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Former POWs To Gather in Brooke
Branch to showcase collection of war memorabilia
By IAN HICKS - Staff Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register June 20, 2011
WELLSBURG - Many of the more than 200 special guests expected to visit the Brooke County Public Library this week will be doing so for the first time. However, the items contained there tell a story they know all too well.
On Thursday and Friday, the library's Wellsburg branch plans to welcome a group of about 30 former prisoners of war and their families to view its extensive collection dedicated to preserving the legacy of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, who were captured, tortured and starved by Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II.
They will come by bus from the annual convention of the ADBC's descendants group, which is being held through Saturday near Pittsburgh.
According to George Wallace, the public is invited to visit the library and welcome the former POWs, who will come in separate groups scheduled to arrive there at about 9:30 a.m and 2 p.m. each day. Wallace is editor of The Quan, a quarterly newsletter for the descendant's group and the husband of library Director Mary Kay Wallace.
The special visit comes as the library embarks on a massive campaign to raise funds to build a two-story museum at the library to better display its collection of more than 150,000 artifacts, photos and documents related to the POWs and their role in the war, which often doesn't get much attention in history textbooks. The addition, which will cost about
$5 million including an endowment to keep growing and preserving the collection, would nearly double the library's current size.
George Wallace said the descendant's group's visit will be very important to building momentum for the effort.
"It's very key because these are the people we have to look to to be the leadership people in this campaign," he said, noting they plan to reach out all over America and beyond seeking support for the planned museum.
Attending the annual convention, Wallace said, can be an emotional experience, not just for the rapidly dwindling fraternity of POWs but also for their families when they meet the loved ones of those their fathers and grandfathers may have fought next to.
"They've never met, and yet they're connected in a very deep and meaningful way," he said.
After several years editing The Quan, Wallace said he feels that connection, too.
"I've come to know them, and they've become very important to Mary Kay and me and the staff at the library," said Wallace, adding the group has shrunk by about 70 percent in the last six years or so. "When I get their obituaries it's a very difficult thing."
Two local men quite familiar with the library and its mission are expected to be in attendance, including Wellsburg's own Ed Jackfert, who survived more than three years in captivity and whose initial contribution of materials in 2002 sparked the Brooke County library's unique collection. He has been an outspoken and persistent advocate for POW compensation from the federal government.
Another is 97-year-old Abie Abraham of Butler County, Pa. A published author, he is known as the "Ghost of Bataan" because he stayed behind for more than two years after the war, helping to disinter and identify his fallen comrades and seeing that as many of them as possible received a proper burial.
Former POWs To Gather in Brooke
Branch to showcase collection of war memorabilia
By IAN HICKS - Staff Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register June 20, 2011
WELLSBURG - Many of the more than 200 special guests expected to visit the Brooke County Public Library this week will be doing so for the first time. However, the items contained there tell a story they know all too well.
On Thursday and Friday, the library's Wellsburg branch plans to welcome a group of about 30 former prisoners of war and their families to view its extensive collection dedicated to preserving the legacy of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, who were captured, tortured and starved by Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II.
They will come by bus from the annual convention of the ADBC's descendants group, which is being held through Saturday near Pittsburgh.
According to George Wallace, the public is invited to visit the library and welcome the former POWs, who will come in separate groups scheduled to arrive there at about 9:30 a.m and 2 p.m. each day. Wallace is editor of The Quan, a quarterly newsletter for the descendant's group and the husband of library Director Mary Kay Wallace.
The special visit comes as the library embarks on a massive campaign to raise funds to build a two-story museum at the library to better display its collection of more than 150,000 artifacts, photos and documents related to the POWs and their role in the war, which often doesn't get much attention in history textbooks. The addition, which will cost about
$5 million including an endowment to keep growing and preserving the collection, would nearly double the library's current size.
George Wallace said the descendant's group's visit will be very important to building momentum for the effort.
"It's very key because these are the people we have to look to to be the leadership people in this campaign," he said, noting they plan to reach out all over America and beyond seeking support for the planned museum.
Attending the annual convention, Wallace said, can be an emotional experience, not just for the rapidly dwindling fraternity of POWs but also for their families when they meet the loved ones of those their fathers and grandfathers may have fought next to.
"They've never met, and yet they're connected in a very deep and meaningful way," he said.
After several years editing The Quan, Wallace said he feels that connection, too.
"I've come to know them, and they've become very important to Mary Kay and me and the staff at the library," said Wallace, adding the group has shrunk by about 70 percent in the last six years or so. "When I get their obituaries it's a very difficult thing."
Two local men quite familiar with the library and its mission are expected to be in attendance, including Wellsburg's own Ed Jackfert, who survived more than three years in captivity and whose initial contribution of materials in 2002 sparked the Brooke County library's unique collection. He has been an outspoken and persistent advocate for POW compensation from the federal government.
Another is 97-year-old Abie Abraham of Butler County, Pa. A published author, he is known as the "Ghost of Bataan" because he stayed behind for more than two years after the war, helping to disinter and identify his fallen comrades and seeing that as many of them as possible received a proper burial.