Veterans and family members sat silently at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center on Tuesday, listening to a former prisoner of war describe the tribulations he suffered when he was captured during World War II, the sorrows of losing friends and what kept him going. 

“I’m just glad and proud to be here, but many times I wish I could have done more for my country,” retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Edwin Beck, now 99, said to the crowd, harkening back to his time serving the country in both WWII and the Korean War. 

Beck, now living in Colorado Springs, was one of the local veterans celebrated at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System’s National Former POW Recognition Day ceremony on Tuesday, part of the national observance day highlighting those who experienced imprisonment during various wars throughout the country’s history.

Though the observance day highlights every POW from every war, the choice of April 9 comes from the start of the Bataan Death March, an 85-mile forced march of Filipino and American soldiers from the tip of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to a POW camp held by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII on April 9, 1942.

An estimated 18,650 soldiers died during the march. The rest of the 75,000 were then kept at the camp under horrific conditions.

As of March 26, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has noted 72,104 WWII POWs missing in action. There are 7,401 POWs missing from the Korean War and 1,577 from the Vietnam War.

Those missing veterans and the ones who made it home, including Beck, were honored during the event.

“This day is particularly unique because it speaks about endurance,” Amir Farooqi, VA ECHCS interim medical center director, said. “It speaks about resiliency and what is the resiliency of the human spirit to be able to endure and survive terrible conditions that many of us are so fortunate that we couldn’t even imagine what some folks have gone through.”

Beck, for example, fought during the “Battle of the Bulge” between Belgium and Luxembourg in 1944. His unit was captured by German forces and he spent six months in captivity before escaping.

He noted that he was treated harshly during the imprisonment because he shared a last name with Ludwig Beck, a former German general who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the summer of 1944.

Six years later, Beck returned to the Korean War despite his terror during WWII.

“I damn near got captured there, also,” Beck said of his time in Korea. “But, I ran a little faster, I bet.”

“My mother didn’t want me to go. My friends said, ‘You won’t be a coward. Just stay back here with us,'” Beck said of returning to war in Korea. “But, I said, ‘I’m an American soldier.’ I raised my right hand and swore I’d go to my death if I had to. That’s all I knew.”

Following his 27 years in the Army, Beck went on to work with the veteran community to reduce veteran suicide by sharing his story.

“I lost so many people in two different wars. I lost a lot of my men. I figured, if I could help someone, I’ll do my best to help them get along,” he said.

And as a veteran who has dedicated his life to helping others and who was recognized by VA Secretary Denis McDonough in August of 2023, days like Tuesday are bitter-sweet. 

“Sometimes, it hurts because you think of the ones you’ve lost,” Beck said of the ceremony. “I try to do my best. Sometimes I want to sit down and cry, but I’m a soldier.”

Other veterans and family members, such as Maggie Toth — daughter of U.S. Army Private First Class John Toth, a former POW who was captured during the Korean War — see the ceremonies as a way to communicate and share the stories of their beloved heroes.

“It’s a privilege. It’s a way to honor my dad,” Toth said. “In some circles, military is sort of a bad word because it’s associated with wars instead of the people that are just involved in them. Sometimes, I feel like this type of thing doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

“I’m so appreciative that they’re holding events like this and that people are taking the time to honor this … It’s a source of pride ,” Toth said of the event. “We want the stories to be told because that’s a way to honor them.”