Orthodontist/history buff Richard Randle isn't a military veteran, but he reminds men such as former prisoner of war Gale Patterson that they need to share their heroic battle stories with younger generations.
Randle is founder and president of "Remember World War II," a monthly speaker series held at the Salt Lake City Main Library.
Randle was invited by the Salt Lake City Department of Veterans Affairs POW Advisory Committee to be the guest speaker at a luncheon in a hotel salon to honor former prisoners of war.
Randle said many children don't understand military history, citing one young female who didn't know what a submarine was.
"It's up to us to tell them," he said about sharing war stories.
Patterson's own story, for example, is a lesson in prisoner hierarchy and World War II geography.
Patterson, 85, was a B-17 pilot in the Air Force, based in Foggia, Italy. On his 16th mission over Vienna, Austria, his plane was hit hard by enemy fire as he was on his way to bomb an oil refinery.
In an interview he talked about how his B-17 lost half of its engines. They made it as far south as Zagreb, Yugoslavia, before he and his crew bailed out. The unlucky day was Friday, Oct. 13, 1944.
German troops picked up Patterson, and he was held prisoner for seven months. His first of three prisons, specifically set aside for officers, was the Stalag Luft III in Budapest, Hungary.
As far as prisons went, it was considered one of the best, Patterson recalled. The Germans, he said, held Air Force officers in higher regard than the average soldier.
"Therefore, we were treated nicer than most," said Patterson, who now lives in Holladay. "But it got worse as we went along."
It was a bone-chilling winter and food became scarce. Even some of Germany's own people were starving, Patterson said. He lost about 50 pounds while in prison.
Patterson's prisoner experience ended in Moosburg, Germany, near Munich, after an eight-day, 100-mile trek on foot to get there.
On April 29, after listening to Army Gen. George S. Patton's soldiers fighting the Germans for two days, an American tank broke through the prison gate.
On May 8, Patterson was aboard a ship for a three-week trip home when all of a sudden "bells and whistles" started going off. He quickly learned the Germans had completely surrendered and that the war, at least in Europe, was finally over.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com