The National Prisoner of War Museum, built at a cost of almost $6 million, has opened in Andersonville, GA. It honors America's 800,000 wartime POWs, who were imprisoned in places such as the Philippines, Germany, and North Vietnam, which are not known for their commitment to lighthearted tourist entertainment.

"Young people need to know that the freedom they have was purchased at a high price," explained one former POW, using that freedom to visit a POW museum.

Displays in NPOWM include life-sized models of Vietnamese "tiger cages," a cement cross fashioned by prisoners who survived the Bataan Death March, and a three-masted ship model made out of soup bones by POWs in the War of 1812. An exhibit depicting "the moment of capture" has gun barrels stick out of a wall in a room suddenly lit with moving spotlights.

Arizona Senator (and Presidential hopeful) John McCain told the opening day crowd that "Americans persevere," although the 13,000 Union soldiers who died in Andersonville's Civil War-era POW camp (now a popular tourist attraction) might justifiably question that statement. [04/26/1998]

February 10, 2012