Airmen learn meaning of POW/MIA day

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mareshah Haynes
  • 16th SOW Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla --  Twenty-five Airmen from Hurlburt Field traveled to Camp Sumter, a Civil War prisoner of war camp, in Andersonville, Ga., Sept. 7.

The trip was the third part in a series of professional development events, which culminates with the prisoner of war/missing in action ceremony today.

The Airmen viewed the movie "Andersonville" during Airmen's Night Out prior to the trip.

"The movie set the stage but it wasn't until we toured the camp and prison that we began to feel how powerful Andersonville actually was," said Tech. Sgt. Darius Parker, Air Force Special Operations Command Regional Supply Squadron and the NCO in charge of the trip.

Camp Sumter, spanning more than 25 acres, was built to accommodate 10,000
soldiers and at its maximum, held 45,000.

The men, and it's believed some women, suffered under the extreme temperatures and poor living conditions. Union soldiers died by the hundreds daily.

In August 1864, more than 3,000 troops died. At the end of the war approximately 13,000 men had died within the wall of Camp Sumter.

"It was a very moving experience to witness the plight of the POW during the Civil War era," Sergeant Parker said. "We tend to associate the POW with modern war, but 25 Airmen saw first hand that suffering is timeless."

Those 13,000 are buried in what is now Andersonville National Cemetery. The cemetery is the resting place of not only Civil War veterans but also veterans of conflicts since.

"I thought it was educational and I learned a lot about the Civil War," said Airman 1st Class Anthony Cardenas, 16th Comptroller Squadron. "It's sad to think about all the hardships POWs have endured."