness--that we still have POWs and MIAs and to keep the whole issue alive,” said Terry Lynn Padilla, chief of the center’s volunteer program that assists POWs.

Wilbert Goldsmith was in the U.S. Army 9th Infantry Division in 1944 when he was captured by the Nazis during the Battle of the Bulge.

“I went from 160 pounds to 112 pounds when I emerged--no food,” said Goldsmith, 77, of West Hills.

He escaped three months later and reached British forces.

“They took us on the road and I managed to get away from the march,” he said.

The honored veterans freely discussed their POW experiences Tuesday, but many acknowledged that they were once afraid to admit they had been prisoners of war because people assumed they had surrendered, Goldsmith said.

“Most of us at the time were ashamed we were POWs,” he said. “People don’t know the story behind most of the guys.”

John A. Yatsko of Mission Hills carried in his pocket Tuesday a metal identification tag he wore around his neck while held captive for 16 months by the Germans during World War II.

It reads “Stal luft 6” for Stalag No. 6 in East Prussia, a prison where he was held. Yatsko, 88, was a U.S. Army first engineer on a B-24 airplane when it was shot down over Germany in 1944.

Vernon Peters, who served in the Coast Guard during WWII, said memorial services are necessary to make people aware of POWs’ experiences.

“It brings it to light,” said Peters, 74, of North Hills. “People don’t know or don’t care. We need a little jacking up once in a while.”