Bumgarner L

Mason Bumgarner

Professor Lynn Raymond

uwRT 1103-038

1"2

November 2015

Change in ldeas

When we started the Semester-Long Project, we decided on trying to cover the very

broad range of the history of all prisoners of war throughout history. This includes ancient
times allthe way up to the modern eras. We were also going to include certain accounts of
people that were in our family trees that were taken prisoner during wartime.
Through the process of asking our peers, we have now learned that most people are

more interested in modern day accounts. We asked our classmates, and they expressed

interg{t in famous people that were taken prisoner, as well as interesting stories of men while
'ey

were held prisoner. They also were interested in policies regarding modern day prisoner

situations as well as programs for them once they return home. A specific program that was
mentioned was the POW/MlA association. lt helps the families of the men and women that
have been classified as missing while overseas or were taken prisoner and never came home,
Yesterday, I was watching the movie, "Unbroken", it is about Louis Zamperini. The
movie is based on true events in which Louis was taken prisoner, and it documents his
experiences in the harsh environments provided by the lapanese during World War ll. lt also

demonstrates the torture forced upon the men and the Iabor that they made them do as well.

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The movie ends with a scene where the Japanese are planning to execute all of the prisoners,

but a US plane flies over with a sign signaling that the war was over, and they would be set free.
The planes then proceeded to drop supplies to the prisoners, and were rescued two days later.
This got me thinking, what could have happened

to prisoners if the wars would have

been for much longer periods of time, and how that would have affected the treatment of the

men during their time as prisoners. I am currently in the process of researching how the war
ending affected our men, and if they immediately received better treatment or not.

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