Female Military Nurses Held Captive for Three Years

[erpowers]

I am not trying to take anything away from John McCain for being held captive for six years. I really respect him for that; however, he is not the only person to have been held hostage by a foreign force. It is not that I think the media make too much of a big deal about McCain being held for six years; it is that I would like for the media to give some attention to others who have been held captive for long periods of time. It slightly seems that with the way the media treats John McCain's captivity you would think he is the only person to have been held for a long period of time. Today, I visited Arlington National Cementery and my last stop was at the Women in Service Memorial. There I watched a short movie about women in different wars. In that story it was mentioned that a number of female nurses had been captured and held for three years. I admit I forgot what war this happened in, but when I looked it up it appears that it happened in World War II. According to the article I looked over 80 nurses were taken captive in 1942 and held until 1945. I know this happened many years ago, but I think the media could just mention it a little.

"During World War II, more than 80 military nurses, including 67 from the Army and 16 from the Navy, spent three years as prisoners of the Japanese. Many were captured when Corregidor fell in 1942. The nurses were subsequently transported to the Santo Tomas Internment camp in Manila in the Philippines - which was not liberated until February of 1945. Five Navy nurses were captured on Guam and interned in a military prison in Japan."

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20030402.html