Today its going to get a little personal, guys. Its POW MIA Day and Never Forget Friday, and as manager of this page, I would like to do a post that means a lot to me personally. Because he was a POW during WWII and then felt it was his calling to work with the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) Program the rest of his life after he retired, I would like to dedicate this post to a true American Patriot: my grandfather, Col. (ret.) Vincent A. Fonke. Vincent Fonke was shot down and captured on his 11th mission as a B-17 pilot on August 16, 1944 at 22 years of age. Over the next 8 months he was held in five different German prison camps including Stalag Luft III, the site of the famous Great Escape. Liberated by General Pattons 3rd Army in April of 1945, he walked out of captivity weighing 132 lbs as result of the meager rations. He remained lifelong friends with his ball turret gunner, Charles Brudo who was also in the same prison camp. He spent his career in the military flying and served in 3 wars, WWII, Korea and Vietnam before he retired after 30 years of service. Nicknamed Cool Breese by his crew because of his calm demeanor and his love for his hometown of Breese, Illinois, he transitioned into civilian life, but found he missed the brotherhood and camaraderie he found in the military. He began working with the SERE program in the 1980s and spent the rest of his life, until his death in 2011, speaking to SERE graduates about the POW experience. In 2007 through the help of the Veterans Legacy Foundation, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery in flight the day his plane was shot down more than 60 years before. His message was clear: do your job by serving your country and trust that your brothers and sisters are doing the same. Never lose heart, and remember those youve lost. Today we honor him and all those brave souls that have been POWs or MIA. Know that YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN. NEVER FORGET. #neverforget #youarenotforgotten #powmiaday
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 13:33:16 +0000
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